Do Americans find metric too difficult?

[Mr Natural]

Pretty sure the UK is the only country in Europe, though, which doesn't have their speed limit signs expressed in kilometers per hour...

But they do drive on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Canon Shooter]

But they do drive on the wrong side of the road.

The British?
Yeah, I have a hard time with that one.

Back in '84 I was in Fremantle, Australia and tried driving this girl's car with standard transmission. That didn't go so well.

Driving in Italy's easy, as they have to common decency to drive on the correct side of the road...

 

[Mr Natural]

The British?
Yeah, I have a hard time with that one.

Back in '84 I was in Fremantle, Australia and tried driving this girl's car with standard transmission. That didn't go so well.

Driving in Italy's easy, as they have to common decency to drive on the correct side of the road...

The roundabouts are the best when driving on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Captain Caveman]

So the UK is not really metric?

They will measure the distance from London to Liverpool in miles but when they tell you how far it is to the Moon they will use KMs?

Sounds like those boys are a little confused.

The UK is both, it was the EU that pushed metric. If you owned a shop, your scales had to weigh metric, but you still went in and asked for a quarter of sweets (a quarter of a lb), so they weighed out 114 grams. But roads and rail never changed, neither did a pint of beer. And because we're out of the EU, shops can use imperial again if they wish to do so.

I don't mind being offered alternatives, I object to to it being legislated onto me. If metric is so brilliant, I would use metric all the time, if EV's were brilliant, I would buy an EV. I use metric half the time and I would never by an EV.

I'm surprised the EU didn't try to make time metric, base 10.

 

[Flash]

The UK is both, it was the EU that pushed metric. If you owned a shop, your scales had to weigh metric, but you still went in and asked for a quarter of sweets (a quarter of a lb), so they weighed out 114 grams. But roads and rail never changed, neither did a pint of beer. And because we're out of the EU, shops can use imperial again if they wish to do so.

I don't mind being offered alternatives, I object to to it being legislated onto me. If metric is so brilliant, I would use metric all the time, if EV's were brilliant, I would buy an EV. I use metric half the time and I would never by an EV.

I'm surprised the EU didn't try to make time metric, base 10.

I do a lot ammo reloading. Usually a couple of thousands at a time. I use a scale to measure out the cases rather than count them. I always use metric on the scale rather than Imperial because it is easier to divide by ten rather than use lbs and ounces.

I measure the powder in grains. 7K grains to the pound.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Here in the US SAE is the standard...the mills and lathes are set up for SAE and not metric. Even the DRO is SAE. He was looking at hundreds of thousands to do the conversion in his shop. He absolutely was an idiot. Especially if he wanted to bid work in a timely manner.
Translating metric prints is the engineer's job...and of course he probably didn't want to pay one.
Most machine shops have closed up as our economy has shifted from manufacturing to more of a service and technology economy.

However,
Because of the severe supply chain issues and labor issues...some of this needs to change.
MPO is that robotics is going to see a rise. Meaning that small runs of highly specialized parts are going to be needed. That's where the money is going to be.

Where runs of 2k is a small order now we are going to see runs of 100-200 being a standard. And if it's aluminum or something else that doesn't need the HP to run its just fine....but if it's steel that needs tempering...those CNC machines are not going to work out so well. And they are not necessarily set up for metric either....some are and some are not.

And bidding parts out to India or Mexico to be machined? Good luck on those tolerances!

So...maybe you should get an apprentice and pass off some of those skills...they likely are going to be needed once again.

CNC's can cut incredibly tough materials like inconel,hastelloy and any other material you can think of so thats not an issue.
Worked at a shop here in Houston that made natural gas pumps and all the parts necessary to run petrochemical plants.
The owner has a 40k acre ranch on the border and he would take the employees in batches to go deer hunting on it.
Him being right on the border made it simple to open a shop in mexico outside of Acuna.
The parts would show up at the shop in Houston for final inspection and to have the "made in mexico" stickers removed.
At least 50% of those parts had to either be reworked or tossed in the scrap bin.
A good machine shop in the states has around a 2% scrap or rework ratio. Reworking a part takes longer than making a new one in a lot of cases.
As far as teaching new machinist goes? Fuck that!!! Been there and done that,kids these days want 10 year machinist wages after a year,they have no clue about working your way up.
The foreman had a unique way of putting these idiots in thier place. He'd hand them a print and tell them to get with it....with no help from anyone.
They of course failed every time.

 

[norwegen]

Americans don't want to go metric because it would just generate mass confusion.

