[OP]
Contributor
I have a Hammer slider with a metric system installed on the fence. It's actually a much easier way to cut things and even build. Why haven't we simply adopted the metric system in the USA? It would prove much easier to figure fractions for those folks who are fraction challenged.
Member
Problems I have w/ metric:
- not related to human scale / experience for me — I know what four inches is roughly, but ~10cm doesn’t register w/ me
- not easily divisible by thirds, sixths, 12ths, &c. — and if I want even divisions for smaller units, I’ll dig out a graphic design ruler w/ PostScript point/picas (72/inch) — wouldn’t be so bad if CAD programs made it easier to use fractional measurements in metric
- too expensive to replace my favourite brass bound rule: http://www.jimbodetools.com/Near-Min...le-p42665.html
That said, I use it for some projects, esp. those where I want to match dimensions, and or cut out w/ a CNC, and I use metric when jogging the machine or doing CAM.
Contributor
I'm too old and stubborn to switch...... Just set in my ways.
Army Veteran 1968 - 1970
I Support the Second Amendment of the US Constitution
Member
Oh yeah, and it’s also a hoot when the metric purists have to get out a 6.35mm hex bit (1/4") or 12.7mm socket (1/2") or a 1.27mm Allen wrench or Torx bit (0.050").
Member
Except that the inch was officially redefined as 25.4mm in 1959 (http://www.npl.co.uk/reference/faqs/...n-(faq-length))Originally Posted by William Adams
The metre (and 1/100 as cm, 1/1000 as mm, etc) has its own definition (see http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/meter.html)
Administrator
Sorry, until the ANSI redefines the value of an inch it hasn't changed in the USA. I have been in more machine shops than I can count over the past four decades and the inch has never changed. All of my M&TE is still based on the original value. I can't imagine the impact it would have had converting one inch to equal 25.4mm. Twenty threads per inch pitch would be something different and most fasteners would not fit during a period of change to the value of an inch. The medical community can do whatever they please but it will be two hundred years before there is any significant changes to American manufacturing as existing machines in factories and farms will have to be long gone before we will stop supporting them with fasteners and other devices based on ANSI Standards.
Contributor
The US yard was defined as 0.9144 metres in July 1959 by the US Bureau of Standards as illustrated from their website.
US Bureau of Standards.PNG
The problem with the Imperial and US measurements was that they required reference samples.
The metric system at one time required fixed samples as as well, which is almost impossible to work with. The metre was redefined in 1980.
For us mere mortals a tape measure is sufficiently accurate however for science and technology accurate standards are required.
The metre standard can be reproduced in many laboratories, which is why it was adopted as the standard for the inch.
Regards, Rod.
Last edited by Rod Sheridan; 07-04-2016 at 3:50 PM. Reason: Added attachment
Member
For me I think its a question of what one has grown up with. It was Farenheit when I was a kid but then a certain prime minister of canada decided we need the metric system..just like that. But now temperature in Celsius makes more sense, with 0 and 100 as the freezing and boiling point
Contributor
The U.S. customary standards have been based on metric standards since 1893.
http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/metric/u...-5442-1959.pdf
That same National Bureau of Standards bulletin defines the U.S. definition of an inch at 25.4 mm (actually it defines the yard as 0.9144 meters exactly and as such the inch is exactly 25.4 mm, which is what Rod is saying
Member
I bet that you can work quite easily with a dollor though even as it is not divisible ny thirds. sixths, 12ths etc.
ron
Contributor
30 years ago trying to get us to go metric was like hiring a Chinese guy to teach us to speak Spanish... How could we learn metrics with no metric measurement tools readily available? Computers were new and there was no google to figure it out. And who knew enough about metrics to teach us?
Then, and now, I could care less about metrics. I've been forced to use metric measurements because my Chinese built laser engraver's software has no 'inches' option. And after 2-1/2 years, about all I've learned is, 1mm is just shy of .040, 3mm is almost 1/8", 6mm is almost 1/4", 100mm is around 4"... So I have 1 to 4 inches "about" dialed in... but the other day on the boat board, there was talk of a damaged 157cm diameter propeller was being fixed-- so pop quiz, how big is 157cm? oh, right-- 1570mm, how dumb of me...But seriously, I have absolutely NO idea how to picture IN MY MIND what 157cm is, no clue whatsoever. Google tells me it's 61.8", or 5' 1-3/4", which BOOM!! my brain can immediately relate to! That's how tall my mom was! Just a little shorter than I am! And that's pretty big for a boat prop!
