Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: das boot on March 12, 2009, 07:18:35 pm
-
Would it be possible to have a set of conversion tables put up on the forum? I hate this new fangled metrical stuff.... >>:-(
Rich
-
glad there is someone else who is baffed about metric best idea since sliced bread
-
Rich
Have you tried searching the internet, there are load of online ones available and ones to download to your PC. This site does one that I have on my desk top http://www.gregorybraun.com/
Brian
-
I'm already in feet an inches - what would I want to convert stuff to metric for? %)
-
You can convert most things relatively easily (keep a calculator in your workshop though!) if you remember two things and they are:
1) 1mm = 40 thou
2) 1 inch = 25.4mm.
Dealing with fractions though is a bit of a different ball game but if you use the second one above even something as obtuse as 5/8" is relatively easily converted with a calculator. Simply divide 25.4 by 8 and then multiply by 5 so it's not too bad.
-
Why bother?
Just scrap feet and inches - metric is so much easier...
Malc
-
I found this one http://www.metric-conversion-tables.com/autometricconversionlength.htm (http://www.metric-conversion-tables.com/autometricconversionlength.htm)
It's still a pain in the a55 though, things in metrical never seem big enough. How am I 'sposed to get all my r/c gear, batteries, esc, pumps and stuff into a WTC that measures 125mm? Silly idea....
Rich
-
Why bother?
Just scrap feet and inches - metric is so much easier...
Malc
Yea but my plywood supplier doesn't do 1.5mm only 1/16" and divisors thereof {:-{
-
I am okay with measurement conversions, but volumetric conversions... %%
I use this website for volume coversions... has some other nice plug in's also.
http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm
-
You can't even go out for a pint nowadays, it just don't seem right asking for a litre of best bitter. {:-{
And the powers that be call it 'progress.....' ;D
Rich
-
1 litre of beer.......thats a big glass! a pint is 568ml.
the metric system is brilliant. 1litre of water - 1kg.
-
I lament the loss of the old methods of weights and measures but most younger people under 30 are tought to think and use the metric system. If we start reverting to imperial then that's going to confuse a confusing issue even further. We've got the sytem , there is no going back and I for one find metric weights mesurment much easier to use.
Bowwave
-
Bring back pence an shillings ,sixpence,thruppence and ten bob note {-)
-
I lament the loss of the old methods of weights and measures but most younger people under 30 are tought to think and use the metric system. If we start reverting to imperial then that's going to confuse a confusing issue even further. We've got the sytem , there is no going back and I for one find metric weights mesurment much easier to use.
Bowwave
I was taught metric weights and measures at school and technical college in the 1960's. When we emigrated to South Africa in 1980, we quickly discovered that they had abandoned the old Imperial system completely. In fact it's illegal in South Africa to own a tape measure with feet and inches! The metric system really simplifies things.
I find that I can now use both equally badly, but I actually prefer the metric SI (Système International d'Unités) system. Previous posts have referred to the correlation between weight and volume (1 Litre of water weighs 1 Kilogramme). 1 cubic metre of water, 1000 Litres, weighs 1 metric ton etc. It's so much easier, you can do the arithmetic without having to take your shoes and socks off {-) {-), for most things anyway... %) %)
Oddly enough, it's the only area where I side with the Europeans rather than the Americans.
Malc
-
I'm still pretty comfortable in both, like building at 150th Scale 2mm= 1foot. :}
If you like older prototypes then all your plan dimensions will be in Imperial as will be most historical data you need to work with.
Colin
-
my profession is a carpenter/builder so work this one out then, building a flat roof to architects drawings fit the ceiling joist at 400mm centres (done) fit 2400x1200x12mm plaster board to ceiling (no problem) all joints finish on centre of the ceiling joists, then screw down 8'x4'x3/4" ply to top %% {-) >:-o >>:-( none of the plywood boards fit. So why do all the suppliers sell Imperial plywood %)
-
I think the problem in the building trade is that most existing older buildings are built to Imperial dimensions with Imperially sized materials - my kitchen is based on that for example. Also of course, America is still using largely Imperial dimensions. The fixings on my recently sold full size boat were a mixture of Imperial and Metric. It's going to be a long, long, long time before everything gets standardised.
