The metric system

SUCKS! I hate it more than those little seeds you get in your mouth after eating a Fig Newton.

And it should be illegal in this country. It's my God given right to use a obscure, convoluted, archaic system of measurement. I think we should amend the constitution. It's probably even contributing to Covid and global warming!

Yes, so except for the USA, Napoleon in the end did conquer the world.

He was a Jackwagon!

Celsius sucks.

Never liked him.

7/16ths did him in. I've met people like that.

they had us learn it in jr hi school in the 70's saying the US was gona be converting to it in the next 10 yrs..........yea, right!

BUT, since I deal with blueprints that are often metric, I have easy time converting, compared to other techs.

Yea, I remember that farce in school. It's all Jimmy Carters fault. The lasting contribution of a moron.

Unfortunately you won't get rid of it because it's the standard measurement system for science and medicine

Darn Commies!

hey, watch it!,,,he was the best president Panama ever had!

Wonder if he builds those HUD homes in metric? I hope he hit his thumb with a hammer.

We should have converted back in 1980.

"The Metric Conversion Act is an Act of Congress that U.S. President Gerald Ford signed into law on December 23, 1975."

He missed by just a fraction.

I don't care. I'm still blaming Jimmy.

I think they blame the French?

Made Napoleon sound taller.

We wouldn't need fractions if we had millimeters.

Communist propaganda.

and perhaps fingerless.

if you use only metric it can be kinda handy conversions kinda suck

in baking with every ingredient in grams toss the bowl on the scale , hit tare and start pouring in , flour , water , sugar you never dirty a measuring spoon or cup just watch the scale and pour also much more accurate , the grind of the sugar or flower doesn't give you different volumes

your spices can be very precise

sure it works in ounces also but grams are simple everything is a whole number.

like when I feed my sour dough starter I retain 113grams of starter , add 113 grams of flour and 113 grams of water mix and cover.

Honestly... as someone who had to convert it is great. Woodworking, cooking, weights, everything is easier in a system of 10s, 100s or 1000s. A thousand liters of water weighs a ton. One liter weighs a kilo. You buy firewood in cubic yards but I cut my own.

I still use both in my call making but there is nothing wrong with the metric system. No need for cutting wood to 1/64 or 3/64, just add a millimeter.

I'll stand by for the backlash.

Pete

I remember being told that we'll all be using the metric system soon.

At the time I was working in a tool room.

I thought, "yea, sure". Who's paying for all the new machine tools, measuring instruments, cutting tools and on and on.

Stayed in the mfg business for another 30 or so years. When I left we got most prints in metric. Some with both and some still in English system.
First thing we did was convert to English. I always laughed when the dimensions when converted in to English always came out to nice round English dimensions.
Majority of the tooling made in the USA is still made using English components.
No advantage in changing over to metric.

In my opinion, infinitely simpler and far less chances of mistakes with metric. I'm with you Swifty, but am assuming I'll get all the blowback as well for voicing my opinion.

Jack

Its easier when all the equipment and tooling is in metric. Buy an old American made machine tool and try repairing it. Your not going to run a M8 bolt into a 5/16 tapped hole.

You have to use the system that the machine is made in. Much harder to find a metric components at our local hardware stores than an English one.

You can use what ever system you want for measuring, when you decide that you want to adjust your cut 3mm and your dials are in thousands of an inch your going to have to convert to English ain't no 2 ways about it.

Just remember the 6.5 Creedmoor is metric!

Eventually we will bite the bullet. Would have been over the pain, long ago, if we would have converted. I wouldn't have a shop full of twice the tools and work on equipment with two different systems of measure. Is that hydraulic fitting metric or standard?

