Metric or imperial ?

[Spark plug]

LOL
Automotive oil pressure switches are normally 1/4 gas

Odd I've always found the to be 1/8" BSP even on jap/Korean motors.

 

[langy]

Odd I've always found the to be 1/8" BSP even on jap/Korean motors.

Most are NPT

 

[Kayos]

I tend to use metric, usually mm
When I was installing central heating the pipes are metric but anything threaded is imperial (except old 3/4 pipe but that usually ended up in the scrap)

As @doubleboost said, camera threads are imperial and probably will stay that way, some tripods have M6 for attaching heads to the legs but I avoid them so I can use different heads on different tri/mono pods, or even do odd combinations

My oldest camera (1940's) sits happily on a 2015 tripod, why change it?

 

[Ben - Kinetics]

I tend to convert everything to metric, mainly because it's easier to do sums with metric measurements. Also, when measuring things with a caliper, converting from decimal inches to fraction inches just gets silly. The bicycle industry still uses a lot of imperial measurements, tube sizes for example, but I always think of them as 25.4, 28.6, 31.8 etc.

Bicycles are terrible with measurements, though. Wheel sizes are the worst:

27" is bigger than 28"
28" = 29"
There are two sizes of 20" = almost 2" different.
There are also two sizes of 16", again almost 2" different.
18" is only 6mm bigger than the larger 16".
18" is smaller than 17"
...

 

[shedfull]

Ede 2r3èr

 

[Maker]

I use anything; metric, fractional inch or decimal inch. I don't like whitworth spanners though, not until I've stamped them with A/F.
Centimetres are taught in schools because it's easy for tiny minds to think about and visualize with CM cubes but they're useless everywhere else.

I don't use kilometres or kilometres per hour, that's for cyclists and foreigners.

Fahrenheit is something I'll never use either, because it's stupid, how can ice form at 32°? I think there's also a Rankine temperature scale which it Fahrenheit+460 or something stupid like that. What on earth is that for?

 

[Kayos]

I use anything; metric, fractional inch or decimal inch. I don't like whitworth spanners though, not until I've stamped them with A/F.
Centimetres are taught in schools because it's easy for tiny minds to think about and visualize with CM cubes but they're useless everywhere else.

I don't use kilometres or kilometres per hour, that's for cyclists and foreigners.

Fahrenheit is something I'll never use either, because it's stupid, how can ice form at 32°? I think there's also a Rankine temperature scale which it Fahrenheit+460 or something stupid like that. What on earth is that for?

My brain is a bit fuzzy on the school sciences but I think Rankine is like Kelvin, both start at absolute zero, Rankine uses Fahrenheit scale and Kelvin uses Centigrade

 

[MattF]

I don't use kilometres or kilometres per hour, that's for cyclists and foreigners.

Also for people driving foreign vehicles. My kmh to mph conversions are done on the fly, these days. Never got round to converting the speedo face to mph.

 

[Maker]

My brain is a bit fuzzy on the school sciences but I think Rankine is like Kelvin, both start at absolute zero, Rankine uses Fahrenheit scale and Kelvin uses Centigrade

Just googled it and you are right,

. Zero on both the Kelvin and Rankine scales is absolute zero, but the Rankine degree is defined as equal to one degree Fahrenheit, rather than the one degree Celsius used by the Kelvin scale.

 

[Mick B]

I certainly didn't expect this many replies when I first asked the question. I seems that most are happy to use both.
Before metric was introduced here in 1972 ish we didn't know any other way to measure things so we just did what we had to do. As I said earlier, I started my carpentry apprenticeship in 1972 and no-one really used calculators much. (The 1st calculator I saw was around 1970) Now for a practical example ...................... divide 7' 6 3/4" into 8 equal spacings .............. using only a pencil. Now do the same in metric measurements. (Let's say 2260 divided by 8 (282.5mm). That's why I have always liked the metric system. But then again us chippies aren't as accurate as you fitter and turners.

Mick.

 

[MattF]

Now for a practical example ...................... divide 7' 6 3/4" into 8 equal spacings .............. using only a pencil.

