Measurements in advertizing

[LarryG]

Speaking of not mixing metric and imperial - since it's a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood, why shouldn't it be a full 3/4" thick, instead of 22/32". I've long suspected they converted the thickness to a metric measurement, although I've never bothered to put a caliper on it.

Could be (except I think you meant 23/32", not 22/32"). So-called 3/4" Baltic birch plywood is really 18mm, which converts to 22.667/32" -- about as close to 23/32" as can be measured without using something as precise as calipers.

[ragswl4]

I gave up. I only have two crescent wrenches. If I can't fix it or put it together with those and a hammer, the item gets returned. It's usually pretty beat up by then anyway and usually won't work.

[Sawduster]

I have twice as many mechanics tools as I would otherwise.

I have about half as many as I would if I had not had kids. Guess it's payback for my having absconded with or lost so many of my dad's tools as a lad.

Haven't replaced many of the mechanics' tools because I really don't enjoy working on cars any more.

[cabinetman]

I don't like working in metric. I noticed it got integrated with the influx of tools and hardware that were metric. I never used metric mechanics tools until I got a German car. As for industry standards, the basics I doubt will change in my lifetime. For construction lumber, being considered as dimensional lumber, compared to the hardwoods classifications, that differential makes for easy understanding. My only savior in the metric measures is to have conversion charts, or remember some basics, like 1/8" = 3mm approx.

It's just those times that I get drawings that are metric, and I wind up doing all the conversion to inches before I turn on the saw.

[LCHIEN]

I don't like working in metric. ...
It's just those times that I get drawings that are metric, and I wind up doing all the conversion to inches before I turn on the saw.

Last time I got a drawing, I did not realize it was in metric. I built it and the table ended up 2-1/2 times bigger than normal end table!

Initially, I thought it was funny that they used decimal inches but then, I'm used to mechanical drawings that use decimal inches.

Fortunately I was able to cut the legs off and use it for a dining table.

[cabinetman]

Fortunately I was able to cut the legs off and use it for a dining table.

That's funnier than heck. You got me laughing...really. How could you get that far without realizing the difference? Maybe furniture for a giant? That's the first thing I get straight is the dimensions. I got into a habit of doing shop drawings for everything, and those are in inches. So, I usually catch that up front. But the killer is when those drawings have mixed measurements. Some of those drawings get passed to different draftsmen (if you could call them that), that add their own sections or details.

BTW, what do they call them these days...cadmen instead of draftsmen?

[Black wallnut]

I've said it before and since some of ya'lls were not here then I'll repeat myself! So what exactly is the problem with our system of measurement? If three friends go into a pizza parlor and order one large pizza which the each eat an equal share then each will consume exactly 1/3! Kinda hard to exactly express in metric. Or maybe the problem is inch measurement. My calipers read to the thousandth of an inch, which is plenty fine for anything I do. Perhaps it's liquid and dry measure that confuses folks, pints, quarts, gallons, barrels, fluid ounces. It seems just a case of memorization.

[jking]

That's funnier than heck. You got me laughing...really. How could you get that far without realizing the difference? Maybe furniture for a giant? That's the first thing I get straight is the dimensions. I got into a habit of doing shop drawings for everything, and those are in inches. So, I usually catch that up front. But the killer is when those drawings have mixed measurements. Some of those drawings get passed to different draftsmen (if you could call them that), that add their own sections or details.

BTW, what do they call them these days...cadmen instead of draftsmen?

At my office we call them drafters (gender neutral). Some places have started calling them designers. In some cases the people have more responsibility than just completing the drawings. A title such as "designer" sounds better to some people.

[LCHIEN]

That's funnier than heck. You got me laughing...really. How could you get that far without realizing the difference? Maybe furniture for a giant? That's the first thing I get straight is the dimensions. I got into a habit of doing shop drawings for everything, and those are in inches. So, I usually catch that up front. But the killer is when those drawings have mixed measurements. Some of those drawings get passed to different draftsmen (if you could call them that), that add their own sections or details.

BTW, what do they call them these days...cadmen instead of draftsmen?

supposed to make you laugh - it was a joke... just a joke.

