the metric system... should it be universal?

I often run into a "mix" of Imperial and Metric when I'm fixing something.....yard equipment, vehicles, etc. There are minor differences in the sizes of nuts and bolts, but it is almost imperative to use the correct tools to achieve a proper fix. As a result, I've amassed a rather large collection of tools, both metric and imperial.
 

When it comes to bolts and screws the Imperial system is simpler.

You have NF national fine and NC national coarse.

With the metric system it's more complicated. They have myriad sizes in DIN threads. So you can have five same sized bolts with different threads.
 
Camper6 said:
When it comes to bolts and screws the Imperial system is simpler. You have NF national fine and NC national coarse. With the metric system it's more complicated. They have myriad sizes in DIN threads. So you can have five same sized bolts with different threads.
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For sure! Every time I've had to go to the hardware store for a nut/bolt, I've bought extras. Now, I've got gobs of extra hardware in my workshop. When I croak, the relatives are going to have a field day going through all my stuff.
 

I worked with a South African on one job and
he bought 6 or 10 measuring tapes, the metal
ones, around 15 ft long for his father who wanted
to give them as gifts to his friends.

South Africa had gone all metric and they only
had/sold Metric tapes, not like our ones that still
have the imperial and the metric on them.

Mike.
 
Don M. said:
For sure! Every time I've had to go to the hardware store for a nut/bolt, I've bought extras. Now, I've got gobs of extra hardware in my workshop. When I croak, the relatives are going to have a field day going through all my stuff.
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Only one locally owned hardware store in town is stocking loose nuts and bolts and they not always have the metric sizes. It's too hard to stock all the metric sizes and thread differences.

I worked for an industrial supply company. We had to stock all the metric stuff for a paper mill.
We had to scrap most of them.
When someone tells me the metric system is simple, I just cringe. It's not simple just because it's in tenths.
There's one thing in Imperial that the metric system doesn't have.
It's the 'foot' (12 inches). We go inches to feet to yards.
There's no reciprocal for it in metric. You jump from centimetres to meters with no in between.
 
Britain changed to metric to be in line with the rest of Europe, but I have never been able to grasp it. I have no idea what my height and weight are in metric , I measure in feet and inches and I still think in pounds and ounces when buying vegetables.
Now that we have left the EU, I'd be more than happy to see us change back!
 
Mike said:
I worked with a South African on one job and
he bought 6 or 10 measuring tapes, the metal
ones, around 15 ft long for his father who wanted
to give them as gifts to his friends.

South Africa had gone all metric and they only
had/sold Metric tapes, not like our ones that still
have the imperial and the metric on them.

Mike.
Click to expand...
When I was a young man, we were hired to paint some rooms in a restaurant.
One of the windows was broken so we offered to fix it.
So we picked up a yardstick and ordered the glass from a local hardware store who delivered.
It wouldn't fit. So we called again. And the delivery guy came in and said we ordered wrong.
So we picked up the yardstick again and showed him.
Whereupon he pulled out his measuring tape and checked it out.
He said "What kind of yardstick is that". The owners of the restaurant were immigrants from Japan. It wasn't a yardstick. It was a metre stick.
And that was my first real life experience with the Metric system.
 
Rosemarie said:
Britain changed to metric to be in line with the rest of Europe, but I have never been able to grasp it. I have no idea what my height and weight are in metric , I measure in feet and inches and I still think in pounds and ounces when buying vegetables.
Now that we have left the EU, I'd be more than happy to see us change back!
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Rosemarie, this was done by the Blair Government as a trial
that lasted a few years before it was cancelled and we were
allowed to go back to imperial, unfortunately children had
been educated in metric at school and imperial was ignored,
when things were changed back lots of things were left in the
metric values such as petrol/gas pumps, buying fabric, liquids
in general, even bottles of whisky, rum. gin vodka and their
measures in a bar are all in metric, except beer from the taps
which are still imperial.

The place is a mess as far as mearsurements are concerned.

Mike.
 
I'd like to see the U.S. switch to metric rather than having half imperial and half metric. Autos and most machinery are pretty much 100% metric. Carpentry is pretty much 100% imperial.

With imperial, if you need a wrench just slightly smaller than the one you have, you have to subtract 1/16. With metric, you just subtract 1. Water freezing is 0C and boiling is 100C in metric as apposed to 32F and whoknowswhat for boiling in Fahrenheit.

The imperial system just adds unnecessary complexity to life. We can learn metric. It's not that hard. Actually, it's easier.
 
It would probably make a lot more sense for the entire world to go metric.

But what would happen to our frequent use of the word "dozen?" Are there metric dozens? How do you buy eggs, for instance, in the metric countries? Or does "dozen" have nothing to do with that kind of measurement?
 
