What is Form 3 EN9102?
Form 3 is one of the mandatory forms in the EN9102 / AS9102 standard (First Article Inspection). It lists all the dimensional and specification characteristics from the drawing, together with the corresponding measurement results. It is the document that proves dimensional conformance of the first manufactured article.
Form 3 structure: required columns
According to the current revision of EN9102, Form 3 must include at minimum the following columns:
- Balloon No. — Balloon number (reference to the ballooned drawing)
- Characteristic — Description of the characteristic (dimension, tolerance, surface finish…)
- Reference / Drawing Zone — Zone or view on the drawing where the characteristic appears
- Nominal — Nominal value specified on the drawing
- Tolerance (+/-) — Allowable tolerance
- Actual Result — Value measured on the actual part
- Conforming — Conformance (C / NC)
The 5 most common mistakes
- Missing characteristics — Every dimension, tolerance, and specification on the drawing must be ballooned and listed.
- Balloon/Form 3 mismatch — The balloon number on the drawing must match exactly the row number in Form 3.
- Missing nominal values — Providing only the measured value without the nominal invalidates the form.
- Not ballooning general notes — General tolerances in the title block (ISO 2768, etc.) must also be referenced.
- Missing signature — Form 3 must be signed by the quality manager before delivery to the customer.
Steps to correctly complete a Form 3
- Balloon the drawing — Number each characteristic sequentially (1 to N).
- Create the table — Enter each number with its characteristic and nominal values.
- Measure the part — Record measurement results column by column.
- Check conformance — Compare each result against the tolerance.
- Sign and archive — Sign the document and include it in the complete FAI package.
Automate with BullePlan
BullePlan handles steps 1, 2 and part of step 4 automatically: the AI extracts dimensional values from the drawing, generates a pre-filled Form 3 table, and exports it in Excel or PDF format — ready for you to complete with your measurement results.