Metric? Is it the way to go?

[Davej]

Don't use fractions - use the decimal equivalent:

1/2" = .5
3/4" = .75
etc etc

7/64" = ummm...what? [crying]

That's an easy one! .125" minus a smidge.

That depends on how sharp your pencil is  [tongue]

 

[Stephen B]

I have just read the 20 or so replays to this post. Basically the same responses to similar posts in September, July, June, and May when I joined.   [mad]

Looking fwd, not, to someone raising the issue in November!!

The only new thought this time was that of the Education system. Right on, but I would have thought that in most District Boards their schools at least in some Mathematics courses would include some study of metric systems.

 

[John H]

And so ...

7/64" = ummm...what? [crying]

7/64" = .110" or 2.77 mm  Which is the easier number and what size pencil lead do you use?

 

[andvari]

I have just read the 20 or so replays to this post. Basically the same responses to similar posts in September, July, June, and May when I joined.   [mad]

Looking fwd, not, to someone raising the issue in November!!

The only new thought this time was that of the Education system. Right on, but I would have thought that in most District Board their schools at least in some Mathematics courses would include some study of metric systems.

I was exposed to the metric system several times during my education. By the time I finished college I was taking courses that were using SI units, which are really wonderful to work in.

The idea of an official decimal system of measurements actually originated in the United States with Thomas Jefferson. Alas Congress (setting a precedent) did not act on his proposal.

http://metricationmatters.com/docs/USAMetricSystemHistory.pdf

He was successful with currency though, which is why the US had the first decimal monetary system in the world.

The US is actually officially on the metric system. It just isn't imposed on commerce by law. The definitions of Imperial units in the US are all based on metric measurements now.

 

[johninthecamper]

I was buying a 4 foot piece of rebar. The cashier brought up a screen and said she could not find the 4' rebar on the screen and asked if I knew which one I has.  The screen listed:
10 feet
   8 feet
48 inches
24 Inches

And she could not equate that 48 inches was the same as 4 feet. and yes I got deer in headlights stare when i pointed to 48 INCHES
   

I got a better one,doing carpet,got a roll, I say to my assigned helper,roll this out and cut me off 30 ft.he looks at me and says"my tape only goes up to 25".he said earlier that last week,he was delivering pizzas,now he has this cool job,how come I get switched around to different guys all day,

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

As a boy, I remember my Dad having every size socket in metric and imperial sizes along with gauges, tape measures, combination squares, etc.  That was my first exposure to the two different systems. This was back in the sixties!
For me, I find that designing something using the metric system allows me to easier visualize the overall dimensions of a piece (versus using imperial.)   Once I started with the Festool track saw,  I agreeably stepped "over the line" to going full-time metric.  Everyday, I use the Woodpecker 1281, but it's only for making a 90 degree line. As I've posted before, try a design and build using metric only and just see if you like it.  Hope this helps.

 

[upscale]

As a boy, I remember my Dad having every size socket in metric and imperial sizes along with gauges, tape measures, combination squares, etc.  That was my first exposure to the two different systems. This was back in the sixties!

Yeah, but that's a different scenario. Even in the sixties, there were a number of European car brands being sold in North America. To do *any* work on those cars meant needing to have a number of metric based wrenches and sockets on hand. Owning metric tools was a matter of survival.

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

Yes, I agree.

 

[sancho57]

Since I got into using festools, I began using the metric system. Still in the learning phase. I bought a construction calc for my Iphone. its very useful. I use it to convert imperial to metric . It makes life a whole lot easier for me.

 

[JeromeM]

Since I got into using festools, I began using the metric system. Still in the learning phase. I bought a construction calc for my Iphone. its very useful. I use it to convert imperial to metric . It makes life a whole lot easier for me.

which one did you get? I got BuildCalc and I think is good but never having used a construction calc before and not needing it just yet I haven't spent the time to learn to use it [unsure]

 

[Kev]

It isn't so much that the imperial system is bad, but it is how we choose to use it. Mixing units and using fractional measurements is a choice the person makes. It is not a requirement of the system. It could be done with either system, but no one would dream of doing it with metric.

You would never think of saying something is 1m, 2dm, 3cm, 6mm long, would you? No. It would be 1236mm. We think nothing of saying something is 5ft 4-1/4 in long.

We choose to mix units, and it is not a good practice. But it is nevertheless, a choice the individual makes.

Even the use of fractions is a choice. We choose to use tape measures that are divided in fractional inches, but they are also available in decimal inches too.

With the work that I do, I constantly have to switch back and forth for the incoming information, but the outgoing information is always with a single system and a single unit. Where necessary, the secondary measurement will be added in parenthesis for convenience.

To support this line of thinking you'd need to work in decimal feet or decimal inches. The metric system just works.