Metric may be more superficially convenient but it is actually less versatile than Imperial. 12 has more division options than 10 does which is probably why it was originally adopted despite the fact that we have ten fingers which would seem to have made base 10 the more logical option.
Somehow, Metric doesn't always give you convenient measures. a pound of something is usually more useful than half a kilo for example. A foot is a user friendly measurement length - in Metric it's just an arbitrary 30cms.
In short, Imperial measures are "organic" in origin and more user friendly and are buried in the National psyche - Metric ones are totally artificial.
There is always a reason for everything, whether it is still valid is of course a moot point.
Colin
-
So why do all the suppliers sell Imperial plywood %)
Because they all get together after work and drink pints....
Seriously though, it's symptomatic of the British, we love tradition and only accept gradual change, even then only grudgingly. You only have to look at the plight of the 'Metric Martyrs'.
If we were to get rid of the Imperial system overnight, there would be uproar. Things do change, we no longer use farthings or groats. Chains, pecks and bushels are pretty much history already I believe? For now we have to live with metric plasterboard (just about to do my downstairs ceilings), and Imperial plywood. It's the dual systems that make things difficult, in isolation, both are easy enough.
Malc
-
I have compromised.
I tend to think in Imperial e.g. I'm nearly six feet tall, not 1.8m - but I work in metric, because all the little marks on the rule are the same, so I can't confuse 1/8s with 1/10s etc.
Works for me.
While ever our colonial cousins/franchise owners continue to use Imperial then we've no hope of ditching it in the UK, no matter what the Eurocrats want. I'm just glad that out pints are bigger than theirs ok2
FLJ
-
My brain works the same as FLJs, I think in Imperial because that was what I was taught at school and at college.
Most of my formative work as an engineer took place in the 60s and 70s, in Imperial. I've only had to work with Metric more recently and even then I had to go back to Imperial depending what I was working on. Upgrading a ginormous test system at Airbus Filton that was originally built in 1945 (!) was totally useless if I worked in Metric, trying to find a hydraulic seal kit that fitted a piston that was 1219.2 mm inner diameter was a waste of time because it was designed to be four FEET in diameter.
I have an intrinsic feel for what 100 ft ilbs of torque are, I have a gut feeling for 3000 psi of pressure, but not 207 bar, that's the just the way I was taught.
In a generation's time it won't be a problem because all of us educated this way will have moved on to higher things, then the Metric Lobby can have things all their own way. In the meanwhile, whether they like it or not, we have to live in a dual standard world.
Mind you, if that Airbus test system is still working then someone will have to find a 1219.2 mm seal when it springs a leak............ ok2
-
Just scrap feet and inches - metric is so much easier...
Couldn't agree more, Malc. The problems arise when using US designed or made gear, as they won't change to metric >>:-(
I was taught the Metric system at school in the early 50s, well before Australia went over to that system, in 1966, and remember thinking even then, how much easier it was than the Imperial system.
Peter.
-
The problems arise when using US designed or made gear, as they won't change to metric >>:-(
Ahhh.. but GB gave the USA the Imperial system... and you know how long it takes the USA to catch up with the rest of the world.. O0
-
The problems arise when using US designed or made gear, as they won't change to metric >>:-(
Ahhh.. but GB gave the USA the Imperial system... and you know how long it takes the USA to catch up with the rest of the world.. O0
I have recently been trying to specify telemetry communication cables manufactured in America for a UK client - all quoted in AWG wire sizes. Doing voltage drop calculations for these cables has been an absolute nightmare! Having to look up the actual diameter of the cable cores in an American Imperial AWG table and then converting these to metric cross-sectional areas before running the calculations. All of the client's standards are written using metric values, volts per kilometre etc.
Malc
-
The USA does not use Imperial Units. It uses some but the gallon there, for example, is not the same as an Imperial Gallon and they usually express smaller weights as a fraction of an Avoirdupois pound. Engineering throughout the world is a different ball game with several differing guages and standards used.
Roger in France
-
The USA does not use Imperial Units.