--but 157cm means no more to me than la taille est que?
(which I also had to look up)
I'm fine leaving well enough alone. Last thing I ever want to ask for is a 305 hot dog...
========================================
ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
FOUR - CO2 lasers
THREE- make that FOUR now- fiber lasers
ONE - vinyl cutter
CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle
Member
30 years ago trying to get us to go metric was like hiring a Chinese guy to teach us to speak Spanish... How could we learn metrics with no metric measurement tools readily available? Computers were new and there was no google to figure it out. And who knew enough about metrics to teach us?
Then, and now, I could care less about metrics. I've been forced to use metric measurements because my Chinese built laser engraver's software has no 'inches' option. And after 2-1/2 years, about all I've learned is, 1mm is just shy of .040, 3mm is almost 1/8", 6mm is almost 1/4", 100mm is around 4"... So I have 1 to 4 inches "about" dialed in... but the other day on the boat board, there was talk of a damaged 157cm diameter propeller was being fixed-- so pop quiz, how big is 157cm? oh, right-- 1570mm, how dumb of me...
--but 157cm means no more to me than la taille est que?
(which I also had to look up)
I'm fine leaving well enough alone. Last thing I ever want to ask for is a 305 hot dog...
And millions before you have converted from imperial to metric and had thoughts exactly the same. I did it, Stewie and others have done it so what is different to anyone in the US doing it? It seems from a distance that the US thinks it is a protected species and the rest of the world is out of step which is clearly opposite to the reality.
Chris
Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening
Contributor
Why characterize us as a protected species? It's insulting.
Do you think all those former English colonies should convert to driving on the right side of the highway? Or should Americans not worry about it?
Should the USA word pronunciation be changed to sound more Australian? Or not?
Why shouldn't we all be speaking Esperanto, or what world-wide language would you suggest the USA be speaking?
Should we spell it colours, or should Australians spell it colors?
Do you think Australians should put down their knives and switch their fork to the other hand while eating, or should Americans not worry about that?
When Australians want to export to a country of 300 million people is it wise to not use Imperial?
Cricket? Really? Why not baseball?
Shouldn't we all be using Bitcoin rather than having to convert between all that funny money?
Why is there such concern over the USA's measurement system then?
I am quite fluent in the parts of imperial that I need. (Furlongs escape me.) And fractions really are a pain, but I use them quite well.
My use of metric is equally fluent, and the fraction calculations are easier.
I'll use whichever the majority wants, but it's difficult to understand why others would find it necessary to denigrate us for using Imperial. It's a holdover from England. We just didn't hold onto left-side driving.
Last edited by Tony Zona; 06-30-2016 at 6:41 AM. Reason: Why do I get two lines for each carriage return when I paste?
Member
The rest of the world is metric apart from the US and two minor countries, you give it a name. To the rest of the world it is insulting that they should be expected to conform to one countries archaic methods. The rest of what you wrote is simply excuses to justify a position out of step with the rest of the world.
Chris
Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening
Member
Pretty much, the U.S. accepts imports, and even produces products which are metrically measured for export.
Holdouts include:
- paper — the presses I mostly work w/ at work are set up for rolls measured in inches, letter is 8.5 x 11, &c. — I have a nice old pair of wooden file cabinets which won’t accept unfolded A4 — FWIW, A4 wide, but letter tall is a nice proportion for paper.
- gas and highway distances and speeds — they tried switching to selling gas by the liter when it first went over a dollar a gallon, but people joked about it being sold by the quart. Apparently other parts of the world still do speed limit signs in MPH
- lumber stock — but a lot of things which are imported are in metric
And of course there’s that little matter of all those 6.35mm hex bits and 12.7mm sockets in the world, as well as rulers &c. — as tempted as I am by the one I linked, it’s just not worth it to me to switch, and the weird decimals which result when dividing into thirds, sixths, &c. in metric annoy me to no end.
Why don’t we all agree that everyone can use whatever measurement system is convenient, and that we will negotiate what system to use when interchanging / working together?
Aren’t there web browser plugins which will recalculate measurements to a desired system? Install one of those?
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