 

[RONWEN]

It is very unfortunate that our government entities have consistently buckled to the whims of the obstinate who refuse to join the rest of the world and go totally metric. [huh]

Some will remember that we in the U.S. have set three different dates (All long past that began in the 80's) that were supposed to be the final deadlines for total conversion to the metric system, both in schools, and in general use.  As a result of the unwillingness to learn a new system, we are still stuck in the dark ages with measurements that are based on the size of a King's finger, joint, and feet! [mad]

Someday.....  maybe someday.... (but I'll probably be dead or have dementia by then) [crying]

It actually started even earlier & was Jimmy Carter's project to convert the U.S.

One of those "drop dead dates" was for U.S. plants to meet the standards set in EC '92 -- I spent 100's of thousands of dollars converting a large plant and people to metric.  Problems after problems occured -- Older design engineers would create products "thinking in imperial" then hit a button on the CAD system to dimension drawings in metric, those drawings would hit the shops where you could find machinists, weldors, etc sitting at their bench with a calculator converting the drawings to imperial.  [eek] 

 

[Kev]

I can't imagine the US weather on your TV being broadcast in Celsius. Teach metric solidly in schools now and it'll probably still be two generations before the US could realistically be comprehensively metric.

Was metric ever "sold" to the US population? Being the consumer driven society that it is, I don't believe there'd be enthusiastic adoption without a good sales pitch [wink]

 

[Paul G]

I can't imagine the US weather on your TV being broadcast in Celsius. Teach metric solidly in schools now and it'll probably still be two generations before the US could realistically be comprehensively metric.

Was metric ever "sold" to the US population? Being the consumer driven society that it is, I don't believe there'd be enthusiastic adoption without a good sales pitch [wink]

I was taught metric in grade school, it's obviously not hard, it's the transition that is hard. Forget about the weather, just changing road signs will be an imense undertaking. Not just the speed limit signs (which will create a safety hazard when a 60 zone becomes a 100 zone) but every sign that says "Main street 3" or "San Francisco 35". Also we're dealing with Fed, State, County and City jurisdictions. The feds are not in charge everywhere in spite of what the big wigs in WDC pontificate. We've got 50 states, over 3,000 counties and probably 20-30,000 cities and all their governors, commissioners, mayors and legislative bodies will all get to weigh in. In the context of our overall societal problems, metric changeover is at the bottom of the list.

 

[SittingElf]

I can't imagine the US weather on your TV being broadcast in Celsius. Teach metric solidly in schools now and it'll probably still be two generations before the US could realistically be comprehensively metric.

Was metric ever "sold" to the US population? Being the consumer driven society that it is, I don't believe there'd be enthusiastic adoption without a good sales pitch [wink]

I was taught metric in grade school, it's obviously not hard, it's the transition that is hard. Forget about the weather, just changing road signs will be an imense undertaking. Not just the speed limit signs (which will create a safety hazard when a 60 zone becomes a 100 zone) but every sign that says "Main street 3" or "San Francisco 35". Also we're dealing with Fed, State, County and City jurisdictions. The feds are not in charge everywhere in spite of what the big wigs in WDC pontificate. We've got 50 states, over 3,000 counties and probably 20-30,000 cities and all their governors, commissioners, mayors and legislative bodies will all get to weigh in. In the context of our overall societal problems, metric changeover is at the bottom of the list.

And what that all means is that the USA will eventually (if not sooner) be the lone country still using an antiquated imperial scale. Here we are on a Festool site, lauding the wonderful tools made by them and others, and yet those manufacturers are all located in Metric countries. Europe and Asia are all metric, so if they want to sell product in the USA, they have to produce a separate product specifically and exclusively for the U.S. market.  And while they do that, they are having to set up additional capability to manufacture to the rest of the world! [mad]

This is a totally ridiculous situation that our arrogance in the USA has caused. It is costing manufacturers MILLIONS if not BILLIONS that might otherwise not have to be spent in order to tailor their products to a single country.

The time is now...and late at that.  I can't stand the fact that I have to buy two sets of many items like socket wrenches and similar to be able to have the right tools to match any job.  It is simply bizarre that we continue to work with a fractional vs. a true decimal system.  And, weather reports in Celsius? Simple!  0 = freezing temp of water. 100 = boiling temp of water. What could be simpler?

Change is always hard, but in the long run, we would ALL benefit with an international standard.  [2cents]

 

[Michael Kellough]

I can't imagine the US weather on your TV being broadcast in Celsius. Teach metric solidly in schools now and it'll probably still be two generations before the US could realistically be comprehensively metric.

