"I would like to learn more about tolerancing from the perspective of design for: functionality, manufacturing, reliability, and cost."
1. Go out in the shop, watch them manufacture and assemble stuff, and listen to what they bitch about.
2. Go out in the field, or examine the stuff that comes back under warranty.
3. Synthesize an arbitrary part or two, and send it out for quotes. Change a tolerance, and do it again.
4. Pay attention to the quotes that come back on real parts. When you see something that looks odd, investigate, e.g. call up and ask what you could do to get a better price, etc.
5. Draw up some arbitrary parts with tolerances representative of what you specify. Then try to manufacture them yourself, to your tolerances.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA