Anyone in NA made to jump to metric only?

[Shawn Russell]

I have been buying more tools from Germany and Japan and all of the measurements and guides are in metric. I think I could free up several square feet by archiving my standard tools and just moving all of my design and builds to metric only. No matter how much I work my brain just had not made the leap to convert on the fly and some days I just want to work without having to do calculations.

Has anyone taken the jump and what was your experience like?

[Stephen Cherry]

No, I haven't. It's conventional thought that the metric system is better for everything, but I am not feeling it. The inch has the feature of built in doubling of accuracy, as it is needed. 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32-- you can double the accuracy depending on the situation, all on the same rule. Going from meter to centimeter to millimeter just does not give enough choices of resolution.

And after all, it's been pushed since the 1970's, so if people really liked the decimal system, they would have started to use it.

[Shawn Russell]

I was not looking at metric as being better but just a unified system so I do not have to maintain two sets of tools.

[Stephen Cherry]

I was not looking at metric as being better but just a unified system so I do not have to maintain two sets of tools.

Oh, yes that is inconvenient. Especially for mechanical tools like wrenches and sockets. I don't think that the unified system is coming any time soon- metric is clearly better for science and engineering, where it is common to work in decimal numbers. It's just not going away.

[Mel Fulks]

I agree Stephen. The metric system now has only two increments ,The millimeter and the kilometer.So every counter top is thousands of millimeters long and you have to drive farther to install it.

[Stephen Cherry]

I agree Stephen. The metric system now has only two increments ,The millimeter and the kilometer.So every counter top is thousands of millimeters long and you have to drive farther to install it.

Now, that's funny!

[Brian Elfert]

What is the objective for the OP? Do you have a commercial production shop where you want to standardize on one type of tool?

For everyday use at home I can't see how one could possibly get rid of their SAE tools. There is more SAE stuff in the real world than metric. The reality is if you want to be a DIY type person at home you're going to need both SAE and metric.

[Charles Brown]

Shawn, for the most part, I have. So you would be the second person in Atlanta to do it! I have a Felder combination machine as my main tool and the handwheels are all in metric while the rip fence has both imperial and metric. I like the metric system. I grew up in Canada and was taught it in school. For that reason it hasn't been much of a jump for me. I use the 8m tape from Lee Valley. Finding a good tape measure that had only metric measurements was difficult to find.

There may be some difficulty with some operations depending on how you build things. For example, I make my tenons on the shaper with stacked cutters but have been unable to find corresponding metric sized tooling for a hollow-chisel mortiser. This forces me to find a different working process to achieve the same result.

When I worked in commercial shops all of our edgebanders, CNC, etc. were programmed and run in metric. We had one operator that insisted in doing the drawings in Imperial. That was frustrating because we would have to hand make parts for some operations and would have to do take offs from drawings that had cabinets that were spec'd to the 1/128". Kind of silly, if you ask me.

I would really like to buy a small CNC to produce casework at some point. When I do, I'm definitely going to do it in metric. It is much more straight forward when you are buying parts, etc. from Blum, Hafele, or any other manufacturer who has items spec'd out in metric with their approximate decimal equipment. Less confusion and less errors on my part by using one system.

[mike holden]

FWIW, the american automotive companies have been designing in metric since at least the mid 1970's. Funnily enough, the only thing that was not metric was steel dimensions, and most of that came from overseas! (yes, Japan and Canada have supplied most of the steel in american cars for the last 40 years - how do you define "made in america"?)
Mike

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Shawn, I made the switch to metric in the shop about 5 years ago.

As you're probably aware, sheet goods in NA are metric in thickness by design.

I found that since I make my own drawings for furniture, it was easier to go metric.

Who cares whether a shelf is 3/4" thick or 20mm? How about a 2 inch or 50mm leg?

Of course if you make kitchen cabinets the 32mm system is incredibly well engineered and easy to use, and it's in 32mm increments of course.

I've found that the metric system is more convenient, no fractions, which makes calculations easy.

Metric rulers ae easy to read, and the divisions are in mm of course, so it's easy to accurately measure objects.

I have no regrets on converting, and never use the inch system in the shop any longer..............Regards, Rod.

[Shawn Pixley]

Maybe I'm missing something. How does using metric only save shop space? Whether using imperial or metric, the dimensions are arbitrary. Mind you, I don't use sheet goods. There is no appreciable difference of stock thickness (5/8" is about 16 mm). It makes even less difference if you use decimal inches. The way I work, there is no difference of whether something is true 5/8" or 16 mm (or for that matter 15 mm). If I can measure the material, I can make it work.

