I am totally embarrassed
#29
I remember I made a mistake once.
Big Grin
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#30
Hmmm, I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken... <grin>
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#31
(10-12-2019, 08:00 PM)tnff Wrote: We actually did have road signs that give distance and speed in both back in the 70s.  We were headed down the path to metric and somewhere in the 80s got lost.  I work in a lab where most of the scientists work in SI.  But the dang engineers refuse to change and still work in horrible units like BTU per pound mass.

About that time, I lived in Chicago and The Tribune would publish recipes, and they went something like
Sugar   1 Tablespoon     14.7868 cc

I remember thinking just how many times I read something like 1.4327 Tablespoons or   1.696 eggs.  Never

To the letter, but not the spirit.

This week, a doctor told me I had a 2 cm tumor and kept trying to convert that into inches for me.   Nevermind, I understand what 2 cm is.


What used to really irk me is that I'd be working on a table or something and the bolt at the top of the leg was 7/16 hex head and the one on the shelf was 8mm.   I even had a bolt once that was spec'd   8mm x 3"    Either metric or SAE is fine, but not both.
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#32
(10-10-2019, 12:04 PM)stoppy Wrote: Just finished cutting all my grooves in 3/4" plywood for my table sled and I'm thinking why would a company have a plan for a sled that is so floppy. I think,the metal bars must stiffen it up.  Well, let's check the instructions just to be sure.  11/32's deep grooves. Yep that's what I got.  !/32 past 5/8 is 11/32, wait a minute that doesn't sound right. No' no, i.d.i.o.t. 1/32 past 5/16 is 11/32.  It's a good d**n thing I can laugh at myself, and that I have enough plywood to redo it.

My guess is that we've all "been there and done that" - I know I certainly have! Good luck moving forward!

Doug
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#33
I use metric for calculating balustrade or stair steps. Anything that I have to divide is much easier with metricity.
VH07V  
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#34
(10-10-2019, 02:14 PM)Turner52 Wrote: Metric is super easy to learn and do in your head. Why this country is too stuborn to convert I will never understand, Yes it would cost money to do, but would not need to be done in1 big step. It could be fased in. A large part of our manufacturing system is forced to do metric in order to sell on the world market. Really frustrating to me is when I am working on something and a socket will not fit correctly. Always in a spot that is impossible to see. Rust, dinged up or metric. Probably 1 of the 3, but which one?

 IMO, Metric is not easier. It's more difficult for woodworking.
A foot is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. (base 12)
A meter is only divisible by 2 and 5 (base 10)
Not very often that sheet goods are cut into 5 equal pieces.

So if you have a 2 meter piece of wood that you need cut into 3 pieces, each is 2/3 of a meter, you are now
back to doing fractional or weird decimal measurements. And if someone says "Well, that's obviously 666 millimeters", good
luck finding a tape that is readable and can easily measure that.. how is that any easier than reading 5/32 of an inch.. it is not, in my opinion. Millimeters are basically the same thing as a decimal.. not really any easier at all.

Just learn fractions guys, it's not that hard.  (I am joking here).
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#35
(10-31-2019, 12:29 PM)paul2004 Wrote:  IMO, Metric is not easier. It's more difficult for woodworking.
A foot is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. (base 12)
A meter is only divisible by 2 and 5 (base 10)
Not very often that sheet goods are cut into 5 equal pieces.

So if you have a 2 meter piece of wood that you need cut into 3 pieces, each is 2/3 of a meter, you are now
back to doing fractional or weird decimal measurements. And if someone says "Well, that's obviously 666 millimeters", good
luck finding a tape that is readable and can easily measure that.. how is that any easier than reading 5/32 of an inch.. it is not, in my opinion. Millimeters are basically the same thing as a decimal.. not really any easier at all.

Just learn fractions guys, it's not that hard.  (I am joking here).
How often do you have a 2 m length (78.74 inches or 78 and 47/64) . How likely it is that you will be dividing that fractional number 78 47/64 by 3. And you say fractions is easier than finding 666?
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#36
(10-10-2019, 03:27 PM)Handplanesandmore Wrote: Yes, metric is usually easier to work with, but not always.

I can for instance tell my woodworking buddy to set his combination square or marking gauge to 1/64", and he'd have no issues compiling with that using an etched rule. Now try 1.5875mm.

Simon

1.5875 will be rounded up to 1.6mm or rounded down to 1.5 mm.  Do you find that you are losing "accuracy"?  Really?
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