That state of metric conversion in the US

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I still have old stuff that SAE wrenches are good for, but everything
on cars seems to be metric these days with few exceptions. Some
dimensions in that Chevy are obviously hard metric (the bore and
stroke size of the smaller engine is 96/92mm). The larger engine is
mixed.. metric stroke and 4" bore.

It's a hassle to design solely in mm when tool and material sources
are largely from the US or made for US customers. More digits to enter
when machining* because Imperial tools are more available and cheaper,
less availability and sometimes higher cost of things like reamers,
etc. I don't mind 6-32 screws, for example, provided they make them
for me with Phillips heads (or Robertson or Torx). Flat blade
fasteners- ugh. The coarser thread compared to metric standard zips in
faster with the electric screwdriver.

Do any Euro socket sets use mm drives? All my tools use 1/4, 3/8, and
1/2" drives. It would be a total PITA if there were 6mm/10mm/12mm
drive sets (assuming they exist) in the same work area.

I have 100mm, 200mm, and 300mm Crescent wrenches. Actually, they're
both metric and English. If you're fastening metric bolts it's 200mm
wrench. If you're fastening imperial bolts you flip it over and it's
8". ;-)

* For example, the standard edge finder I can buy easily/cheaply has a
0.2" diameter, so the offset is 0.1" from the edge of the work. (also
0.5" diamter). I can get metric end mills, but 0.25" diameter is
cheaper than 6mm. I can set the DRO to metric, but I'll have to offset
it by 2.54mm to get the edge, and 3.175mm to offset the tool radius.
vs. 0.1" and 0.125".

Woodworking tools are showing up both ways, now. In fact I'm finding
it easier to buy metric than imperial drill bits. One of my circular
saws is all metric. If I didn't have a huge investment in imperial
measurement and cutting tools, I'd probably switch.

 

[Joerg]

No, Scotland .9144 Meter. Give the French 2.54cm and they'll take
1.60934440m.

Nah, the French have their own size system. Apres tout, la France est le
centre de l'univers:

http://ionmycatheters.com/blog/catheter-french-scale-sizes/

 

[Syd Rumpo]

On 17/02/2013 15:21, Lord Valve wrote:

doesn't occlude the fact
that its genesis was as entirely arbitrary as the Old
English standard for the inch, which was "three barley-
corns, hard and dry."

Barleycorns are still in common use in the UK, although few realise that
when they buy shoes. In the US too, I just read!

Cheers

 

[Joerg]

On 17/02/2013 15:21, Lord Valve wrote:



Barleycorns are still in common use in the UK, although few realise that
when they buy shoes. In the US too, I just read!

At the helicopter airport for Northsea oil rig flights in Aberdeen they
asked me how many stones I weigh. No kidding.

 

[Joerg]

Joerg wrote:


French diameter is just the circumference in mm. it is
a lot easier to check by wrapping a tape measure around
the tube that getting a caliper.

Nope, it's the diameter in millimeters multiplied by three. Has nothing
to do with Pi.

 

[Bungalow Bill]

No, Scotland .9144 Meter. Give the French 2.54cm and they'll take
1.60934440m.

Ha. You achieved humor. Amazing.

 

[Syd Rumpo]

At the helicopter airport for Northsea oil rig flights in Aberdeen they
asked me how many stones I weigh. No kidding.

Yes, I'm a pretty metric sort of guy, but my weight is in stones, not
kilos. That would be pretty normal here: I don't know at what
approximate age it changes.

The imperial system evolved at a time before weights and measures
legislation when you didn't have, say, 14 pounds in a stone, because
pounds and stones were used for weighing different things:
application-specific units if you like.

Butter in pounds, spuds (and people) in stones, coal in hundredweight,
and so on. An ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers,
because gold uses troy ounces and feathers would use avoirdupois ounces.

Cheers

 

[Joerg]

Yes, I'm a pretty metric sort of guy, but my weight is in stones, not
kilos. That would be pretty normal here: I don't know at what
approximate age it changes.

The imperial system evolved at a time before weights and measures
legislation when you didn't have, say, 14 pounds in a stone, because
pounds and stones were used for weighing different things:
application-specific units if you like.

Butter in pounds, spuds (and people) in stones, coal in hundredweight,
and so on. An ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers,
because gold uses troy ounces and feathers would use avoirdupois ounces.

What can drive European visitors crazy over here in America is when we
use the expression "baker's dozen" which is 13 pieces instead of 12. In
very rare circumstances it can also be 14

 

[mike]

I seem to remember that a few dacades ago (maybe in the '70s) there was
some kind of federal push to convert the country to the metric system by
a certain date that is already in the past. As it's painfully obvious by
now, not much came out of that initial excitement.

