What is the VTube-LASER Alternative Tolerance Feature?
Written by Michael Cone
Updated at January 28th, 2026
Table of Contents
Why is this a good idea?
How it works 1 - Pass/Fail Results and Qualification Colors Change Through System-Wide Propagation
How it works 2 - However, The Full Tolerance Values for the UI and Reporting Are Untouched
About the Interactive Alternative Tolerance Icons
END LENGTHS and TANGENTS
Yellow Banner Notification
The Alternative Tolerance settings Menu in the Inspection menu controls values for each alternative tolerance.
Values Controlled
How the Factor Value Works
VTube-LASER uses the Alternative Tolerance feature to allow users to quickly alternate between regular and reduced tolerances during fabrication.
Why is this a good idea?
- A tighter in-process qualification for the corrections-loop process keeps the original qualified part further away from the edge of the full tolerance, preventing any of the rest of the tubes fabricated following the initial qualification from veering out of tolerance.
How it works 1 - Pass/Fail Results and Qualification Colors Change Through System-Wide Propagation
- When enabled, alternative tolerances are propagated so that the Pass/Fail Attribute results, the Inspection menu colors, report results (colors and asterisks), and OOT (out-of-tolerance) values change.
How it works 2 - However, The Full Tolerance Values for the UI and Reporting Are Untouched
- The user interface's full tolerance values never change in the interface or the report. This approach allows a report with 100% passing attributes, even at the reduced tolerance, to be printed for sharing with customers. In this case, the Pass/Fail will report "Passed", the number colors in the report will show all green, and the OOT values will all show 0.000. The customer will never have to know that your team qualified the parts at a reduced tolerance.
About the Interactive Alternative Tolerance Icons
- Two new icon buttons at the top of the Inspection menu visually indicate when alternative tolerances are activated. The same buttons are on the Operator screen.
As of version 4.4 Build 1809, two additional icon buttons are above viewport too.
END LENGTHS and TANGENTS
- The two alternative tolerance attributes available are the END LENGTHS and TANGENT tolerances. This feature does not include any other tolerances. If you want others added, please contact our team at support@advancedtubular.com.
Yellow Banner Notification
- VTube-LASER shows "Alternative Tolerance" in the yellow banner across the top of the viewport if any Alternative Tolerances are active.
The Alternative Tolerance settings Menu in the Inspection menu controls values for each alternative tolerance.
Values Controlled
- The values for each alternative tolerance are ENABLE and FACTOR.
How the Factor Value Works
- The factor value is multiplied by the final tolerance for the alternative tolerance. The default factor is 0.5 for all alternative tolerances.