It's really fun working on American vehicles from the late 80s-early 90s. Half the stuff is standard half is metric. All the old engine stuff still around from the 60s and 70s is standard, but all the newer stuff is metric. The engine I'm putting in my truck is standard, the transmission is metric, the rear axle is standard. But the metric transmission bolts to the standard engine with standard bolts

Proud to say I don't have even one metric firearm!

not even a 7.62x63 , 7.62x51 ,5.56x45 , 6x52 7mm-08 , 7x30 waters , 9mm , 10mm?

What really sucks is the need to have two identical sets of tools; sockets, wrenches, allen keys...

And what's up with that 10mm socket always disappearing? SAE sockets hardly ever do that.

Staked many DOT projects in metric. The problem was an operator couldnt visualize a cut of .3 meters but he could visualize a foot. I'd give them an engineer/metric stick rule and tell them to turn it over to convert. Poor things.

As a tool and die maker working at a Ford engine plant i use it ever freaking day. Most of the conversions I do in my head.

Smoke a dobbie and relax.

Ya think the whining is bad on here, shoulda seen the first metric shingle job,, calculator for big crooked lay outs.

Tool salesman like it.

Painted SAE red and others blue. These are mobile, not in a roll box.

Is metric plywood and framing next lol.

All of this acceptance talk. You guys should be ashamed! 10 of this in 100 of that it's just not right I tell you. Everyone knows there are more numbers than that. That's the great thing about our system, we give all them other numbers a chance to be useful. That "gram" and "Kilo" talk is for communist and drug runners.

I been working with a pile of 11mm and 12mm OSB the last few years. I think both are 7/16"?

Which is smaller 4/8" or 1/2"?

Exactly. Long love the resistance.

Ha! I can deal with metric shingles, they're still sold by the good old American square. LOL

Plywood thicknesses have been screwed up for a long time. When did 1/2" become 15/32" and 3/4" become 23/32"?

And yeah, they've been selling luaun underlayment in mm thickness for a while.

Idc what the barrel reads, it's a .223 (the only one I have that could identify)! Lol

Yeah, the Europeans did shove all this metric system down our throats.

But, we still prevail there in at least one market. Pipe is pipe. Even if they want to convert the numbers, pipe is always in inches and fractions, thereof.

I am with you FINISTER... I hate the crap and too darn old to try and learn it....

I bought something from Amazon some time back... Someone else thinking about buying asked question... and Amazon ask me to answer it... they ask about it in metric...

"I live in the USA and we don't use the metric system on a day to day basis... so you will have to ask the Amazon liberal's to answer it for you."


Garry-

Good! Time to get some 3/4" pipe and beat some metric sissy's into a bloody pulp. Let's start with France.

And what the heck is up with metric threads? 6mm X 1 pitch? What the heck is 1 pitch?

SAE spells it out for you; 1/4 x 24, etc.

Metric threads are a ridiculous concept created by a satanic cult that used to bathe the feet of Stalin in the fire from Hades.

it is goot and bad, but mostly goot, I get laughs out of people needing the 10 mm socket alot

Back in the day, I sold the reefer in ounces half ounces, quarter ounces...Then smaller amounts were grams...Lol seems I remember 28 grams to the ounce, add 1-2 grams for the baggie depending on if it was ziplock or sandwich baggie. Going farther back 1 finger was a nickel bag, 2 fingers a dime bag 4 fingers was the coveted OZ And that kids is your metric to standard conversion for the day. Right out of the 70's am 80's Lol

I bet the other side says "Free candy". A metric tool salesman? Burn them at the stake! Lawyers and used car salesmen deserve more respect.

The most natural form of measurement is based on 360 degrees of a compass. The measurement of time and distance are related.
You can't really do both with metric. The only way it would work is if they could convert geometry to metric; for example, 1000 (or 100) degrees in a circle, ten hours in a day 100 minutes in a hour, 100 seconds in a minute.
But I don't know if it would work out mathematically. The system of 12's (360) is a natural system that works.

Metric, a system of tens, just seems like it makes sense to the masses. If everyone had 12 fingers, a system of 12's would probably make more sense to the uninformed.

