4 ms·
You'd think, but that isn't the case. 3/8ths - an extremely common SAE measurement - is 9.5mm. 1/2in is 12.7mm; 1/4 is 6.4mm. These rounding errors add up.
by mywittyname 5y ago
You'd think, but that isn't the case. 3/8ths - an extremely common SAE measurement - is 9.5mm. 1/2in is 12.7mm; 1/4 is 6.4mm.
These rounding errors add up. And you can't really get away with sticking to metric because (in the USA) you're bound run into a situation where you have to buy pre-fabbed goods measured in SAE.
So now you need to not only deal with decimal to fraction conversions, but remember the "special cases" like 3/8ths.
- nicoburns 5y agoWhen other countries switched to metric they also switched their standard measurements to metric-rounded equivalents. In fact, here in the UK it's a legal requirement that everything (with a few exceptions) must be sold using metric measurements. It's certainly doable.
- gnopgnip 5y agoAre 1/4" ratchets labeled 6.3mm in the UK?
- tristor 5y agoI don't know how the UK tool companies do things, but I buy and use a lot of German tools and it depends on the brand. Most use metric measurements everywhere, some of them that are more widely distributed like Wera will use SAE measurements in their US/NA literature and metric everywhere else and use geolocation to provide you the appropriate product page or data sheet. It is very common though to see 9.5mm or 12.7mm drive ratchets (I don't really look at tiny stuff, so can't recall ever seeing 6.3mm but I'm sure I have). Anyone who works with hand tools should already be familiar with both metric and imperial and converting between them at this point, especially in the UK where /both/ measurement systems are used.