General > General Technical Chat
why is the US not Metric
ebastler:
--- Quote from: nigelwright7557 on March 01, 2020, 08:03:22 pm ---An inch is 25.4mm as a rough rule.
--- End quote ---
What would the less rough rule be then, in your opinion? ;-)
angrybird:
--- Quote from: nigelwright7557 on March 01, 2020, 08:41:47 pm ---
--- Quote from: angrybird on March 01, 2020, 08:35:10 pm ---I guess I do not understand his frustration. Having been a certified master mechanic (USA/ASE) for more than 2 decades and preferring old cars, I've always had both sets of tools and only see it as an advantage... I love fixing old stuff, old stuff is usually imperial, and since the past is the past, there isn't really any point in arguing about changing it :-//
In my experience, it's only really necessary to have a small subset of imperial tools (certain length sockets/basic hand wrenches and few specialty tools) and everything else is universal. It doesn't bother me to have stock of both metric and imperial hardware... The more hardware I have, the more I can fix ;D
--- End quote ---
In the UK working on older cars also requires a set of Whitworth sockets and spanners too.
--- End quote ---
I have the full set of stahlwille offset ring spanners, these are by far my most favorite hand wrench ^-^
--- Quote from: Zero999 on March 01, 2020, 08:42:54 pm ---
--- Quote from: nigelwright7557 on March 01, 2020, 08:03:22 pm ---For pcb's things are in both in the UK.
An inch is 25.4mm as a rough rule.
--- End quote ---
An inch is exactly 25.4mm
--- Quote from: angrybird on March 01, 2020, 08:35:10 pm ---I guess I do not understand his frustration. Having been a certified master mechanic (USA/ASE) for more than 2 decades and preferring old cars, I've always had both sets of tools and only see it as an advantage... I love fixing old stuff, old stuff is usually imperial, and since the past is the past, there isn't really any point in arguing about changing it :-//
In my experience, it's only really necessary to have a small subset of imperial tools (certain length sockets/basic hand wrenches and few specialty tools) and everything else is universal. It doesn't bother me to have stock of both metric and imperial hardware... The more hardware I have, the more I can fix ;D
--- End quote ---
I can understand how having a wide range of sizes of tools and hardware is fun for a hobbyist/semi-professional, or handy for someone who repairs a wide range of equipment, but it does increase costs in a large organisation, such as a volume manufacturer. Stocking the smallest possible range of parts and tools, optimises efficiency, because less space is required for storage and things can be purchased in larger volume.
--- End quote ---
True, however large volume manufacturers are usually focused on a product which is either metric -or- imperial, not both, in my experience - would you agree? Even if you talk about machining, my experience is that a majority of machinists are operating in the metric domain, and resolutions are fine enough that imperial-dimensioned parts can easily be created with a metric setup. My bridgeport clone is setup w/linuxCNC and imperial dimensioning right now and I have no problem switching to metric, it's all just software vs. the resolution of my encoders which are beyond what is needed to do either.
vk6zgo:
--- Quote from: nigelwright7557 on March 01, 2020, 08:41:47 pm ---
--- Quote from: angrybird on March 01, 2020, 08:35:10 pm ---I guess I do not understand his frustration. Having been a certified master mechanic (USA/ASE) for more than 2 decades and preferring old cars, I've always had both sets of tools and only see it as an advantage... I love fixing old stuff, old stuff is usually imperial, and since the past is the past, there isn't really any point in arguing about changing it :-//
In my experience, it's only really necessary to have a small subset of imperial tools (certain length sockets/basic hand wrenches and few specialty tools) and everything else is universal. It doesn't bother me to have stock of both metric and imperial hardware... The more hardware I have, the more I can fix ;D
--- End quote ---
In the UK working on older cars also requires a set of Whitworth sockets and spanners too.
--- End quote ---
Luxury!
Really old UK cars used BSF bolts, too, & on the starter battery connection some models used the delightful
"Lucas thread"!
angrybird:
Oh wow I've never worked on anything like that... "Old" to me is 80's and 90's... Stuff older than that is what I call "VERY PREMIUM PRICES" :-DD
bsfeechannel:
--- Quote from: angrybird on March 01, 2020, 12:20:21 am ---Holy smokes, I had to call the fire department on that one.
--- End quote ---
LOL.
--- Quote from: angrybird on March 01, 2020, 08:35:10 pm ---I guess I do not understand his frustration.
--- End quote ---
Nah. I'm not frustrated with anything. I even wrote a song. Do you want to hear it? It goes like that:
I got rhythm, I got music
I got metric
Who could ask for anything more?
--- Quote ---I love fixing old stuff, old stuff is usually imperial, and since the past is the past, there isn't really any point in arguing about changing it :-//
--- End quote ---
You said it all. Imperial is the past. Metric is the future. You are a man of vision.
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