[LarryG]

If three friends go into a pizza parlor and order one large pizza which the each eat an equal share then each will consume exactly 1/3! Kinda hard to exactly express in metric.

While I generally agree with the rest of your position (it ain't broke, etc), I'm not following your logic here. One-third of a metric pizza can be expressed exactly as: 1/3. A third is a third, whether the pizza is described as 15" or the equivalent 381mm in diameter.

Right?

[Popeye]

This discussion comes up from time to time and it always interests me the responses it gets.
I'm getting alittle older and dislike change a bit more. I grew up with fractions...I can work with them, but it's easier with a calculator that works in fractions. Frankly they're a PITA in WW.
I try not to work on cars anymore than I have to these days (raised an auto mechanic) but I'd love it if everything on my truck and Mustang turned into metric over night.
I'd grumble and p*ss and moan if tomorrow "POOF" everything went metric but....I think I'd get over it in a hurry. Well, save for a switch from miles to kilometers, don't think I could get over that one. (but miles are broken down into tenths anyway so why change)
There's my 2 cents for the day. TGIF... for me anyway Pat

[cabinetman]

Well, save for a switch from miles to kilometers, don't think I could get over that one. (but miles are broken down into tenths anyway so why change)
Pat

Pat, I can relate to that. In the Army it was "clicks".

[Black wallnut]

While I generally agree with the rest of your position (it ain't broke, etc), I'm not following your logic here. One-third of a metric pizza can be expressed exactly as: 1/3. A third is a third, whether the pizza is described as 15" or the equivalent 381mm in diameter.

Right?

Right! Hence the real need for fractions. So if fractions are good for some things what is wrong with also using them for linear measure. I do not see how the metric system is any way superior to inches and fractions of inches or inches and decimals. 9/16" is well 9/16" which is exactly 1/16" greater than 1/2" or 1/16" less than 5/8". In the shooting sports the metric system really shines i.e. .223 Remington is exactly the same as 5.56mm NATO and .308 Winchester is the same as 7.62 NATO; the difference being not just the system of measure but more simply just the placement of a decimal. So my point is that just because a measurement standard has a base of ten does not make it any easier or precise, although for someone first learning a system the metric system probabaly is easier, but since we already have the other system just the fact that one may be easier should not be the reason for change. If the ease of learning was the main reason for change why do we not also change our language to Spanish, as American English is far too difficult to learn. Add in the difference between our use and Canadian and British use differences and we really get confused. Not leaving out Aussie differences if there are any Rod as I confess to be mostly ignorant about what those differences may be. Hence simple things like spelling: catalog vs catalogue, there are many others.

Perhaps the problem for those promoting the metric system is when we mix whole numbers and fractions. 1 1/8" is just slightly easier to write and remember, for me at least, than 1.125" but 1 9/16" is much easier than 1.5625". What the metric equilivants to these are is just pointless. These are common bolt head sizes used in larger fasteners, should we retool just to have 36mm vs 1 1/2"; the American public has said no.

I agree with Rod that it is frustrating to have to deal with a mix of both systems of measure and as others have mentioned mixing both in the same product is exceptionally frustrating. Sadly both systems are here to stay. It seems that simply making laws banning one system over the other has only muddied the waters and has not exactly led to the changes some had hoped for. For many of us even if we were to change today we would think in terms of gallons, inches, feet, yards, miles, acres, pounds, and all the other variations of the same.

Real world problem that really brought the short commings of the metric system to the forefront of my thoughts was in my junior year of high school. I was a distance runner in both track and cross country. We had started to make the change to meters in events as opposed to yards and miles. In our junior varsity district meet I took second in the 1600 meter race with a time of 4:36 but had the race been a full mile I likely would have won. That's right this was junior varsity! The change to these shorter distances have tipped the balance in favor of speed rather than endurance. I never would have been good at the 1500 meter but I was a rather great miler!

[scmhogg]

The most significant boost in metric knowledge in the USA came from DRUGS.

Who knew what a kilo was before marijuana or a gram before cocaine?

I was a surveyor in the Army. All our work was in mils. 6400 divisions in a circle rather than 360. I think a mil was the width of a meter at 1000 meters.

Steve