Hmmmmm
"The United States uses a hodgepodge of metric and customary units. The customary units in use there are historically derived from units which were in use in England at the time of settlement. The measurements of most of these units in England itself were subsequently changed.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units
-
The problems arise when using US designed or made gear, as they won't change to metric >>:-(
Ahhh.. but GB gave the USA the Imperial system... and you know how long it takes the USA to catch up with the rest of the world.. O0
We also gave them the English language but they couldn't work out how to use that correctly either!!
-
We also gave them the English language but they couldn't work out how to use that correctly either!!
LOL Bunkerbarge...
Divided by a common language.. O0
-
U-33
hear ye hear ye >>:-(
right on!!! I am an ole' codger who deplors the metric system I am 5 FOOT 3 INCHES tall and I weigh 149 POUNDS
whats that in the metric system??
who gives a rip!! certainly not me HA HA HA {-)
the old foot inches, weight system was good enough for our forefathers its good enough for me
Grandad
larry
-
I buy Petrol/Diesel in litres but calculate the fuel consumption in Miles per Gallon!!!
Where's the sense in that?
Bob.
-
So the youngsters are taught in metric? Yes, and they don't use it!
In electrical work we started to change to S.I. late 60's/early 70's. What a hotch pot idea!
The basic metric system is reasonable enough (although the human mind still reverts back to what you learned "x" years ago) but even in a forum such as this you find that the system is being abused. The old centimetre? How can that be used as a unit of measurement since ALL units are in powers of THREE?
So all the comments of x cm. for this or that, sorry, it's either metres or millimetres guys.
Which now makes me wonder about the use of cubic centimetres for volumes......
Oh dear, is it just me or has my grey cell gone into warp drive?
PS At the time of the changeover, busy learning to use SI, working in M.O.D. land (they were still using C.G.S.), I had been brought up on M.K.S. and was trying frantically to go into SI. No wonder my mind is a mixture of apples, oranges and whatever! Having just got the hang of SI, I went to work in one of our former colonies... Yup, they didn't want to know about metric. Back to square one.
There is (by rumour) one road in the USA that is actually calibrated in metric terms. Quite good fun driving a car with imperial gauges and trying to calculate distances / times by mental arithmetic. {:-{
-
In Ireland there was a situation in recent years where the distances were in miles and the speed limits in kph! ok2
Or the other way round, I can't remember properly, but I think they've now gone 100% Metric in that area anyway.
-
We also gave them the English language but they couldn't work out how to use that correctly either!!
The same could be said for Australians. Crikey, anyone who doesn't understand the metric system must be a dead set galah, fair dinkum {-) {-) {-)
Peter.
-
The USA does not use Imperial Units.
Hmmmmm
"The United States uses a hodgepodge of metric and customary units. The customary units in use there are historically derived from units which were in use in England at the time of settlement. The measurements of most of these units in England itself were subsequently changed.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units
You tell 'im Toes - they don't even have soap in France!
{-) {-) {-) {-)
-
I will not have the French maligned over their cleanliness!
After coming out of the dark ages with inadequate plumbing I have to tell you that French facilities are now far superior to those in the UK. My local truck stop has taps for the drivers to wash their hands which are operated by a "magic eye"; the lavatory seat has an auto paper seat cover dispenser and there are two showers - all facilities are unisex.
The supplied equipment is well used. It is quite common to see taps operated by a push button in the floor or a knee pad.
I was not sure if I was being attacked over my comment that in the USA the gallon used is not the Imperial Gallon. If so allow me to assure you it is not, being considerably smaller. If you want to know the reason it is quite simple. Early British settlers to the Americas took with them their local measures (the UK was not then standardised) the gallon used is the Winchester Gallon.
Roger in France
(former Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures)
-
I was not sure if I was being attacked over my comment that in the USA the gallon used is not the Imperial Gallon.
http://www.sizes.com/units/gallon_winchester.htm
But it originally came from England?...
Thanks Roger, i didnt know that.. :-))
-
The supplied equipment is well used. It is quite common to see taps operated by a push button in the floor or a knee pad.
