View Poll Results: Should the US go to the metric system?

Voters
107. You may not vote on this poll
  • Yes, we aren't Lord and Master of the world anymore.

    47 43.93%
  • No, the rest of the planet will see the light and come around.

    37 34.58%
  • I've given up fixing stuff, I don't care.

    11 10.28%
  • You first, there's a Craftsman sale at Sears on metric stuff.

    12 11.21%
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Thread: Should we go to the metric system?

  1. #16
    FYI Keith. Your post measures 95.45mm x 125.23mm on my screen.

    When I think of all the little graduated scales on my floor machines, router plunge bases.... There are a few cast right into my biscuit cutters and domino. Turning a crank to the next mm tic isn't the problem, replacing the rules will be. Add to that all of the vernier scales on all of the lathes and mills alone and the mind boggles.

    One wonders if all of the milling machines and printing presses sold at clearance auctions and sent India are converted to metric.... I doubt it.
    .
    "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning".
    Robert Duval in "Apileachips Now". - almost.


    Laserpro Spirit 60W laser, Corel X3
    Missionfurnishings, Mitchell Andrus Studios, NC

  2. #17
    Join Date
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    I am in favor of the metric system for all of the positive things mentioned above. I didn't like the options available to vote on so I didn't cast a vote.
    I have been using metric volume measurements in photographic film labs that I have managed for around 25 years and it is so much easier and more accurate than our measuring system in my opinion.
    David B

  3. #18
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    Absolutely, we should change. I use both daily. Science background while growing up helps. The toughest thing for me would be cooking recipes.

    Generally the math is easier with the metric system.
    Shawn

    "no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."

    "I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"

  4. #19
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    Currently 4.06x10^-29 AM and still hoping to reduce mass.
    Shawn

    "no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."

    "I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"

  5. #20
    Join Date
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    Congress adopted the metric system early in our history. The reason it didn't catch on was that contracts were not specified using the metric system.

    One poster listed a roadblock to change. Many people feel like they will have to convert everything "on the fly." In reality, one just has to change their system. Instead of mentally changing every 16 Km road sign to 10 miles, just start thinking that it will take about a half hour to get there at 50 K/h.

    Here is something I found on the internet:


    Top 10 reasons we should convert to the Metric System (with apologies to David Letterman)

    10. People will finally understand my joke about driving attoparsecs per nanocenturies.
    9. Gas will seem cheaper at 50 cents a liter.
    8. Being 22 kilos overweight does not sound as bad as 50 lbs.
    7. Defense will be easier if the offense has to drive 10 meters for a first down.
    6. Arizona summers will not seem as bad when its only 40 degrees outside.
    5. Its not "metric", its "Digital"!
    4. Imagine all the exciting math you will do converting your favorite recipes to milliliters.
    3. Less fractions to deal with like, "Do I need a five eighths socket or a nine sixteenths to loosen this nut?"
    2. The boy band 98º will not be as popular calling themselves 36.7º.
    1. Half a liter is more than a pint, which means, MORE BEER FOR EVERYBODY!
    As far as automotive things go, I have found a few of my "American made" vehicles to be mixed sizing. My tools for mechanical things are a mix of inch, metric and Whitworht. Before you laugh, if you have a camera and tripod, you have something that is using Whitworth threads.

    Many of the metric and inch sizes are interchangeable. Here is a list that I put together many years ago. The tabs and spacing seem to get lost in the translation. If you want this, copy the text into your own text program and install your own formatting.


    Metric to Sae wrench sizes. 6.5mm is common in many wrench sets. A "t" next to the wrench size indicates this wrench will be tight on its equivilent size nut, i.e. a 14mm wrench is snug on a 9/16 nut.

    Millimeters / Inch
    6 / N/A
    6.5 / 1/4t
    7 /N/A
    8 / 5/16
    9 / 11/32t
    10 / N/A
    11t / 7/16
    12 /N/A
    13 / 1/2t
    14t / 9/16
    15 / 19/32 (not common)
    16 / 5/8
    17 / N/A
    18 / N/A
    19 / 3/4 (This is such a perfect match, it is used internationally for automobile wheel nuts)
    20 / N/A
    21 / N/A
    22t / 7/8

    32 / 1-1/4 If memory serves me well, this is the size of the hub nut on the rear axle of Volks Wagons before 1968 or so.

