your thoughts on metric

[HeyBub]

We're smart enough. We're just not dumb enough.

[Puff Griffis]

I changed to metric shortly after I had to start running a press at work that was metric. No big changes other than finding mesuring tapes that fit my needs. Puff

[Robatoy]

Yea, they'll do as good a job as they did winning Congress last mid- terms.

(Nice troll, btw.)

[Robatoy]

Well, that's another matter. Simple fractions are not that hard and after one double-checks the calculations/measurements, both systems are easy to use..IF.. you use them all the time.

[Robatoy]

Some nations think they ARE the World Economy.

[dpb]

I know of no company that doesn't make metric products for the export market if that is their target. It's a strawman argument. US automakers have switched, for example.

--

[Robatoy]

That's pretty much how I see it too. The 'metric' generation can't make change at a cash register without a calculator, and that money has been metric forever.

My daughters are all totally metric, as I once was. But still, when they were talking about a 1 metre high hedge, I had to convert to about 3 feet before I had a concept of the heigth of that hedge.

3 Feet is about 'that' high...one metre?? WTF?

[Swingman]

Have no fear ... Big Al just hasn't got around to making a documentary about it yet. His next project, the "Inconvenient Inch", is in the works.

It will stop global warming in its tracks by making the "feels like" numbers smaller for the idiocracy.

[Robatoy]

I'm not going near the topic of Big Al with a 3.048 metre pole.

[John Martin]

Isn't that wonderful. You have to manufacture and stock two different sizes, different by only a couple of inches. Not very efficient, is it?

When one or the other wins out - as will inevitably happen - which will it be? Pick one.

Will it be the 1220x2440? I'll be happy, because it will fit right on over my 12", 16" or 24" OC studs, joists or rafters. But it won't quite span the gaps of building done to metric standards. And working in metric units with odd numbers like 1220 and 2440 and their multiples and divisibles isn't much easier than working with inches, feet and fractions.

Will it be the 1250x2500? Easier to work with the numbers, and it will fit metric-built existing structures. But I'll have to trim every piece to get it to fit, won't I?

Wonderful.

John Martin

[Swingman]

How many hanging chads is that?

[Bill]

Bingo! I've been using, thinking, and visualizing Imperial units for over 50 years now and whenever I encounter metric units other than the basics, I have to convert to imperial. IOW - 33 or 56 inches is easy to visualize, but not 84 or 142 cm.

I've worked in the civil engineering field for over 30 years, and visualization is very important in order to get a feel for the job, and recognize incorrect answers when you see them.

Bill

[Mason Pan]

Q1 Isn't that wonderful. You have to manufacture and stock two different sizes, different by only a couple of inches. Not very efficient, is it?

Reply: In plywood business ,"four by eight feet" means "1220X2440 mm only" in metric system . But some customers from Europe and other areas prefer

1250X2500 mm .

I think metric system is more efficient .

Q2 When one or the other wins out - as will inevitably happen - which will it be? Pick one. Reply: As to me, I prefer metric system . Because it's easy to do calculation in metric system .

I agree with you that one will inevitably win out . But it may takes a very long time in the future .

[B A R R Y]

Liquid measurements, as well.

I'd much rather deal with (milli)litres, rather than fractions of ounces, when mixing finishes.

[J. Clarke]

One could argue that the binary system has finer granularity than that old fashioned pre-computer decimal system.

Binary gives you 3 units between 1/1 and 1/10, and 3 units between

1/10 and 1/100.

Lot more flexible.

Or hadn't you noticed that 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64 were powers of 2 in the denominator?

[J. Clarke]

So what? What are the valid reason to NOT use the system we're already using? If you want people to change their behavior you have to give them a reason to do so, not simply tell them that there's no reason not to.

Why would one wonder that after "using it steady for a few days"?

[J. Clarke]

Edwin, are _you_ going to buy me a new planer, new saw fences, a full set of twist, brad point, and Forstner bits, new wrenches and sockets, new tape measures and rulers, and redimension all my drawings? If not, are you going to pay me the the cost of all of this? If not, then why should I be in favor of something that puts me out of pocket a quite large amount of money and confers to me no benefit that I can discern.

[mac davis]

I prefer metric for wrenches, sockets and drill bits... beats the hell out of figuring out the fractions..

If 12mm doesn't fit, go to 11 or 13 simple!

As for 15/32 and such, if the plywood people would/wood go back to 3/4" and such, it wouldn't be a problem..

Related rant: Why can't hardwood people use nominal sizes like the rest of the lumber industry?

I just bout 3 one foot sections of 16/16 cocobolo... why not just a friggin'

4x4"?

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Lew Hodgett]

Start using a $20, 6" dial caliper calibrated in 0.000" and 90 percent of the problem dissapears.

Lew

[J. Clarke]

Why should one _want_ to "become comfortable with it"? If I get a new pair of boots and walk in them a while I'll be comfortable in them, but if there's nothing wrong with my old boots why should I bother?

And you seem to be ignoring the fact that the English system, parts of which go back to Rome, was to a substantial extent designed around the human form.