4 ms·

We've been at this since the 70's. Honestly the problem is we needed to keep tooling for manufacturing (eg, Detroit).

by imglorp 10y ago

zanny 10y ago
At least Detroit seems to be solving itself. No more excuses soon, US!
Animats 10y ago
Detroit is mostly metric. Many US-built cars use all metric fasteners. For export, you have to use metric fasteners, because few outside the US have inch-sized tools. Imported cars are, of course, all metric. Aviation is mostly metric for the same reason. DoD is metric to be compatible with NATO. Housing, however, hasn't converted at all. Building dimensions, HVAC and plumbing in the US are still on inch units.
- ccozan 10y ago
  In reverse, in Europe measuring pipes ( or tools for them) diameter in inches is quite normal and ubiquitous. In oil business a lot of stuff is also measured in imperial units. Let's not forget the monitor screen sizes. You can only get it in inches, so pretty every IT guy has a rough idea of how much is 14" and so on.
  - lostlogin 10y ago
    Yeah, the monitor one is a farce when you don't know aspect ratio though. And at some point the arguments over resolution start and then it gets truly awful. Monitors have scared me.
  - occamrazor 10y ago
    Except France, where even monitors and TVs are measured in cm.
- chiph 10y ago
  The humble 2x4 piece of lumber will likely be the last major industrial component to change over in the US. Which actually measures 1-1/2" by 3-1/2", but let's not go there...
  - thearn4 10y ago
    That actually raises an interesting question, what are dimensional lumber measurements like in metric? Or do countries that use the SI system generally not use wood for framing?
    - Coincoin 10y ago
      In Canada we still use imperial for construction stuff, I guess for import/export reasons. Oh and Farenheit for water and cooking temperatures. No idea why because I have no freaking idea what a Farenheit is otherwise.
  - anexprogrammer 10y ago
    But will it? In the UK 2x4, 2x2 etc is still commonly available, but it's 50x100mm. Probably has been for 30 years but only sold as 50x100 for ten or less. Metricating timber was easy because no one's going to notice or care if they get 25mm instead of each inch. Metals, fastenings, pipes etc converted much slower because metric was often incompatible sizes without adapters. > Which actually measures 1-1/2" by 3-1/2", Isn't that because it's 2x4 before planing. cut lumber would be actually 2x4.
    - cbr 10y ago
      > Isn't that because it's 2x4 before planing. cut lumber would be actually 2x4. It used to be, but now we're more efficient in our rough cutting and a 2x4 you buy was never actually a full 2x4.
    - ascorbic 10y ago
      And cut lengths of timber and sheet materials are usually multiples of 30cm but many people will order "8 foot" rather than 2.4m. Likewise joist and stud centres. However you can also get 3m or 5m, for example. Of course, most houses in the UK were built pre-metric system, so rooms will mostly be sized in feet, if they are in round units at all.
- jessaustin 10y ago
  ...few outside the US have inch-sized tools. An interesting frustration I've found in working with an immigrant friend: even though most of the fasteners we're turning are "imperial", he simply can't use imperial wrenches, because they require a familiarity with fractions. I'm fine with moving from half-inch to nine-sixteenths when the wrench is a bit too tight to fit, and frankly at this point I can usually tell the difference by eye before even opening the toolbox. OTOH my friend just goes from 13mm to 14mm to 15mm, ruining nuts and bolt-heads in the process. Since tools should work for people rather than the other way around, one must conclude that metric-sized fasteners are superior to imperial-sized ones. It does seem odd that imperial fasteners were never sized by e.g. the twentieth of an inch, since that would have solved this problem completely.
  - imglorp 10y ago
    Which is sad because the original complaint was they didn't want to switch because they'd need to replace their imperial tools. Joke's now on whoever said that, because it worked: now they need two sets of tools.

We've been at this since the 70's. Honestly the problem is we needed to keep tooling for manufacturing (eg, Detroit).

by imglorp 10y ago

We've been at this since the 70's. Honestly the problem is we needed to keep tooling for manufacturing (eg, Detroit).

zanny 10y ago

At least Detroit seems to be solving itself. No more excuses soon, US!

Animats 10y ago

Detroit is mostly metric. Many US-built cars use all metric fasteners. For export, you have to use metric fasteners, because few outside the US have inch-sized tools. Imported cars are, of course, all metric. Aviation is mostly metric for the same reason. DoD is metric to be compatible with NATO. Housing, however, hasn't converted at all. Building dimensions, HVAC and plumbing in the US are still on inch units.

ccozan 10y ago
In reverse, in Europe measuring pipes ( or tools for them) diameter in inches is quite normal and ubiquitous. In oil business a lot of stuff is also measured in imperial units. Let's not forget the monitor screen sizes. You can only get it in inches, so pretty every IT guy has a rough idea of how much is 14" and so on.
- lostlogin 10y ago
  Yeah, the monitor one is a farce when you don't know aspect ratio though. And at some point the arguments over resolution start and then it gets truly awful. Monitors have scared me.
- occamrazor 10y ago
  Except France, where even monitors and TVs are measured in cm.
chiph 10y ago
The humble 2x4 piece of lumber will likely be the last major industrial component to change over in the US. Which actually measures 1-1/2" by 3-1/2", but let's not go there...
- thearn4 10y ago
  That actually raises an interesting question, what are dimensional lumber measurements like in metric? Or do countries that use the SI system generally not use wood for framing?
  - Coincoin 10y ago
    In Canada we still use imperial for construction stuff, I guess for import/export reasons. Oh and Farenheit for water and cooking temperatures. No idea why because I have no freaking idea what a Farenheit is otherwise.
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  But will it? In the UK 2x4, 2x2 etc is still commonly available, but it's 50x100mm. Probably has been for 30 years but only sold as 50x100 for ten or less. Metricating timber was easy because no one's going to notice or care if they get 25mm instead of each inch. Metals, fastenings, pipes etc converted much slower because metric was often incompatible sizes without adapters. > Which actually measures 1-1/2" by 3-1/2", Isn't that because it's 2x4 before planing. cut lumber would be actually 2x4.
  - cbr 10y ago
    > Isn't that because it's 2x4 before planing. cut lumber would be actually 2x4. It used to be, but now we're more efficient in our rough cutting and a 2x4 you buy was never actually a full 2x4.
  - ascorbic 10y ago
    And cut lengths of timber and sheet materials are usually multiples of 30cm but many people will order "8 foot" rather than 2.4m. Likewise joist and stud centres. However you can also get 3m or 5m, for example. Of course, most houses in the UK were built pre-metric system, so rooms will mostly be sized in feet, if they are in round units at all.
jessaustin 10y ago
...few outside the US have inch-sized tools. An interesting frustration I've found in working with an immigrant friend: even though most of the fasteners we're turning are "imperial", he simply can't use imperial wrenches, because they require a familiarity with fractions. I'm fine with moving from half-inch to nine-sixteenths when the wrench is a bit too tight to fit, and frankly at this point I can usually tell the difference by eye before even opening the toolbox. OTOH my friend just goes from 13mm to 14mm to 15mm, ruining nuts and bolt-heads in the process. Since tools should work for people rather than the other way around, one must conclude that metric-sized fasteners are superior to imperial-sized ones. It does seem odd that imperial fasteners were never sized by e.g. the twentieth of an inch, since that would have solved this problem completely.
- imglorp 10y ago
  Which is sad because the original complaint was they didn't want to switch because they'd need to replace their imperial tools. Joke's now on whoever said that, because it worked: now they need two sets of tools.