Metal Working! Fitting, Machining, Welding, Sheet and General Metal Fab

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
The best thing about digital verniers is being able to measure something (roughly since it is a vernier after all) and then switch between mm and thou.

Otherwise micrometers all the way.
I have a pair of digital verniers, and it will also convert to imperial fractions which is really handy.
 

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
Ahh gotcha, thought it might be another redundant British unit of measure that has zero place in the metric world we live in...
No, you were correct. It's a thousandth of an inch, and definitely has no place in the metric world the same as gauge of sheet metal thicknesses.

For instance,16 gauge is 1/16th of an inch (1/16 is 0.0625 of an inch) but is 0.0635 inches for galvanised steel, 0.0598 mild steel, 0.05078 for aluminium (or alumium if yank speak) and is actually 0.0625 if used for stainless steel.

The non-metric world can go eat a bag of dicks.
 

fjohn860

Alice in diaperland
Ahh gotcha, thought it might be another redundant British unit of measure that has zero place in the metric world we live in...
I am a metric baby, but you could call me oldschool as sometimes I find working in imperial easier on the lathe and mill than metric.

Probably from my apprenticeship and 12yrs working on Boeing aircraft...

Also, some of my work now is on American pumps and/or pre metric European/British pumps.
 

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
I am a metric baby, but you could call me oldschool as sometimes I find working in imperial easier on the lathe and mill than metric.

Probably from my apprenticeship and 12yrs working on Boeing aircraft...

Also, some of my work now is on American pumps and/or pre metric European/British pumps.
My dad was a LAME and I worked for an aircraft maintenance company for a few years and the imperial measurements used to do my head in. Flipping between decimal units to fractions and then throw in the insanity of gauge thickness.
I remember once working on a French Partenavia P.68 and it was refreshing to have metric fasteners, although the bloody Lycoming engines were still imperial. :rolleyes:

Is the aerospace industry still using the imperial system?
 

fjohn860

Alice in diaperland
My dad was a LAME and I worked for an aircraft maintenance company for a few years and the imperial measurements used to do my head in. Flipping between decimal units to fractions and then throw in the insanity of gauge thickness.
I remember once working on a French Partenavia P.68 and it was refreshing to have metric fasteners, although the bloody Lycoming engines were still imperial. :rolleyes:

Is the aerospace industry still using the imperial system?
As far as I know Boeing is still imperial. They will never change I reckon.

When I was in the training centre in my 1st yr, we had imperial and metric measuring exercises using both verniers and micrometers. Of 15 apprentices I was the only one that didn't struggle with imperial. Fuck knows why.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
The only good thing about imperial is that the plate we use comes in 1/4" 1/2" etc so I if I'm making say a 6mm thick part I can take 1/4" stock and get a precise thickness metric part out the other end.

I don't do enough with imperial to understand what the yanks are on about with their feeds and speeds but with calculators and spreadsheets it's really not as painful as it was for previous generations.

About the only imperial measurement that I commonly use is wire gauge. That seems to be the slowest thing (in Australia at least) to be replaced by mm^2.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I almost got into big trouble on a project in the states. Planning modules for construction. Working in tonnes which are near as fuck is to swearing as imperial tons. Choosing cranage and the US has more generous rules and margins than we do. Surprised that the cranes were much smaller. 600t instead of the 800t we would need here. Talked to one of the local engineers who informed me that they use short tons not imperial tons. Fucked system. I should add he was Venezuelan and had worked in the states for 15 years and still hated the imperial shit.
 
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slowmick

38-39"
Fun to be had in air conditioning - the diameter and wall thickness of pipes and tubes is mostly still I-P but you buy it in 6m and 12m lengths. But there are 3 different diameters of 6" pipe. Better than when I used to work at the gas meter factory. The connections on those are 10 light. Not Metric not I-P but kinda a bsp thread form-ish around a hole big enough to run 10 has lights...
 

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
Fun to be had in air conditioning - the diameter and wall thickness of pipes and tubes is mostly still I-P but you buy it in 6m and 12m lengths. But there are 3 different diameters of 6" pipe. Better than when I used to work at the gas meter factory. The connections on those are 10 light. Not Metric not I-P but kinda a bsp thread form-ish around a hole big enough to run 10 has lights...
It's the same with hydraulics, so many different standards o_O
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
At least pipe and tube is easy in my job.

Pipe = ID

Tube = OD
On the power projects there was a lot of mix and match, imperial valves to the occasional metric pipe and vice versa. Not a big deal when you have the tools. Had a replacement valve that was ex Japan and made to metric dimensions fitting onto a 14" pipe, was close enough od to just blend the weld but the bores had to be as close to perfect as possible or the NDT guys would start stripping off their clothes and yelling. Tube was often both varieties so we used to just use the metric numbers. 89.1, 63.5 etc. Saved Confucius.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
Working in older plants, the gauges and instruments are still in PSI, Bar, Inches of water etc... mixed with modern metric measurements.

Pipework marked up on original drawings is still marked in inches.

Not sure if 18" pipe is now called and bought as 457.2mm.

Add in the dinosaurs that ran the places, the measurements stayed as is.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Working in older plants, the gauges and instruments are still in PSI, Bar, Inches of water etc... mixed with modern metric measurements.

Pipework marked up on original drawings is still marked in inches.

Not sure if 18" pipe is now called and bought as 457.2mm.

Add in the dinosaurs that ran the places, the measurements stayed as is.
Been a few years but it was still inches when I gave up working.

Places built BCE in imperial still talk imperial in the field for sizes though the control rooms are all metrified after multiple upgrades. Guys don't seem to have issues. Unlike NASA who I understand have now bucked the trend in the US and are metric.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
Been a few years but it was still inches when I gave up working.

Places built BCE in imperial still talk imperial in the field for sizes though the control rooms are all metrified after multiple upgrades. Guys don't seem to have issues. Unlike NASA who I understand have now bucked the trend in the US and are metric.
We've had a few controls system upgrades over the years, last was about 12-15yrs ago. I'm sure the dinosaurs were consulted and its still about 50:50 metric-imperial mix. You just have treat each area of plant with its own set of rules. If it wasn't completely revamped as part of the upgrade, its still in old money.
 
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