Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

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chuckey
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Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:13 pm
Location: Wensleydale (UK)

Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by chuckey »

Just repaired a stand for a fire side set (brush, poker, pan, tongs). The stand had a vertical bar 9mm in diam with a 5/16 BSF thread on the end ( OD =7.9mm). So why did the Chinese not use a 9mm thread or a 5/16 rod?
Frank
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tornitore45
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Location: USA Texas, Austin

Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by tornitore45 »

The Chinese use whatever is available, they are master improvisators not shy about bastardizing standards.
I had a lamp where the stand pipe was probably single pointed with a wrong non standard pitch (change gears confusion?).
Rather than scrapping the more expensive wrong part, they must have made a corresponding bastard tap and re-threaded some standard nuts. You could see the nut thread was funny looking. Nothing really wrong in this case, it just shows how the managers are involved and thinking rather than following the "process" robotically. Of course this mentality can go too far when performance is more demanding.
Mauro Gaetano
in Austin TX
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mcostello
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Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by mcostello »

Just made a Chinese adapted nut, 26mm X 3.0mm, 9 pitch Acme thread dimensions to the tool bit. 28°.
spro
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Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by spro »

Man, when you got that far, it surely fit.
golfpin

Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by golfpin »

could not help giggle but then laugh and got to the point of hysteria when I picked up this thread metric vs Imp thought this was confined to South Africa but to find it a bone in the throat of the mighty USA makes me think.... but here is a small potentially lethal scenario. My back ground is engineering with a heavy slant in motor racing I was called in some years back to help and this is what I saw. The cars in question were ex IMSA American built etc, a few clones were made so obviously we ended up with metric on the chassis and Imp on the engine!I saw a mech lean on a rear suspension bolt to tighten and I saw it go "soft" those of us who have been wrenching for the past 55 years will know what I mean. At that point I intervened and on closer inspection we had the classic boob 3/8unc bolt with a 10mm nut and I was told this happened quite often, put on another nut! I have to agree with every one of the posts but seems to me that at the end of the day it depends on the guy behind the wrench. Cheers Golfpin
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steamin10
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Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by steamin10 »

Thats the trap. It isalways who touched it last, no matter who is on the pencil, wrench, or trigger. It is the mark of the Boob or craftsman to catch the flaws, and make them right. The nut deal is an example of things gone wrong by assumption. You assume one thing and get bit by it.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
golfpin

Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by golfpin »

well said big dave
golfpin

Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by golfpin »

as a addendum to the last tonsennore has it on the head. We in RSA have been in the chinese pocket so long and so deep it is frightening, awhile back I viewed some chinese tap and die sets, and what I saw did not make sense, but on closer examination what they are doing is making use of the fact that over a limited length, a lot of the common pitches and TPI are quite close so they are selling in this country a "universal" tap and die set that will cut both threads.! We no longer have an effective Bureau of Standards so anything gets in! Frightening given our record of road accidents. Golfpin
TRX
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Re: Why People Prefer Imperial to Metric

Post by TRX »

SteveHGraham wrote:People love what they're raised on.
I was taught all metric as a child. I didn't encounter imperial measures until we moved to another state.

The imperial system is, in my opinion, superior. It units are sized for real-world use. Sure, there are a bunch of specialty and obsolete units in there, but nobody uses micro-hectares or gigaseconds either.

The metric system I learned at least made some sense; kilograms per square centimeter, for example. But now it's ISO metric, and they're supposed to use Pascals. Or bar. Or atu. Or Torr. Or I forget what they're supposed to use this week...

The metric system was better than a crazy-quilt of unrelated proprietary national measures, but it's not a *good* system. And they can't seem to stop messing with it...
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