Dan S Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 To spite the French I bet. I don't know why the system was ever abandoned. It seems so much easier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 I make all my drawings in metric. Period. I may translate to a customer in inches but all drawings are metric. All the tools that I use are European, jigs, setups, hardware etc is European in the system 32 system. In Canada, the metric system was adopted a while back. Even so, many are fine when it's time to purchase something at the food store or to find out how cold or warm it is outside. But when it comes to woodworking, not that many work in metric. It is not the mesurements themselves that are the problem but the materials and tools. It is not easy to follow a plan when all your plywood is 3/4 or 11/16 inches thick. You can always say that the plywood is 1.9cm but is it really? In fine furniture, this may end you with a shelf that does not fit in a dado or is too loose. Even if there is a tiny difference, it adds up in the long run. What about all the 1/4, 1/2, 3/8 and 3/4 inch router bits you own ? Are you going to purchase them in metric now ? Are you going to buy metric T-Nuts and Forstner bits for your jigs ? I have seen a few of you mentionning the confusion between millimeters and centimeters. Well, it happenned to me. I had a piece of wood that needed to be 112cm. My tape measure is graduated in millimeters so I cut at 1012mm. See my mistake ? my piece was exactly 108mm too short. In conclusion, I work in metric when I absolutely have to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flairwoodworks Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Actually, there is a lot of merit to this system. The French used a similar system of inches and lines. Each inch was divided into 12 lines. It's sort of like the metric system, but better. While metric can be easily divided by 2, 5 and 10, the old French system of inches and lines could be easily divided by 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12. It's like the best of the Imperial system and the best of the metric system all rolled into one. I don't know why the system was ever abandoned. It seems so much easier. That sounds like the Bob, as in the Bobrule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 I guess we are sort of leaving the topic an bit but it was actually the Frensh who first adopted the Metric system during the Frensh revolution. So there must have been something wrong with there existing system Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindleader Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 I make all my drawings in metric. Period Bobby Slack has it right, except in my case, substitute "United States customary units" (inches). Don't mix measurement systems. Google "Gimly Glider" for the number one reason why. The number two reason is the hassle of looking up conversions. BTW The US has never used the "Imperial" system. See above for what we use here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryangel69 Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Now if I switch to metric everyone will what I need when I need it. I need the time it takes people to computer 6 and 24/8. If I ask for a cut that is 1234cm I will have to work faster. That is not fair to me. me me me me me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 If we switch all our tapes for metric in the shop we will change really fast. Immersion. The challenge is 1. speaking with customers because they have no clue. 2. Buying lumber. Once is in the shop you make all measurements metric. Advantages. Tools, jigs, hardware ... is all done in metric for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpdorn Posted November 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 i hope no one minds the necro but thought i'd update my own thread. i took every non-metric rule and tape out of my shop and it took me about an hour before i quit thinking about how weird it was. i've waited to update because i thought i might still run into a situation where i missed the imperial system. 10 mos. and several projects later and i don't miss it a bit. it's even become trivial for me to switch back and forth as needed when working from someone else's plan. thanks for your thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba1 Posted November 20, 2011 Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 I'm late to this party but....for several years I've worked metric, once you start using it daily it would be hard to go back to using "stone", "feet", and "yards". I just wish there were more metric options, measuring tools and such, but even with the hassle of working with a different system in an inch world fewer mistakes are made and it is much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VRuthRyan Posted November 23, 2011 Report Share Posted November 23, 2011 The trick to repeating that "gut" feeling for how long 300 cm is........just practice. Practice is how we get a feel for something 10'.....we weren't born with it,lol! You can start now by just comparing common objects like a 4x8 piece of plywood..... You "know" the size of one- you can visualize it in your head, you know how much space it takes up in your shop.... Just do that conversion with a tape that has both metric & imperial...... 4' = 48" = ~122cm .... 