12 Days of Metric

[Paul F Franklin]

I think there are a few measurement and science geeks here...

Here's a seasonal blog post from NIST (national institute of standards and technology) about metric measurements and standards. It includes a short video about how they calibrate tape measures in a 60 meter long underground tunnel.

https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-me...ve-days-metric

[John Stankus]

Shouldn’t that be the ten days of metric?

[Eric Anderson]

After my son got his PhD in physics, he did a post-doc at NIST in the Joint Quantum Institute. Most fun he ever had.

[Michael Burnside]

Shouldn’t that be the ten days of metric?

Brilliant!!! Exactly what I was thinking.

I work with metric every day. For woodworking I prefer imperial…

[Jim Becker]

Shouldn’t that be the ten days of metric?

[Tom Bussey]

Why not stay with the system you have used all your life? One buys gas by the gallon here in the USA. I go to the store and by milk by the gallon not 3 liters or what ever. If you want to work in tens like metric why not switch to decimals. If you have a quarter in your pocket, you have the equivalent if 25 pennies. Written out it would be .25. When I grew up we also had 50 cent pieces which was the same as a half dollar. It isn't rocket science to figure out that if you have 2 quarters you have a half a dollar and if you have a half a dollar and a quarter you have 3 quarters or 75 cents. If you have you have .75 and add a zero you get .750 and not you are working in thousands of an inch. If you add .750 and .500 ( or 5 quarters) in you head you have $1.250 or one dollar and 25 cents.

One inch being 1000 pennies or 10 dollars. I say thousands because my mother gave my sister and I a quarter and said we could go to the store and buy what ever but we had to split the quarter which came to 12 and 1/2 cents (written out .125 which is 1/8th of a dollar) Since we couldn't split a penny, We flipped for it.

1/64th is .0156 or rounded off 015
1/32th is .0312 or rounded off.030
1/16th is.0625 or rounded off .060 or .062
1/8th is .125 rounded off is .120 but I never round of an 1/8th.

So if you add 1/8th ( .125 ) and 1/16 (.062) you get .187 ( .1875 if you are using a micrometer) you get 1/16ths.

Lets take 3/8ths. 1+1+1 =3 and 25+25+25 = 75 so 38ths equal .375

3/8ths and 3/8ths is 3/4s and with a little work and memorization one can be doing all this in there head.

Why muddy the water with metric?

[Mike Henderson]

I find metric much easier to use. When I travel in Europe, or anywhere they use metric, I switch pretty quickly.

Mike

[stevo wis]

Tom,
I agree with you that thousandths are much easier than fractions. But for woodworking, i have an easier time visualizing 9/16 as opposed to the same in millimeters. That said, I think it's inevitable that we will go to metric. Most big companies are doing it now. Reasons why to muddy the water would be:
1. One set of wrenches instead of two.
2. One set of nuts and bolts.
3. Reduced inventories and costs.
4. Reduced mix ups when dealing with foreign suppliers.
Stevo

[Jim Becker]

Why muddy the water with metric?

'Cause for me, it's not muddy...it's crystal clear. I'm not a fan of fractions and decimal, while great with CNC, is pretty much a non-starter for "regular" woodworking. I do the inches and fractions thing for construction and have migrated my shop work to Metric.

[Carl Beckett]

I am a mish mash.

For small stuff its nanometers. Up to microns. Then shift into thousanths. mm overlapping fractional inches up to a couple inches then inches. Then feet. Then yards. Then miles.

So I seem to have a preference based on absolute size range that shifts.

[Curt Harms]

Tom,
I agree with you that thousandths are much easier than fractions. But for woodworking, i have an easier time visualizing 9/16 as opposed to the same in millimeters. That said, I think it's inevitable that we will go to metric. Most big companies are doing it now. Reasons why to muddy the water would be:
1. One set of wrenches instead of two.
2. One set of nuts and bolts.
3. Reduced inventories and costs.
4. Reduced mix ups when dealing with foreign suppliers.
Stevo

#4 seems like it would be a big one for companies that operate internationally. Make two models of widgets, the only difference being fastener size? Not ideal for the manufacturer.