Was metric ever "sold" to the US population? Being the consumer driven society that it is, I don't believe there'd be enthusiastic adoption without a good sales pitch [wink]

I was taught metric in grade school, it's obviously not hard, it's the transition that is hard. Forget about the weather, just changing road signs will be an imense undertaking. Not just the speed limit signs (which will create a safety hazard when a 60 zone becomes a 100 zone) but every sign that says "Main street 3" or "San Francisco 35". Also we're dealing with Fed, State, County and City jurisdictions. The feds are not in charge everywhere in spite of what the big wigs in WDC pontificate. We've got 50 states, over 3,000 counties and probably 20-30,000 cities and all their governors, commissioners, mayors and legislative bodies will all get to weigh in. In the context of our overall societal problems, metric changeover is at the bottom of the list.

And what that all means is that the USA will eventually (if not sooner) be the lone country still using an antiquated imperial scale. Here we are on a Festool site, lauding the wonderful tools made by them and others, and yet those manufacturers are all located in Metric countries. Europe and Asia are all metric, so if they want to sell product in the USA, they have to produce a separate product specifically and exclusively for the U.S. market.  And while they do that, they are having to set up additional capability to manufacture to the rest of the world! [mad]

This is a totally ridiculous situation that our arrogance in the USA has caused. It is costing manufacturers MILLIONS if not BILLIONS that might otherwise not have to be spent in order to tailor their products to a single country.

The time is now...and late at that.  I can't stand the fact that I have to buy two sets of many items like socket wrenches and similar to be able to have the right tools to match any job.  It is simply bizarre that we continue to work with a fractional vs. a true decimal system.  And, weather reports in Celsius? Simple!  0 = freezing temp of water. 100 = boiling temp of water. What could be simpler?

Change is always hard, but in the long run, we would ALL benefit with an international standard.   [2cents]

Can you believe we fought a war to get out of the Imperial domain?

Can you imagine how the Teaparty people in Congress would react if the Senate passed a bill to go metric?
Maybe that would distract them from their anger over millions of people finally getting health insurance...

 

[morts10n]

I had this conversation with another cabinet guy recently. He uses both systems, but maintains that metric is the better one.  I asked " Quick, what is a 1/4 of 35mm??"  He pointed out to me that in the metric system you are only dividing by 10, but in the imperial system you are dividing by (the arbitrary) 16.
Point taken!

 

[RONWEN]

I can't imagine the US weather on your TV being broadcast in Celsius. Teach metric solidly in schools now and it'll probably still be two generations before the US could realistically be comprehensively metric.

Was metric ever "sold" to the US population? Being the consumer driven society that it is, I don't believe there'd be enthusiastic adoption without a good sales pitch [wink]

I was taught metric in grade school, it's obviously not hard, it's the transition that is hard. Forget about the weather, just changing road signs will be an imense undertaking. Not just the speed limit signs (which will create a safety hazard when a 60 zone becomes a 100 zone) but every sign that says "Main street 3" or "San Francisco 35". Also we're dealing with Fed, State, County and City jurisdictions. The feds are not in charge everywhere in spite of what the big wigs in WDC pontificate. We've got 50 states, over 3,000 counties and probably 20-30,000 cities and all their governors, commissioners, mayors and legislative bodies will all get to weigh in. In the context of our overall societal problems, metric changeover is at the bottom of the list.

And what that all means is that the USA will eventually (if not sooner) be the lone country still using an antiquated imperial scale. Here we are on a Festool site, lauding the wonderful tools made by them and others, and yet those manufacturers are all located in Metric countries. Europe and Asia are all metric, so if they want to sell product in the USA, they have to produce a separate product specifically and exclusively for the U.S. market.  And while they do that, they are having to set up additional capability to manufacture to the rest of the world! [mad]

This is a totally ridiculous situation that our arrogance in the USA has caused. It is costing manufacturers MILLIONS if not BILLIONS that might otherwise not have to be spent in order to tailor their products to a single country.

The time is now...and late at that.  I can't stand the fact that I have to buy two sets of many items like socket wrenches and similar to be able to have the right tools to match any job.  It is simply bizarre that we continue to work with a fractional vs. a true decimal system.  And, weather reports in Celsius? Simple!  0 = freezing temp of water. 100 = boiling temp of water. What could be simpler?

Change is always hard, but in the long run, we would ALL benefit with an international standard.   [2cents]

Can you believe we fought a war to get out of the Imperial domain?

Can you imagine how the Teaparty people in Congress would react if the Senate passed a bill to go metric?
Maybe that would distract them from their anger over millions of people finally getting health insurance...

People are funny creatures -- can you imagine the reaction if Congress banned all use of tobacco???   [scared]

 

[barnowl]

It actually started even earlier & was Jimmy Carter's project to convert the U.S...

Nixon.

[wink]

 

[RONWEN]

It actually started even earlier & was Jimmy Carter's project to convert the U.S...

Nixon.

[wink]

Nixon did the metric road signs but Jimmy tried to convert us over completely.