8' is about 244 cm, 10' is about 304cm..... And round em off.....and memorize a couple....if you do that and practice, it will start to come to you easier. So 100cm is a little less than 4'.....you can visualize that, right? 250cm is a little more than 8'....... 300cm is a little less than 10'......start with those markers and practice....practice...practice. You can take one or two and work on those for a year or two.....then just keep adding commonly used ones. Describing it is a lot of work.....reading it is a pita, but actually doing it is pretty simple and easy....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 This past summer, I visited a friend with a shop in Montreal. Trying to be helpful, I volunteered my vacation to build some components for a job that he was rushing to get delivered. The plans were all metric and his equipment was all metric. I had no trouble at all building precisely to spec had a wonderful time. Where metric trips me up is in the design phase: Sitting in my office with my eyes closed and trying to visualize a piece that's still in the very earliest stages of thought. That'll take years before it becomes second nature. Good news is that SketchUp doesn't care what you feed it. So if I'm in a situation where the overall thought process is imperial but there's one component that's sized in metric, you can do that fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 Metric ... it is so much easier ... even if you use sketchup . I make all my drawings in metric. Part of it is because I grew up in Argentina where everything is metric. Good work guys. Once you go metric ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter67 Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 If Iknow it's 300mm, there's no problem. And, if I am measuring, then it's no problem. It's when I'm estimating that there's a problem. At this point, I can look at something and pretty accurately estimate it's length in feet and inches. To estimate it's length in mm I'd need to pull a tape measure out to the approximate length and read it. Or, estimate it's length in feet and then do the math to convert. I mostly use relative dimensioning in the shop, and measured units when I'm buying stuff. And, since everything I buy is in feet and inches, it doesn't do me much good to work in metric - I just have to convert anyway. When I do measure stuff in the shop, I'm often multiplying or dividing by two, and imperial is really convenient for that. Converting from Imperial to Metric is not the easiest thing to do. Now 6mm is equal to .245" yet 12 mm is not the closest to .500", 13mm is the closest. It can get a little confusing. The United States has not switch mainly because it would cost most industries a lot to change. Where I work, we use both, imperial for products in the United States and for the items sold in Europe and Asia is all in metric. I know I am late in this conversation. I am not sure which is better. I like the fact that metric is all factors of ten but growing up with imperial it is easier for me to look at something and say it is 1/8, 1/4, or 1/2". It is a toss up of what is easier. Depends on what you were taught, just my opinion. What is difficult for me is rabbeting a 12mm edge with a 1/2" bit to join two 12mm boards. It would nice if Woodcrafters would start selling metric bits if we in the United States are going to continue to get lumber from Asia. Of course with my hack jobs it may not really matter to much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViolinMagick Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 As an instrument maker/repair guy, everything I do is in metric. Frankly, the American measuring system sucks. The secret to using Metric is to simply use it. Don't convert unless you are working from a set of American plans. Then sit down, do all of your conversions at once and then just run Metric. It takes a while, but if you completely immerse yourself in it, you won't have any problems after about a week or so and will wonder why we still use the old outdated system at all. Cheers, VM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodNoob Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 A couple of very quick and rough tips for you imperial junkies! A centimetre is very roughly the width of my pinkie (although I do have delicate phalanges!) A metre is roughly an average man's (long) stride. A millimetre is bloody tiny. 6 foot is about 1.8 metres. Hope this helps for "eyeing up" things roughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 I use yards when I have to speak with Imperial folks because is close enough to a meter. I set my sketchup parameters in metric and for an exercise I tried to do it in imperial and was a nightmare. In my view .. to remember that 3/4 divided by two is 3/8 is more complicated than 19 mm divided by two is 8mm. Just that simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 Okay, I can't stand it any longer. With all due respect for the metric system, how do you divide 19 by two and get 8? -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Slack Posted December 10, 2011 Report Share Posted December 10, 2011 I mean ... 9 Russ ... You got me. Funny. I used to be able to do math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensNJ Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 Okay, I can't stand it any longer. With all due respect for the metric system, how do you divide 19 by two and get 8? -- Russ 3mm saw kerf ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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