 

[JohnDB]

CNC's can cut incredibly tough materials like inconel,hastelloy and any other material you can think of so thats not an issue.
Worked at a shop here in Houston that made natural gas pumps and all the parts necessary to run petrochemical plants.
The owner has a 40k acre ranch on the border and he would take the employees in batches to go deer hunting on it.
Him being right on the border made it simple to open a shop in mexico outside of Acuna.
The parts would show up at the shop in Houston for final inspection and to have the "made in mexico" stickers removed.
At least 50% of those parts had to either be reworked or tossed in the scrap bin.
A good machine shop in the states has around a 2% scrap or rework ratio. Reworking a part takes longer than making a new one in a lot of cases.
As far as teaching new machinist goes? Fuck that!!! Been there and done that,kids these days want 10 year machinist wages after a year,they have no clue about working your way up.
The foreman had a unique way of putting these idiots in thier place. He'd hand them a print and tell them to get with it....with no help from anyone.
They of course failed every time.

Good apprentices are few and far in between...I'll agree with you on that one. I've had a few I really enjoyed teaching...
Some even really appreciate the time you spend teaching and explaining how to do the job.
Most just run off screaming about how I'm an ass and stupid grumpy old man...and then get fired a day or two later. Especially when I tell them to use their phones to review trigonometry and learn the math that they were sure they would never use in the real world...because they really did need it for this job. Instead of looking at porn or social media....they usually forgot or got distracted by more porn.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Good apprentices are few and far in between...I'll agree with you on that one. I've had a few I really enjoyed teaching...
Some even really appreciate the time you spend teaching and explaining how to do the job.
Most just run off screaming about how I'm an ass and stupid grumpy old man...and then get fired a day or two later. Especially when I tell them to use their phones to review trigonometry and learn the math that they were sure they would never use in the real world...because they really did need it for this job. Instead of looking at porn or social media....they usually forgot or got distracted by more porn.

Yep...
Those who want to learn and put their ego aside are great to work with.
I know when I first started machining I constantly asked questions from the best machinist in the shop.
When you show initiative most are perfectly happy to show you the ropes.
Had a guy who I teaching how to run a CNC and he always second guessed me.
Walked by him as he was running a 3/8 drill to a depth of around five inches and you could hear the drill was getting packed so I told him he needed to clear it more often. He ignored my advice and broke the drill off deep in the hole. He said....I guess I should have listened to your advice.
Well no shit...I've only been doing this for 20 years ya dumbass.
The best CNC operators are those who learned on a manual machine first. You recognise the sounds and what your insert is doing and when they're in need of changing or sharpening.
And none of them know how to sharpen a drill by hand properly.
I'm glad that the first shop I ever worked in as a machinist was owned by a cheap bastard and you had to learn how to sharpen a drill or grind your own tools.
It made going to a shop that was well funded easy.

 

[petro]

Americans don't want to go metric because it would just generate mass confusion.

Just had a bunch of people posting that we use both despite Imperial being the standard.

No big deal.

 

[norwegen]

Just had a bunch of people posting that we use both despite Imperial being the standard.

No big deal.

I was just making a pun, really.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Like I said, it depends on what you are doing. Temperature I use Fahrenheit because it is far more precise than Celsius, but for distance I use meters, once again, due to precision.

For driving though, I use good old mph!

Temperature, I was brought up on Celsius. It makes sense that water freezes at 0c, and water boils at 100c, I can relate to that. But I don't know how you relate Fahrenheit to your surroundings.

In the UK, metre is a measurement of 3' 3", and a meter is a device to record usage, like an electric meter.

We use mph in the UK.

As for plumbing, 15mm copper pipe is supposed to be the equivalent to 1/2 inch. But 15mm in inches is 75/137 th's, if we get precise. But older properties here have 1/2 inch copper, which 15mm fits onto. If you want to fit 22mm onto 3/4 inch, you need a different sized olive for compression, or a 22mm to 3/4 inch solder fitting.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

We use decimal equivalent the most.
As in 5 1/8 is 5.125.
We cut paper constantly, so you tend to measure with a ruler and then program the cutter in decimals. Once you know the decimal equivalent by heart... you can convert measurements very quickly.

 

[jackflash]

I use both imperial and metric. Whatever I'm doing, if metric or imperial works better, I use that. When it comes to Quantity Surveying, I have to use metric because materials are sold in metric units.

Do you, or can you use metric?

I use both systems depending on the specs required for the machining operation.

 

[jackflash]

If you give me some time ...

View attachment 740473

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[Failzero]

Juggling my vintage British & Italian Motorbikes repairs I had to learn fast ( Brit inch pound gallon and Jap / Italian / European Metric

 

[Mindful]

If you do any kind of mechanical work in the US, you can't escape metric. I have used both the inch and metric system for at least 40 years.

In fact, both are listed on many of the products one buys in the US.

 

[Mindful]

But they do drive on the wrong side of the road.

Wrong. You do.

Want me to explain it to you?

 

[there4eyeM]

Anything that even suggests requiring thought, reflection or intellectual effort is anathema to current American orientation. Otherwise there would be no "rap music", no Donald Trump, no Joe Biden, very little Twitter and far fewer super hero films.

 

[Concerned American]

In fact, both are listed on many of the products one buys in the US.

Any car produced in the US has both.