    That has 7 metric sizes throughout the range not covered by an SAE wrench set.
    3/16 would be tight on a 5mm, neither size is included with most sets.
    Three SAE sizes, 3/8, 11/16 and 15/16 are not covered by the metric sizes. 3/8 is often used, the other two sizes are not often encountered.

    jim
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    I think in fact we will convert

    whether we do so consciously or not. Automotive parts are often metric, I suspect machines & parts not produced domestically are metric. All metric would be less a pain in the butt than a mixture of SAE & metric. If the marketing types decide they can sell us less product/$ by shifting to metric measures, it'll happen tomorrow. What I find most awkward are pressures and power measurements. i don't have a feel for hPA & the output of gas engines in KW. Other than that, i can cope okay. I find it helps to have some touchstones. 22 degrees C is comfortable, 33 degrees C is not. Soda (pop) has been sold by the liter for some years. The real risk is mixing systems. Two expensive examples are the spacecraft a few years that crashed due to a mixing of measuring units ago and the "Gimli Glider", an Air Canada 767 that ran out of gas due to a partially inoperative fuel quantity indicating system and confusion between lbs. (the measure used by the U.S.) and liters (used by Canada).
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

  7. #22
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    Dec 2009
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    Hill Country Texas
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    I find myself using the metric system all the time for woodworking. Its easier to measure to the mm than the 34/894 or whatever...

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
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    I use the metric system at work for drawings and physical measurements.

    Since I'm in the electrical field we're already metric as far as units are concerned.

    I have two British and two German motorcycle in the garage so I own Whitworth, Imperial and Metric tools.

    At home I converted to using the metric system for furniture design and construction because it's so much easier than dealing with fractions.

    I have to laugh when people say they don't want to go metric because they know what a pound is.

    I don't know what a pound or a kilogram are, you could give me .9 pounds or .9 kilograms and I wouldn't be able to tell you whether it was .9 or 1.0 or 1.1 of either unit.

    Regards, Rod.

    P.S.

    Just curious, the US didn't update their Imperial system when England and its colonies did, which is why your Imperial system doesn't match ours. Do Liberia and Burma have the US or the British Imperial system?
    Last edited by Rod Sheridan; 08-01-2010 at 3:41 PM. Reason: Added Post Script

  9. #24
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    Jun 2008
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    Ok should we also change our electricity to 220 Volt 50 cycles.......... no keep it simple 100 volts and 100 cycles. yeah that's the ticket.......
    We Americans spell words funny too... leets fix that and lets see....
    No PHD, but I have a DD 214

  10. #25
    Actually, I would be 100% for switching all devices over to 240V. 240V lines means that things like electric tea pots heat faster. THAT would be worth it right there. I notice the difference immediately when I travel to Finland. Everything that runs on electricity and gets hot just does it so much more quickly.

    Part of why 50Hz was chosen is that lights flicker noticeably much below that. Induction motors of the time, though, ran well around 60Hz. There was a 133Hz standard kicking around at one point but motors didn't run well up there. It's generally accepted that 50Hz was chosen because 50Hz was the first "nice" number that allowed flicker free lamps. Westinghouse chose 60Hz, for reasons only known to them, but I'm guessing that it's because it transmits more efficiently but still allows for cheap, simple induction motors to run well. By all accounts, 60Hz is just a much better choice.

    So I want my higher voltage, but they can keep their metric frequency!

  11. #26
    Which brings up another good point....

    Why don't I ever get topics like this when I play Trivial Pursuit?

  12. #27
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    [QUOTE=John Coloccia;1480497]
    "So I want my higher voltage, but they can keep their metric frequency!"
    ......................... No ............... change for simplicity or for change sake needs to be 100% Ha ha.
    We do have metric Money ! That is close to 100% enough for me.
    What could use work on is: 360 degrees in a circle, 12 eggs in a dozen, four tires on a car (make it 5) Sure gets silly fast huh?
    No PHD, but I have a DD 214

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by John Coloccia View Post
    Actually, I would be 100% for switching all devices over to 240V. 240V lines means that things like electric tea pots heat faster. THAT would be worth it right there. I notice the difference immediately when I travel to Finland. Everything that runs on electricity and gets hot just does it so much more quickly.
    I used to think the US made a mistake by having 120V as the standard household voltage - I thought, like you, that 240V would have been much better.

    But then I traveled in Europe and saw all the safety requirements they have because of the higher voltage. England used to have a requirement that light switches for the bathroom be outside the bath. I suppose that GFCI has fixed that.

    But the reality is that most devices in the home don't need a lot of current so they do just fine on 120V. They'd probably do well on an even lower voltage if they were made for it.

    The more I learn about how power is distributed to the homes in various countries and the problems of each system, the more I'm impressed with the design for residential power distribution in the United States.

    Those early power engineers did a good job.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  14. Quote Originally Posted by Mitchell Andrus View Post
    Should we finally see the light and get with the program?
    .
    Why?
    Because the other children are doing it?
    Why is it seeing the light instead of something else?
    Why does it matter at all?
    Who cares?
    What's the point?

    Answer these salient questions and maybe I can offer you a response.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
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    We ain't changing now.

    I got the complete mix of SAE and metic tools.

    We change now and half of what I bought is useless.

    I can remember in physics class and math classes in the '60s we were going metric so get used to it. Well......we didn't and I am to old to be flexible about it.



    Actually I deal with it daily in medical electronics. It's not a big deal.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

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