Rev Counter

[Mike Rometer]

Den I sympathise, here we are allowed Imperial still, but a lot of stuff got forced to Metric over the last 20 years or so. Torque wrenches are one particular thing I cannot reconcile. We used to have Lbs/feet (or foot/lbs) or Kg/mtrs to measure them, now we have Newtons/mtrs. I have never yet managed to get some one to demonstrate me a Newton/mtr. Yet I can demonstrate lbs/feet instantly with a rule and a weight, and even replicate it if I haven't got a torque wrench handy. It is a totally unnecessary complication IMHO.

[artemis]

Den I sympathise, here we are allowed Imperial still, but a lot of stuff got forced to Metric over the last 20 years or so. Torque wrenches are one particular thing I cannot reconcile. We used to have Lbs/feet (or foot/lbs) or Kg/mtrs to measure them, now we have Newtons/mtrs. I have never yet managed to get some one to demonstrate me a Newton/mtr. Yet I can demonstrate lbs/feet instantly with a rule and a weight, and even replicate it if I haven't got a torque wrench handy. It is a totally unnecessary complication IMHO.

In the interests of listening to the words of wisdom from those wiser than us (or at least wiser than me), I give these words from Professor W. J. Macquorn Rankine (you know, the "Rankine Cycle").

The Three-Foot Rule
by William John Macquorn Rankine

"When I was a bound apprentice, and learned to use my hands,
Folk never talked of measures that came from foreign lands:
Now I'm a British workman, too old to go to school;
So whether the chisel or file I hold, I'll stick to my three-foot rule.

"Some talk of millimetres, and some of kilogrammes,
And some of decilitres, to measure beer and drams;
But I'm a British workman, too old to go to school;
So by pounds I'll eat, and by quarts I'll drink, and I'll work by my
three-foot rule.

"A party of astronomers went measuring the earth,
and forty million metres they took to be its girth;
Five hundred million inches, though, go through from pole to pole;
So let's stick to inches, feet, and yards, and the good old three-foot
rule.

"The great Egyptian pyramid's a thousand yards about;
And when the masons finished it, they raised a joyful shout;
The chap that planned that building, I'm bound he was no fool;
And now 'tis proved beyond a doubt, he used a three-foot rule.

"Here's a health to every learned man that goes by common sense,
And would not plague the workman on any vain pretence;
But as for those philantropists, who'd send us back to school,
Oh, bless their eyes, if they ever tries to put down the three-foot rule."

[DetroiTug]

Metric is much simpler than the Imperial system. Like Fred, I too remember the big push to go metric about 40 years ago. Still have not seen it happen. And it won't until all the mills switch - Steel, lumber, textiles etc.

The US automotives jumped right on the metric switch back in the 70's. There is no telling how much that has cost them over the years. Everything a supplier does they charge for. Every time someone has to convert a print or change over a machine or buy special tooling, etc. They get charged.

Metric fasteners are much better, threadpitch to shank diameter ratio. Take the Imperial 10-24 tap, that thing is born looking for a place to snap off.

-Ron

[Mike Rometer]

Ahh but Ron, in my experience if you've got a well rusted in metric bolt, it won't ever come out in one peice, when an imperial one has at least a 50/50 chance, and good old Whitworth almost always will.

Sorry, was born, weighed in lbs and ozs, measured in inches, I got Imperial written all through me like a sick of seaside rock (candy to you)!

[Lopez Mike]

I just finished dealing with a customer who is possessed of a drafting program on his home computer. This is often good for a laugh as they seldom have any practical experience with tolerances and such.

The drawing he brought along was fairly typical. The tolerances, if read literally, were to one part in a million. The highlight, however, was a blind tapped 6 x 32 hole over an inch in depth in steel.

He was interested in my short tutorial on coarse v.s. fine threads and why this specification might be suitable for getting a good grip in room temperature butter. And whether such a hole had ever been created with taps made of any conceivable material.

We sat down with half of a brown paper bag and a grease pencil and created something doable with my skills and equipment and within his budget.

The hard part is that in my position running a small shop dealing with the public, I have to be a mechanical engineer, a metallurgist, a programmer, and an electronics engineer just to get by. It ain't what it used to be. And I have no idea what these customers will do when my generation finally shuffles off this mortal coil.

[Mike Rometer]

Amen to that!

If they, (the younger generation) can't do it with a keyboard, they're stuck, or in our vernacular "Up the proverbial creek without a paddle" never mind a steam engine.

[artemis]

Amen to that!

If they, (the younger generation) can't do it with a keyboard, they're stuck, or in our vernacular "Up the proverbial creek without a paddle" never mind a steam engine.

There are still some businesses in the USA (albeit located in the "backcountry") that still cater to the inexperienced or uninformed - that includes those who require a mouse or keyboard to find anything. See below:

Those of us "oldtimers" know where to find these places. Keyboard junkies can Google "shit creek paddle stores"