Hi Roger
Surely the French would be more sensible to install push buttons at hand height? It must be really unhygienic having to crawl around a toilet floor to operate the taps? {-) {-)
(said he, tongue in cheek)...
Did anybody see the article in that good old left-wing rag, The Daily Mail yesterday about France rejoining NATO? - Hilarious!
One of the many completely derogatory jokes in the article (the following one on a nautical theme)...
Q: Why do the French have glass bottom boats in their Navy?
A: To see all their other ships
Malc
-
Malc, shouldn't a comment about the French and being sensible be in the humour section?
As for all the fancy gadgets described above to "automatically" wash hands, dispense paper etc.. they may seem advanced but they are actually required because if they weren't automated then nothing would get used.
-
I can cope with imperial or metric measurements. What does do my head in is when an advert applies both.
The other day I spotted something for sale in a free paper and it had a size of 650mm x 4'6". Now that is just stupid and very annoying.
Alan
-
Bunkerbarge is, of course, making a valid comment - a point I was avoiding! While I do see the vast majority of folk use the wash facilities in restaurants in France it is their attitude to public toilets which disgust me. Many of them seem to see "depositing their waste" within the area of a public toilet to be quite OK, it not being essential to use the toilet itself!
Many years ago, while on holiday in France, our young son wrote his own guide to touring in France; no stars, just increasing numbers of "brown blobs"!
Roger in France
-
This reminds me of a record by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch entitled "The Loos of England"..... :o
Rich
-
So Malc is a Daily Wail reader then.....
-
It made me smile recently to hear of a strange phenomenon that is sweeping our bacteria paranoid American friends.
Apparently women are getting to the point that they are so terrified of catching something from toilet flushing handles that they now use thier feet to operate it!! O0
So they walk all over the toilet floor, then wipe thier feet on the flushing handle that the next poor so and so is going to put her hand on!
As usual, it defies belief.
-
As Peter notes......the same could be said for Australians. Crikey, anyone who doesn't understand the metric system must be a dead set galah, fair dinkum
We were trying to resolve a diametrical clearance issue between a GE 250 spherical bearing & the mating pin....after much input & debate without resolution >>:-(....I suggested that 250 mm was close to 10" ...so 1/2 of a thou per inch [0.0005"] would provide 0.005" total clearance or transitional fit....this was then accepted by a panel of degree qualified engineers who converted the dimension back to 0.127 mm clearance
Sorry Peter ....but I proudly slot/fit into the galah status %%...as I still mentally resolve issues like these in bits & pieces of " [inches] & the little parts that maketh the whole number :police: :-))
Bogstandard will agree with me here ...our younger trades apprentices are taught that all measurements are SI or metric, yet certain components are still manufactured in Imperial units...so what happens?
We read dimensional reports .....of 25.337 mm [as viewed from the TV set in the digital vernier] when the dimension was 1.00" - Derek {:-{...I rest my case
-
I grew up using the imperial system, we did learn metrics in High School, but still used imperial measurements. the only problem was with the US so close we ran into there version. This always caused me some confusion, How many oz in a gallon 160 fluid ounces or 128 fluid ounces, There are four quarts to a gallon so is a quart 32 oz. or 40 oz. Back when we bought and sold gasoline in gallons here we sold in imperial gallons 160 fluid ounces, but most of our cars had fuel tanks measured in US gallons. When you went to the store to buy a Quart of milk it was 32 oz. and a pint container was 16 oz. It was all very confusing and it still is, so lets just all go to metric and confuse things more. When I learned Metrics we were told that it was based on the number 10, but when I talk to the kids about length they say you go from a millimetre directly to a metre, what happened to the ones in between, centimetre = 1⁄100 of a metre or 1×10−2 metre, decimetre = 1⁄10 of a metre or 1×10−1 metre, decametre = 10 metres, hectometre = 100 metres.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units
Confused in Canada
Regards,
Gerald
-
It is my strong belife that the metric system was "invented" by some one that figured out that he (or she) only had ten digits to count with. Just a good thing that they wernt missing a finger.
In about a hundred years or two, Metric will be all that is used as "historical" objects, will no longer be in use. Well maybee still in the USA.
