who has gone metric?

toolman said:
It is my lifelong dream to see that stupid metric system abolished in the U.S. and have everyone go back to using fractions and decimals as God intended, oh wait, how many inches are in a cubit? Crap, so much for my master plan! :roflmao:
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well a cubit is 18 inches on me , depends on how long your arm is ,, measured from elbo to tip of index finger

have to admit it is handy you always have it with ya
 
I use imperial on everythng except my H mill, which is metric. I have a 0-1 metric mic, and a couple of 6"/150mm calipers which do both. As a matter of choice I work in imperial most of the time with metal, but when doing woodwork or building I tend to use metric, mainly because most builders merchants use it, and most sheet materials and timber are now supplied in metric, although timber lengths are quoted in metric but conform to the old imperial system using increments based on 1 foot/300mm. one thing I do find annoying is the fact that timber supplied as "50 x 150" is actually 145 x 47!
There is literally no need to convert! One thing that annoys me about the metric system is the ridiculous number of different thread forms and pitches which are nominally the same, but will not fit each other, so its an 8mm bolt, but is it 1.0mm pitch or 1.5mm pitch, metric form, or ISOmetric? Whitworth (the man not the thread) set standards so that a bolt made in Newcastle would fit a nut made in London, he did this by looking at all the different thread pitches and forms in use, and averaging them out. metric bolts are not "better" in any way than imperial bolts, and using a wide range of different metric pitches and forms for the same nominal bolt size is moving away from standardisation, a very bad idea indeed!

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Also meant to add " All the rest of my metrology equipment is imperial.
Phil/hermetic
 
Ok make me a believer If 1" equals 25.40 in metrics? or .5 (1/2) equals 12.70 in metrics. why on earth would one cram their minds
with all those numbers>? a half a foot is 6 6times 2 is a foot =12 half of twelve is 6 or decimal .5 at no time i went over three digits???
I was never taught this; my take , its just stupid, should stay across the pond... whats the benefit? I'm not a believer one rattiling
numbers around is smarter than ways we were taught back in the 40s...we proved that in 1945..
 
I use English unless I have to make a part for Russian Motorcycles, that I ride. They use odd thread pitches and get material from who knows where...You have to be flexible....:))
Exactly, how many mm in a tenth of a cubit ? :dunno:
 
Well, one advantage of being unit-agnostic:

I just picked up two Vogel DTI's off of Ebay for $20 shipped. They are .4-0-.4mm indicators (or 16-0-16 thou). So by going metric I was able to get a good deal and get a small bonus in range :) And with DTI's, most of the time, you are just trying to keep the needle from moving, so wheather a line is 0.01mm or 0.0005" really makes verly little difference.
 
GK1918, You misunderstand! I use both, so I never need to convert from one to the other. Whatever I start in, I continue in. I do admit that sometimes when measuring sheet materials I will use whichever system gives me the easiest to remeber units, so I often cut chipboard that is, say. 3' 9"x300mm exact! If someone gives me dimensions in metric, I can roughly convert in my head, 25.4= 1" 1M=39" 300mm=1'. For anything more complex I use a calculator, but it is very rare I convert at all. There is no need. That is why there is no need to "convert" to metric. Be versatile.


A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein
 
mattthemuppet said:
I'm all confused at the best of times, but I'm starting to learn US SAE having been metric (to Imperial parents) most of my life. The thing I struggle with is figuring out what fractional drill or end mill is bigger or smaller than another. 5/64 vs. 3/32 is easy, just multiply the latter by two and 6 is bigger than 5. But what about 9/64 and 1/8? And so on. I'm crap at math and for big numbers I have to take my gloves AND socks off!
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What might be a good thing for you is to get one of those flat plates with a bunch of holes in to represent the drill sizes, sometimes called a "Drill Index". Some of them have fractional sizes, and decimal sizes as well, marked on them at each hole.
Another pointer is to always watch for charts and scales that have both . A wall chart in the shop can be quite valuable. Some times one can set the digital calipers to a 'Metric' dimension, and then push the 'USA' button to get a conversion, or vice versa..

A cheap pocket calculator from the dollar store is a valuable aid.

I have worked with fractions and decimals all my life and when metric usage came along I had very little trouble with it except as some of you have mentioned, establishing a set of values to make comparisons with. I would suggest that you take a couple of familiar things like your 6 inch scale and remember how many mm's long it is, ( 6" X 2.54= 152.4 mm)
Round it off to 150 mm and you can learn to approximate other lengths using that as a start.. One inch is 25.4 mm)
This kind of math is really something that gets better with practice. Try to practice a lot.
If you are working these numbers as a hobby, who cares if it takes you a couple of minutes to work out as conversion with a calculator or a pencil. Remember,...practice makes perfect,.... or better at least.
 
Metric? Metric? I don't got to use no stinkin' metric !
 
In Aussie land in the late 1960's the government of the time decided that we will become a metric country NOW. Trouble is that all measuring equipment was is inch feet miles etc. It was not legal to bring into mikes, rulers and other measuring tools into the country. Materials in metric was extremely hard to find, even today small sections of brass is still in imperial sizes.

In the last 3 years I have been back doing small machine engineering . Nothing over 100 mm - 4 inches diameter. My machines are Genuine SEIG C3 & S2 I have found my decision to go metric to be a good decision for me.

Sorry I have not been logged for some time. I have been in a dark place for a few months , but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,

Cheers Barry
 
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