Metric vs Imperial ?

[cygnus a]

I live in the US and as an engineer, I design things at my job in both metric and imperial units.

What are the pros and cons of going metric while woodworking as a hobbyist in the US ? I am asking primarily because I am ordering a Hammer A3-41 jointer-planer and need to choose the dial indicator.

 

[blaszcsj]

I am also an engineer by trade (now on the dark side - project management).

Pro for metric: simpler maths (no fractions!), easier setup, and most plywood is 18 or 19 mm.

Pro for inch: scale of inch is easier to us for large projects like house just due to inch is such larger size than a mm.

In the end, woodworking is fitting and templating and the scale does not matter a whole lot unless you are setting datos or fitting slot widths. Most of the time i am cutting up on a line and smoothing it out with finer tools such as a hand plane or sander. After it is is more the resolution of the tool's settings.

just my 2cents.

 

[rljatl]

I have a metric dial on my A3 31 and try to use metric as much as possible in the shop.  The main downside I have found is that most project plans seem to be in imperial.

 

[Holmz]

I live in the US and as an engineer, I design things at my job in both metric and imperial units.

What are the pros and cons of going metric while woodworking as a hobbyist in the US ? I am asking primarily because I am ordering a Hammer A3-41 jointer-planer and need to choose the dial indicator.

Most engineers I know seem pretty sharp, and can work in either SI or imperial.

Can one order the other the imperial dial indicator and fit it after the fact if they do not care for the origional SI dial indicator?

 

[rljatl]

I live in the US and as an engineer, I design things at my job in both metric and imperial units.

What are the pros and cons of going metric while woodworking as a hobbyist in the US ? I am asking primarily because I am ordering a Hammer A3-41 jointer-planer and need to choose the dial indicator.

Most engineers I know seem pretty sharp, and can work in either SI or imperial.

Can one order the other the imperial dial indicator and fit it after the fact if they do not care for the origional SI dial indicator?

Yes, you can switch them around in literally a minute or so.  The dial fits inside the hand crank wheel and is held in place by one allen head grub screw.  The dial would have to be calibrated.  This takes probably less than 5 minutes.

 

[junk731]

I had an A3-31 when I first got interested in Felder J/P's in 2008. I would suggest you might look at a Wixey remote digital readout and have the best of both worlds. If you want a more robust unit than the Wixey you could also look at Proscale. I now have a Felder AD951 that has factory digital readout and the ability to switch back and forth is a nice option even though rarely used.

John

 

[Dick Mahany]

I fitted a Jet JJP12 combo machine with an iGauging DRO.  I could work in either metric or imperial, however I found that I liked decimal inches for planing wood.  I use metric and decimal inches interchangeably but still don't do fractions 

 

[Paul G]

I fitted a Jet JJP12 combo machine with an iGauging DRO.  I could work in either metric or imperial, however I found that Liked decimal inches for planing wood.  I use metric and decimal inches interchangeably but still don't do fractions 

For me decimal inches is the best option, easier math and can still communicate dimensions in a terminology common in my culture.

 

[pixelated]

I use both interchangeably, but mostly prefer metric. If I were buying the saw, I'd get the metric version and convert as needed. A construction calculator makes it easy for either converting or adding fractional inches.