Metric Tools in the workshop

[craig carlson]

Yep, as far as fractions go, 1 = 1.0, 1/2 = .5, 1/4 = .25, 1/8 = .125, 1/16 = .0625. There is a pattern here. For woodworking this is just fine, you just need to be comfortable with it, now if I have a fraction like 13/73 I'll go to decimals and then convert to metric if needed. But I still want to know what 1/2 Whitworth is 1/2 of what.
Craig

[Jay Knoll]

I use a set of brass set up blocks to quickly determine depth of cut.

When ever possible I take the measurement off the piece that I'm building by using a scribing knife to mark the piece that has to be cut.

Stay away from rulers -- errors rub off of them!

[Steve Cox]

I believe the USA officially "went metric" back in 1976. My wife (a nurse) uses metric for everything. When I was in electronics it was all in metric. I wish I could go to metric in the shop but it gets to be difficult. If I had all metric I could work with it but given a mixed environment I still find it easier to work in Imperial and convert to metric when needed.

[Dan Racette]

It's that metric clock I have the most trouble with. all those Moon units!!



seriously, though, I did work on Israeli equipment in the past which was all metric. I think I just got used to converting.

[Per Swenson]

Hi all,

We work like Jay.

We don't work in metric.

We work in pencil, marking knife, gauge blocks and story sticks.

Every time I look at a tape measure (depending on time lag)the number

mysteriously changes before transfer. So metrics are not a problem.

Per

[JP McKee]

Before I went to college, I never gave the metric much thought. When I got in school, I found out that metric was the only system archaeology spoke in, so I learned it. My wife gets aggrivated with me sometimes for "speaking" in metric to her . I think the ONLY problem most people have with metric is that they dont have a comparative reference for it in their minds. As soon as I had that (a shovel blade is about 30cm long) , I was cool with it.

[Steve Stube]

craig, Mr. Whitworth use to say that Mrs. Whitworth was the better 1/2 if that helps. I guess that makes it about 1/2 of a couple of em.

1mm is very nearly 0.040" is the reference that comes to my mind first when trying to reference one system to the other, then the 2.54 etc..

[Barry O'Mahony]

The USA offically uses the English measuring system and the English language to communicate.

Really? USA scientists all use metric, as do most engineering disciplines (how many engineers are still around that could tell you the definition of the english unit the "slug" ). Electrical and electronics work use all metric quantities, simply because there are no english units for them. The standard units maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, formerly the Nat'l Bureau of Standards) are all metric. Even the U.S. military. I think the Dep't of Transportation is the only gov't holdout, due to consumer resistance.

The USA is one of the few countries without an official language. In some places (e.g., Puerto Rico), U.S. citizens are born and live their whole lives without ever learning English.

[Dev Emch]

Barry...

Most of my engineering textbooks were done in english. You should also see some of the hydro electric stuff out here! Its older than I am and the new stuff is often the result of floods and government hand out checks to rebuild it.

Our main power plant still has massive line drive worthington air compressors with huge flywheels. The main alternators date back to about the 1940s. One of our oldest alternators that was finally taken offline in 1983 (due to a flood I might add) was built about 1900. The department of interior got the real estate for the diversion structure about 30 to 40 years after it was built so they decided not to allow the reconstruction. Had they done so, that alternator would be running today!

And yes, I actually know what a slug is and not the garden variety.

[Ian Barley]

Really? USA scientists all use metric, as do most engineering disciplines (how many engineers are still around that could tell you the definition of the english unit the "slug" ). Electrical and electronics work use all metric quantities, simply because there are no english units for them. The standard units maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, formerly the Nat'l Bureau of Standards) are all metric. Even the U.S. military. I think the Dep't of Transportation is the only gov't holdout, due to consumer resistance.

The USA is one of the few countries without an official language. In some places (e.g., Puerto Rico), U.S. citizens are born and live their whole lives without ever learning English.

And while I can't speak for the US, the English system in England is metric and the non-metric system is Imperial and while some of us old fogeys still imagine in Imperial most things are measured in metric.

[Dev Emch]

Ian...

Are you talking about the USA or England.... a similar thing can be found here. Except, the USA does have that wonderful American Invention called the Harley Davidson Motorcycle. Some of these actually were held together with an another standard... Whitworth. Ever hear of that US standard? Wink Wink. Well, at least the pre AMF Harleys....

[Jamie Buxton]

Still looking for a cheap tape measure calibrated in tenths of an inch, though.

Lee --
Lee Valley sells decimal-inch 10' tapes. $3.95 each. They're not in the paper catalog, but are on the web site.

Jamie

[Lee DeRaud]

Lee --
Lee Valley sells decimal-inch 10' tapes. $3.95 each. They're not in the paper catalog, but are on the web site.

Jamie

Cool! Thanks!

[David Fried]

I still work with inches and feet. Like Dev, I learned 25.4 mm = 1 inch a long time ago and feel comfortable with measurements like that. When someone tells me something is 900 mm I can't picture it. When Frank comments that it is 16 degrees C I don't know if it's hot or cold. I also never got the hang of the Dvorak keyboard. Tough getting old

[craig carlson]

[QUOTE=Steve Stube]craig, Mr. Whitworth use to say that Mrs. Whitworth was the better 1/2 if that helps. I guess that makes it about 1/2 of a couple of em.

Well that clears that up! Now if only the Cubs would win the pennant!