I grew up using metric. Practiced architecture / constructuction mostly in imperial units. It really doesn'tmake a difference to me.

[Rick Fisher]

I work in Metric on small dimension and Imperial on longer ones.. If I had to choose only one, I would choose metric.

[Rick Fisher]

And after all, it's been pushed since the 1970's, so if people really liked the decimal system, they would have started to use it.

lol..

hmm..

[Darcy Forman]

I have stuck mostly with the imperial in the shop. However, my J/P is metric so I use metric there. At work though I think, talk, and use only metric.

[Stephen Cherry]

Maybe I'm missing something. How does using metric only save shop space? .

I guess it's duplication of tools.

[William Adams]

The thing I don't get w/ metric is how you divide things into third, sixths, &c w/o having an odd mm left over. Worst case in Imperial is I grab a PostScript points ruler (72 points per inch as opposed to 72.27)

It's one of the things I hate about getting page templates from Europe --- the gutter is always some odd decimal value, esp. for 3-column layouts.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

The thing I don't get w/ metric is how you divide things into third, sixths, &c w/o having an odd mm left over. Worst case in Imperial is I grab a PostScript points ruler (72 points per inch as opposed to 72.27)

It's one of the things I hate about getting page templates from Europe --- the gutter is always some odd decimal value, esp. for 3-column layouts.

My tape measure doesn't show me 1/3 of 10...... anything! :confused:

[William Adams]

My tape measure doesn't show me 1/3 of 10...... anything! :confused:

1/3rd of a foot is four inches, no?

[Greg Portland]

I have been buying more tools from Germany and Japan and all of the measurements and guides are in metric. I think I could free up several square feet by archiving my standard tools and just moving all of my design and builds to metric only. No matter how much I work my brain just had not made the leap to convert on the fly and some days I just want to work without having to do calculations.

Has anyone taken the jump and what was your experience like?
Yes, but i'm making 1-off designs as a hobby. I use story sticks and build parts off of previously cut parts. I believe production shops tend to work off of templates (and/or CNC'd parts). Less measuring = more accuracy. I use Sketchup to plan my designs and it's easy to change units.

[Joe Angrisani]

The thing I don't get w/ metric is how you divide things into third, sixths, &c w/o having an odd mm left over.


My tape measure doesn't show me 1/3 of 10...... anything! :confused:


1/3rd of a foot is four inches, no?

He said 10 inches, William, not 12. What is 1/3 of 10 inches on your Imperial scale ruler? Quick....

In metric, it's cake. That 10 inch part would measure 254mm. 254 divided by three is 84.7mm. Much easier. I bet you're still figuring out how many 32nds or 64ths there are in 1/3rd of an inch.

[Rod Sheridan]

The same way you do it in imperial if you're laying out parts.

Let's say you need to divide a 2 inch wide board in thirds.

You lay a ruler diagonally across it so the 1 and the 4 touch each side, then you put a pencil mark at 2, 3.........Voila, it's in thirds.

Or you could use a metric ruler and put the 1 and 10 cm marks on the edges, pencil marks at 4 and 7............Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

What is the objective for the OP? Do you have a commercial production shop where you want to standardize on one type of tool?

For everyday use at home I can't see how one could possibly get rid of their SAE tools. There is more SAE stuff in the real world than metric. The reality is if you want to be a DIY type person at home you're going to need both SAE and metric.

Not in my world, my German motorcycle and American auto are both metric.

My wood working machines are metric, fuel, food etc are in metric quantities, temp/distance are metric.

Not much Imperial in my world, or the entire world for that matter.

There's what, maybe 5% of the population in the world not metric?

Regards, Rod

[William Adams]

He said 10 inches, William, not 12. What is 1/3 of 10 inches on your Imperial scale ruler? Quick....

In metric, it's cake. That 10 inch part would measure 254mm. 254 divided by three is 84.7mm. Much easier. I bet you're still figuring out how many 32nds or 64ths there are in 1/3rd of an inch.

3 and 1/3rd inches --- 1/3rd of an inch is 24 points on a pica rule, or one can use a drafting rule --- I've never seen a ruler marked off in tenths of a millimeter --- where can one be bought? Moreover, you're simplifying by rounding --- the actual answer is 84.666666 --- and again, I don't see any shopping listings for rulers marked in thirds of a millimeter.

I _hate_ repeating decimals &c. Imperial measure means I don't have to deal w/ such as often.