You. Are. My hero!

I never learned metric, confuses the crud out of me, but I can see where it can be easier in some cases. That dang 10mm socket is the bane of my existence though.

If people need things to be more accurate then use decimals instead of fractions.

This is a serious question, do public schools not teach the metric system? They taught us in the 70's

I don't know if they still do or not. I would not doubt it. They do tend to ditch the important stuff and teach useless crap.

I agree with 99.9999999 of what you just said!

Love it the conversions take a bit of time but multiple of 10s is so simple.

Communist sympathizer talk! Begone!!!!!

Thank God for them having sense enough to make a 13 mm. It's the only one that fits both!

NOT TRUE! Any metric will fit an SAE with a big enough hammer.

I seen this on a hardware salesman's T shirt years ago - I have metric nuts

6x52 is 243win

7.62x63 is 30-06

want confusing work all of your time measurements in 10ths of a minute

Yea, I think when I worked as a temp for the USPS back in the early 90's their timeclock punched your timecard in 10ths, No wonder they suck.

Now... That I can agree with...

Garry-

Hey Pete -- How about a few Microns ?

Amen! Foreignheat all the way!

There are a few metric measurements that I understand...

7.62 mm = .308

30°C = 86° F

10 mm = legendary disappearing unobtainium

1 mm = .03937 inches

I like to send green apprentices back to the truck for a metric crescent wrench... And then tell them every one they bring me is SAE and do my best to pretend I'm getting irritated.

Mike

I once had an engineers tape measure. It was standard, but the feet were dividing into tenths....10 "inches" to a foot.

When we get a dumb one, we send a kid to the tool room for a level and tell him to ask the clerk for one with a double bubble in it.

So do I

Not at -40...

I still don't understand the convergence. I save what gray matter I have to remember good tree stand locations and where I put my scouting cameras. Can't spare any on math.

I remember being in the 3 rd grade and our school was teaching us the metric system. I remember my parents and others talking about as well as hearing President Jimmy Carter talking about it. Everyone was against it and it just went away - except for the nuts / bolts /; tools.

There seems to me that it would have been very helpful if it had been used - in teh construction industry. I see a lot of people that have been in teh building trade for years and they cannot add and subtract fractions. Something tells me if we had gone to the metric system many of the homes you guys live in would have been build square. Just sayin.

I remember how to convert fractions to decimals, that's about it. I sucked at math.

I'm pretty sure it was the architect's who couldn't make the conversion. On civil projects they are the only ones who show dimensions in feet and inches.

Metric system is based on 10. Hey, who can't count to 10.
Easy to use once you get familiar with it.
I'm with Swift and Gulo. I used it all through college, in lab work, and doing design work. Yeah, drawings with both metric and decimal dimensions are a pain, but only because it takes up more space on a drawing. Most CAD programs will show both dim's automatically if you set the program to do that.

If you think metric is bad, what about plumbing dimensions? Only people in the plumbing business use them.

And all threads have pitch, English or Metric.

Finster, if it's not true, how come I can and do use them all the time interchangably? The sae is a bit snugger on the metric, but it will go on. I've done it for years.

At least in the metric system a unit is a unit, and you know what they are talking about.

Let's take a US jar of honey as an example. How many oz are in a pint jar? We all know a pint is 16 oz. But wait... pound is 16 oz So, how can my pint jar or honey be 1 1/2 pounds?

Truth in advertising?

Too old to learn now.

Luckily, I was out of school before they started pushing it in the '80's

Best one I ever heard of was from a good friend of mine. He picked it up in the Army... When they had a flat tire they would send the new guy to the motor pool for "parts." The list was...

(1) BA-1100-NST ring (remove the hyphens and write it all together)

(1) Can of A-I-R

Always good for a few laughs.

Mike

I meant it's not true that it's the only one interchangeable. Many of them are with a big enough hammer!