Why do you think it is that the US public so resistant to such a change
when the metric system is so much simpler? Much of the rest of the
industrialized world is already on the metric system and not following
their lead just impedes international commerce.

When's the last time you bought something made in america?
Stuff is already metric.

 

[Archimedes' Lever]

Yes, I'm a pretty metric sort of guy, but my weight is in stones, not
kilos. That would be pretty normal here: I don't know at what
approximate age it changes.

The imperial system evolved at a time before weights and measures
legislation when you didn't have, say, 14 pounds in a stone, because
pounds and stones were used for weighing different things:
application-specific units if you like.

Butter in pounds, spuds (and people) in stones, coal in hundredweight,
and so on. An ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers,
because gold uses troy ounces and feathers would use avoirdupois ounces.

Cheers

Dropped at the same time from the same height, which would hit the
surface of the moon first?

With one dropped on the near side center, and the other dropped on the
far side center?

 

[Syd Rumpo]

On 17/02/2013 18:32, Joerg wrote:

What can drive European visitors crazy over here in America is when we
use the expression "baker's dozen" which is 13 pieces instead of 12. In
very rare circumstances it can also be 14

Yes, we have a "baker's dozen", meaning 13 and it's the sort of thing
you learn at school, but I've never actually seen it used anywhere.

What really drives UK visitors to the states crazy is when you order a
pint of beer. It's not even half a litre. Or beer. <fx: seeks cover>

Cheers

 

[Tauno Voipio]

What can drive European visitors crazy over here in America is when we
use the expression "baker's dozen" which is 13 pieces instead of 12. In
very rare circumstances it can also be 14

It is not very far from pounds and guineas (20 and 21 shillings).

 

[cameo]

Depends on the vehicle. IIRC a 9/16" socket wrench was needed to swap
some sort of stepper motor in a GMC Envoy. Wasn't very old, maybe 6-7 years.

The only non-metric tool I still use consistently is a 7/16" wrench for
TV cable end-connectors. I guess I could also use an 11 mm metric wrench
which is about the same size. So I'm not even sure if those connector
specs are metric or not.

 

[cameo]

Time for some Golden Oldies:

From April 10, 2001 -

Lord Valve Speaketh:

The metric system, which was based on an arbitrary
measurement (one ten-millionth of the distance from
the equator to the North Pole along the longitude
line which runs near Dunkerque, France, or somesuch
nonsense) to begin with, is not inherently more precise
or accurate than any other system. The fact that the
international standard for the meter is now specified
as a certain number of wavelengths of a specific
frequency of light, or as the distance light travels
in 1/299,792,458 of a second,

[flash forward to today - I should have mentioned that
the second is also an arbitrary unit, no matter how
finely we can slice it with modern equipment...]

Metric system is not just about the unit of measurement, but perhaps
more importantly, about the decimal system that goes with it. That's
what makes it so much simpler IMHO.

 

[Syd Rumpo]

Dropped at the same time from the same height, which would hit the
surface of the moon first?

With one dropped on the near side center, and the other dropped on the
far side center?

I don't know. I started to think about it, maybe there's some minute
atmosphere, maybe centrifugal forces are important, but quickly realised
it was either beyond me or would take too long.

I guess height comes into it as well - much too high on the earth side
and it'll go the wrong way.

So what's the answer?

Cheers

 

[Fred Abse]

The only non-metric tool I still use consistently is a 7/16" wrench for TV
cable end-connectors. I guess I could also use an 11 mm metric wrench
which is about the same size. So I'm not even sure if those connector
specs are metric or not.

BNC, N, SMA, are all UNF threads with US sizes across flats.

 

[Fred Abse]

Depends on the vehicle. IIRC a 9/16" socket wrench was needed to swap some
sort of stepper motor in a GMC Envoy. Wasn't very old, maybe 6-7 years.

Don't forget tires and wheels - inch diameter the world over. Metric
section height and width for radials, but still inch diameter.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

What can drive European visitors crazy over here in America is when we
use the expression "baker's dozen" which is 13 pieces instead of 12. In
very rare circumstances it can also be 14

There ought to be a "banker's dozen".. 11 or maybe 10. ;-)


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[cameo]

When's the last time you bought something made in america?
Stuff is already metric.

Isn't milk still sold in quarts and gallons? What about gasoline?

 

[Syd Rumpo]

On 17/02/2013 19:40, cameo wrote:

Metric system is not just about the unit of measurement, but perhaps
more importantly, about the decimal system that goes with it. That's
what makes it so much simpler IMHO.

Even simpler is binary, like 1 inch, 1/2", 1/4" 1/8" etc.

And of course standard PCBs are both 1/16" and 1.6mm - spooky.

Miles are just hexadecimal kilometres. 80km is 50miles (0x50 = 80) and
30mph is 48kph (0x30 = 48). OK this may not always work...

Cheers