Where does the mesure one dozen come in this? why is a bakers dozen 13?
I Have a spred sheet on my PC that I made a while ago were it can convert inches to mm, also does fractions if I recall. If you want it PM me and I will mail it to you.
-
So Malc is a Daily Wail reader then.....
Not really, it's way too far to the left for me...
Regards
Malc
-
So Malc is a Daily Wail reader then.....
Not really, it's way too far to the left for me...
Regards
Malc
I thought you were right handed Malc... %)
Rich
-
So Malc is a Daily Wail reader then.....
Not really, it's way too far to the left for me...
Regards
Malc
I thought you were right handed Malc... %)
Rich
Absolutely!
Malc
-
Don't forget the meter and decimal system was first invented by an Englishman, John Wilkins.
Going back a few posts - Grandad are you American then, giving your weight in pounds instead of stone?
On TV there is a series called "A 4x4 is Born". At one point the presenter measures something on the Landy and declares it "25mm". Well anyone can see he's got it a 64th short.
-
I was an apprentice, and I was taught in both units- it was a requirement, but I do notice that people a few years younger than me (I'm 36 BTW) are now completely confounded by imperial measurement.
Personally I've always considered metric to be a far more logical and easy to work with, and only switch to imperial if necessary (rare).
Andy
-
I will use metric if when I measure something the tape measure aligns with metric,otherwise I stick to Imperial
You can divide 12 by 2,3,4,and 6.
If you look at something that you need to guess at its size,I find I can be close with Imperial but miles ( kilometers ) out with Metric.
Try and guess the distance between the smilies.
;) %).
-
I was an apprentice, and I was taught in both units- it was a requirement, but I do notice that people a few years younger than me (I'm 36 BTW) are now completely confounded by imperial measurement.
Personally I've always considered metric to be a far more logical and easy to work with, and only switch to imperial if necessary (rare).
Andy
Only 36? A mere sprog Andy... %)
Rich
-
I was raised with the inch system, but subjected to metric when everyone was going to switch over for a universal system. So much for that here in the U.S.A. We are still mired in the confusion of both. Being a mechanical engineer, I had to used both, depending on the type of machine or where the machine was going. Optical machinery is metric, period. Machines going to Germany and other like exports, were metric. Depending on the U.S. company's use of the machine, it would have been mainly inch, except when manufacturing for foreign companies for a metric product. I learned to flip flop as easily as water slides off a duck's back and with the aid of a pocket calculator, rolled with the punches, when the occasion would rise. So, my opinion is, BIG DEAL. %% {-) ok2
-
When my brother in law was learning the mechanics trade in the late '60s a nice new car was being fitted with the "extras". After the job was complete, the "lads" wandered round, scratching heads and saying "Something is not right". They eventually decided that the wing mirrors (60s, so down towards the front end of the wings) were placed differently. The fitting measurement was x many inches from the front. One was exactly x many centimetres. Beware of two sided rulers and mates who want to talk and work at the same time.
-
Beware of two sided rulers.
Exactly the reason I only have metric rulers and tapes.
Peter.
-
I used to love watching the American DIY programmes - Norm Abrahams??
The use of every conceivable woodworking machine was one thing, but the sizes well ....
"so we'll use a piece of nine eights by four and a half inch pine, and fasten it with one penny nails ...."
.. and we think metric -v- imperial has problems ... %% %% {-)
Danny
-
Many many years ago ......Australia experimented with the "Wyndam" system for education & I was in the guinea pig year %% through out my complete education <:(
Whilst working shift work........when I went to study "Heat Engines & Applied Heat" [ISBN 0304290815- by F Metcalfe] in the eveng class we used this new SI system.......when I attended day classes we used Imperial values.....
Naturally I failed that subject that year >>:-( Derek
-
When I was in High School we used Metrics in the Physics and Chemistry Labs, Metric & Imperial in Machine shop, Drafting and Auto Mechanics, and Imperial and US in Carpentry and plumbing, and they wondered why we could not keep things straight. It turned out as good training for when you went to work, everything mixed up and not a straight answer from anybody.
Regards,
Gerald