Tenth
Glossary · Tolerance & Measurement
At a glance
- Category /
- Tolerance & Measurement
- Also called /
- tenths, ten thousandth
- Related /
- 3 terms
- Source /
- Written in the shop
In machining, a tenth means one ten-thousandth of an inch — 0.0001" — not one tenth of an inch.
Also called: tenths · ten thousandth
In practice
This is the most dangerous piece of shop vocabulary for an outsider. Everywhere else in English a tenth is 0.1. On a shop floor "hold it to two tenths" means 0.0002", five hundred times smaller. The usage comes from it being a tenth of a thou.
Why it matters
Work held to tenths generally needs temperature-controlled measurement, because a steel part grows measurably in your hand. If a drawing genuinely calls for tenths, that changes the machine, the inspection method and the price — so it is worth confirming it was meant.
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