4 ms·

Any manufacturing component which cannot easily be adjusted to a slightly different measurement is poorly designed, in my opinion. I would expect that much of

by jaawn 11y ago

Any manufacturing component which cannot easily be adjusted to a slightly different measurement is poorly designed, in my opinion. I would expect that much of these tools could be tweaked to produce things in metric measurements. If not, the dimensions can simply be converted and re-labeled. If something manufactures a square piece of metal that is 3" by 3", is it a huge deal to just document it as being 76.2mm by 76.2mm?

fletchowns 11y ago
> Any manufacturing component which cannot easily be adjusted to a slightly different measurement is poorly designed, in my opinion. Imagine all of the parts in a car engine. Everything fits together perfectly. Engine mounts line up in the right places. It all has to be very precise. Now imagine you take all those parts and round them off a bit. Nothing much, just a mm here and there. If you try to put the engine together with these parts, it's not going to work at all. Also consider that you can't just simply convert the units. Take a 5/16" socket wrench for example. Nobody makes a 7.9375mm socket wrench.
- jaawn 11y ago
  While I think the rounding would work with lumber, I definitely don't think it would work with things like car engines. For such precisely-measured components, converting to a metric measurement with the correct significant figures should be fine. Repair shops can maintain tools for both systems (they already have to). For converting, I mean the dimensions of a component, not tools and fasteners that need to work with tools. Those would likely take a "metric only going forward" approach.
rcfox 11y ago
Rounding from 38 to 40 is a difference greater than 5%. Some applications might support that, but I'm sure there are plenty that won't. For example, wood joints have very small tolerances.

4 ms·

Any manufacturing component which cannot easily be adjusted to a slightly different measurement is poorly designed, in my opinion. I would expect that much of

by jaawn 11y ago

fletchowns 11y ago
> Any manufacturing component which cannot easily be adjusted to a slightly different measurement is poorly designed, in my opinion. Imagine all of the parts in a car engine. Everything fits together perfectly. Engine mounts line up in the right places. It all has to be very precise. Now imagine you take all those parts and round them off a bit. Nothing much, just a mm here and there. If you try to put the engine together with these parts, it's not going to work at all. Also consider that you can't just simply convert the units. Take a 5/16" socket wrench for example. Nobody makes a 7.9375mm socket wrench.
- jaawn 11y ago
  While I think the rounding would work with lumber, I definitely don't think it would work with things like car engines. For such precisely-measured components, converting to a metric measurement with the correct significant figures should be fine. Repair shops can maintain tools for both systems (they already have to). For converting, I mean the dimensions of a component, not tools and fasteners that need to work with tools. Those would likely take a "metric only going forward" approach.
rcfox 11y ago
Rounding from 38 to 40 is a difference greater than 5%. Some applications might support that, but I'm sure there are plenty that won't. For example, wood joints have very small tolerances.