Sunny said:
It would probably make a lot more sense for the entire world to go metric.

But what would happen to our frequent use of the word "dozen?" Are there metric dozens? How do you buy eggs, for instance, in the metric countries? Or does "dozen" have nothing to do with that kind of measurement?
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Metric don't do "Dozen" Sunny, metric as all about 10s and 100s.

We are offered eggs here in 6, 10, 12 or 15 in a box.

Mike
 
Mike said:
Rosemarie, this was done by the Blair Government as a trial
that lasted a few years before it was cancelled and we were
allowed to go back to imperial, unfortunately children had
been educated in metric at school and imperial was ignored,
when things were changed back lots of things were left in the
metric values such as petrol/gas pumps, buying fabric, liquids
in general, even bottles of whisky, rum. gin vodka and their
measures in a bar are all in metric, except beer from the taps
which are still imperial.

The place is a mess as far as mearsurements are concerned.

Mike.
Click to expand...
So we're in a state of limbo at the moment...you take your choice! I watch a lot of sewing programmes and it's surprising how many younger people use feet and inches, not centimetres.
 
Mind set is easy to change from English to Metric when you talk science, but not hardware. NASA lost a $125-million Mars Climate Orbiter because spacecraft engineers failed to convert from English to metric measurements when exchanging vital data before the craft was launched. But, the most costly change would be in machinery. Replacing machinery from English to Metric would be extremely costly. You can't produce a critical part that requires 10 mm +/- .00001 mm on a computer numerical control (CNC) lathe since there is no exact conversion from English to metric. But, we are getting there, slowly. A big part of manufacturing is automobiles. American cars use exclusively metric fasteners. This is due to the increasing penetration of American cars in foreign markets, the increasing acceptance of metric fasteners by engineers, and the large quantity of components sourced overseas.
 
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Irwin said:
I'd like to see the U.S. switch to metric rather than having half imperial and half metric. Autos and most machinery are pretty much 100% metric. Carpentry is pretty much 100% imperial.

With imperial, if you need a wrench just slightly smaller than the one you have, you have to subtract 1/16. With metric, you just subtract 1. Water freezing is 0C and boiling is 100C in metric as apposed to 32F and whoknowswhat for boiling in Fahrenheit.

The imperial system just adds unnecessary complexity to life. We can learn metric. It's not that hard. Actually, it's easier.
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I'm in Canada. We are officially on the metric system. What we ended up with is a bastard system between Imperial and Metric..
Trust me. It's not any easier just because water freezes at 0 and boiling is 100 C.
Should I throw away all my recipes I inherited from grandmothers and mothers?
My father was an immigrant to Canada. He came from a metric system and had no problem adapting to the Imperial system with feet and inches. He was a carpenter.
I never ever heard him wish for the Metric system.
Now when it snows and calls for 9 centimetres I have no idea if that's lots or little.
I know what 2 inches is like.
I was taught the metric system in high school. It's no harder or easier. It's a measurement.
The U.S. is doing o.k. with exports. They manufacture whatever is required to sell to other countries. So why change? I'm going out for a cup of coffee. That's 8 ounces and will never change no matter which country you are in.
 
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That would cost American so much in tax dollars to switch over. We have dealt with the difference since the Boston Tea Party and it is American not the world. Our steering wheels are on the left and we drive on the right. Coffee and cold beer. Should we change those as well?
 
I was in a hotel in London, and in the room there was a scale with a dial that gave 2 readings, kilos and stones. I knew that 2.2 pounds equals a kilo, so I calculated my weight from there.
I still have a couple of old British Whitworth wrenches (spanners) from many years ago.
Interstate 19 from Tucson to the border is posted in Kilometers.
The drunks have no problem with liquor being in Liter bottles.
 
When we were stationed in Germany I had to deal with metric measurements when buying stuff on the local economy. I found it easiest if I could force myself not to "translate" back and forth from kilos to pounds and litres/quarts, etc., but to just think in the metrics.

Distances/speeds were harder. I knew that 100k was a bit over 60 miles, so I just worked backwards from that.

I used to do a lot of sewing, especially trying to use American clothing patterns and German (metric) fabric widths and lengths. Nightmare!
 
Sunny said:
It would probably make a lot more sense for the entire world to go metric.

But what would happen to our frequent use of the word "dozen?" Are there metric dozens? How do you buy eggs, for instance, in the metric countries? Or does "dozen" have nothing to do with that kind of measurement?
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Why?
 
What's wrong with the system we have? Why do we ALL need to be metric? We don't ALL speak the same language with the same accents. We don't ALL wear the same clothes or hairstyles. We don't ALL drive the same cars. What's the big deal?
 

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