When you think about it though, convert that to inches and it's a lot more straightforward than it first seems. Divide 90 and then work on the 3/4 after the main calculation is done.

 

[Mick B]

When you think about it though, convert that to inches and it's a lot more straightforward than it first seems. Divide 90 and then work on the 3/4 after the main calculation is done.

Yeah, well maybe that's what we all did. I can't remember back that far to (what my parents used to say) the olden days !

Mick.

 

[lchris21]

I just use my digi caliper for on the fly conversions. simples...

 

[Wallace]

Also for people driving foreign vehicles. My kmh to mph conversions are done on the fly, these days. Never got round to converting the speedo face to mph.

Nice round 160 and you know where you are.

I just use my digi caliper for on the fly conversions. simples...

They have made life easier but I still dig the Zeus book out on a regular basis.

 

[Cal]

I haven't read all the posts,
I prefer imperial.

metres & centimetres are european, probably invented by italians or some other eurpoeans and are therefore would probably surrender and change sides. Someone tried to explain to me about light travelling through a vacuum, the half second period and something else. But it's always struck me as an inadequte measure, made up by a bunch of surrender monkeys.
The foot and the inch are based on things I understand and is proudly british.
I have feet at the end of my legs. I don't have a standard bit of krypton or any way of measuring its radiation on or about my person.
Is a metre, a meter? Is it greek, latin, french, belgian or german?
The inch is the measure of ladies. 36, 24, 36 hourglass figure. Not something made up by a french ponce who likes young boys and stick thin coke heads?
I'm British, proud of it, I measure things in miles, yards, feet, inches, tons, pounds, proper gallons and pints. It's also due to my age.
The merkins don't have the brain power to even get the size of a gallon right.

 

[MattF]

Nice round 160 and you know where you are.

Would that be sitting on the back seat of a police car?

 

[MattF]

Yeah, well maybe that's what we all did. I can't remember back that far to (what my parents used to say) the olden days !

Mick.

Olden days my ****. I was mainly brought up in the metric era, but even I appreciate the functionality and simplicity of imperial. The thing is, most things are still in imperial sizes or measures, merely converted to metric. It makes no sense. One example is going to a shop for a 1/4 of sweets. What's the measurement on that now? It'll probably still be working to the imperial base, rather than being a 1/4 or proper division of some metric weight.

 

[Maker]

I haven't read all the posts,
I prefer imperial.

metres & centimetres are european, probably invented by italians or some other eurpoeans and are therefore would probably surrender and change sides. Someone tried to explain to me about light travelling through a vacuum, the half second period and something else. But it's always struck me as an inadequte measure, made up by a bunch of surrender monkeys.
The foot and the inch are based on things I understand and is proudly british.
I have feet at the end of my legs. I don't have a standard bit of krypton or any way of measuring its radiation on or about my person.
Is a metre, a meter? Is it greek, latin, french, belgian or german?
The inch is the measure of ladies. 36, 24, 36 hourglass figure. Not something made up by a french ponce who likes young boys and stick thin coke heads?
I'm British, proud of it, I measure things in miles, yards, feet, inches, tons, pounds, proper gallons and pints. It's also due to my age.
The merkins don't have the brain power to even get the size of a gallon right.

The size of a cm is based on water (at 5 degrees C I believe). A 10 cm cube of water = 1 litre = 1 KG. All SI units can be linked to this in some way (I think).

 

[Cobbler]

The size of a cm is based on water (at 5 degrees C I believe). A 10 cm cube of water = 1 litre = 1 KG. All SI units can be linked to this in some way (I think).

A metre, kilometre etc was based around the circumference of the earth as calculated by the French in the late 1700s.
I looked on Wiki for a complete definition but couldn't see one quickly, the same as the continent drives on the right, you have Napoleon to thank for its use throughout Europe.

 

[Maker]

I can't find it right now but somewhere I've got a steel rule with MM, normal (1/2, 1/4, 1/8) inches, decimal inches and inches divided into halves of thirds (1/3, 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, 1/48, 1/96). Has anyone seen this before?