Cheap but decent Mini Tape Measure

[TrevorhParticipant @trevorh]

We still use the OD tapes in the printing industry to get the repeat size of what is being printed

just wrap it around the print cylinder and read off, this then allowed you to select the correct gearing for the print repeat you were looking for

Trevor

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

Posted by Allan B on 05/01/2017 23:44:39:
I try and teach post school students engineering and motorcycle maintenance, it takes us a full year in college to get the kids to even realise that there are 10mm in 1cm,it is the bain of my life, and God forget once we get below 1mm,it takes 3 years to get them to truly understand that the whole system works on groups of 1000, ie mm, m, and km with not a cm in site

Better not mention the Angstrom then

I hesitate to say this but it was actually the British who came up with the Centimeter-gramme-second (CGS) variant of the metric system. See **LINK**.

Then the Italian "sparks" got involved and the MKS system was settled on as being easier. See **LINK**

As a kid of the 60's brought up on both imperial and metric systems and having to learn the number of chains in a furlong, furlongs in a mile, pounds in a cwt, floz, pints, quarts, gallons etc only to find out that there's a difference between volume measures in UK and US, I have to say that the metric system's a doddle by comparison.

…but adopting thous and inches is a Frankenstein approach really when you think about it. What other imperial measure is a straight decimal division? If we were truly imperial fans we'd be operating in 1024th's of an inch via some bonkers number of in between steps.

Jon

[steamdaveParticipant @steamdave]

Posted by Colin Whittaker on 06/01/2017 04:19:10:

Anybody here encountered OD tape? Used to be quite common in the oilfield. Tape was marked in inches divided by Pi. Wrap the tape around a tubular and read off the OD directly.

And don't forget the 10" = 1 ft rules/tapes on the rig floor!

Dave
The Emerald Isle

[John FlackParticipant @johnflack59079]

If GOD wanted us to go metric surely there would have been only 10 disciples???????????

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

Posted by John Flack on 06/01/2017 10:35:32:

If GOD wanted us to go metric surely there would have been only 10 disciples???????????

That's not much of an argument to an atheist like me

…but weren't there 10 commandments?

…and the bible's all in cubits from what I remember.

[Clive IndiaParticipant @cliveindia]

Posted by John Flack on 06/01/2017 10:35:32:If GOD wanted us to go metric surely there would have been only 10 disciples?

Depends which is your God I suppose. Presume He/She/It turned metric later and issued the ten commandments?

I have only recently been converted to mm from cm and find I make far less mistakes.

Just one point, I have rules, the measuring kind, and mostly they are marked in 1mm at one end and 0.5mm at the other. I find it far easier and no less accurate to use the 1mm calibrations than the 0.5mm and always use that end.
Is it just me?

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I carry a little keyring tape in my pocket, it has a 1 m tape, 6 mm wide, quite handy.

Ian S C

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

I think we should have Metric English units

1lb = 500g

1" = 25mm

1 Ton = 2000 lb = 1000kg

Should be OK, for decades the Germans have been using 1 pfund (pound) =500g. Roughly a pound (450-500g) is a nice convenient weight, an inch/25mm is a nice convenient length, as is a foot/300mm. The exact, precision value is useful to almost no-one when in general use. A cm is a nonsense unit, are daN, decimetre and thou.

We changed the English system once in the past when going from English (as currently used by the Americans) to Imperial, so doing it again isn't an impossibility.

Regards,

Richard.

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

Sorry, forgot my history, there are at least 4 obsolete lengths for the foot that have been used in the UK, varying from a current equivalent length of 11.5" to 13", so making another value obsolete (304.8mm) and replacing with 300mm should be no great shakes.

Regards,

Richard

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

In reality we're doing that anyway without the need to either formalize it or more importantly prompt the Faragists to start bleeting.

[John FlackParticipant @johnflack59079]

I am really looking forward to the metric diving head. Some of the mathematics involved will be interesting???

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by richardandtracy on 06/01/2017 10:59:21:

I think we should have Metric English units

1lb = 500g

1" = 25mm

1 Ton = 2000 lb = 1000kg

Should be OK, for decades the Germans have been using 1 pfund (pound) =500g. Roughly a pound (450-500g) is a nice convenient weight, an inch/25mm is a nice convenient length, as is a foot/300mm. The exact, precision value is useful to almost no-one when in general use. A cm is a nonsense unit, are daN, decimetre and thou.

The Germans get their beer in Litres, we'd probably end up getting it in 500ml 'pints'

Neil

[Jon GibbsParticipant @jongibbs59756]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 06/01/2017 11:45:49:

The Germans get their beer in Litres, we'd probably end up getting it in 500ml 'pints'

Neil

I agree but look on the bright side, it's better than a US pint any day of the week.

500ml = 17.6 floz

US pint = 16 floz.

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 06/01/2017 11:45:49:

The Germans get their beer in Litres, we'd probably end up getting it in 500ml 'pints'

Neil

Let's do away with beer instead. Always tastes as if it's second hand anyway. And hops, whether applied internally or externally, give me a rash.

Regards,

Richard

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by Brian Hutchings on 05/01/2017 22:56:04:

I still think that we should ditch the metric system, purely on the grounds that it was invented by the French and promoted by that idiot Napolean.

but it doesn't mean that everything he promoted was idiotic. That might've been his one truly good idea.

Michael W

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Danny M2Z on 05/01/2017 23:48:53:

So, what is a Lazer? Is this just the dummies way of spelling Laser?

* Danny M *

.

… or maybe even LASER

MichaelG.

[Clive IndiaParticipant @cliveindia]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 06/01/2017 11:45:49:

The Germans get their beer in Litres, we'd probably end up getting it in 500ml 'pints' Neil

These things always get around to the important things of life. should be OK unless lager takes over?

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by richardandtracy on 06/01/2017 11:58:53:

Let's do away with beer instead. Always tastes as if it's second hand anyway. And hops, whether applied internally or externally, give me a rash.

I can't agree with that proposition Richard, I would regard a hop allergy as a total disaster, just hope you are ok with tea.

Mike

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I have a tape measure that gives the weight of a pig by measuring round the belly, another in 4", hands. Anyone who wants to ban beer ( the real stuff ) should be banished from the land.

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by Gordon W on 06/01/2017 16:15:21:

Anyone who wants to ban beer ( the real stuff ) should be banished from the land.

I agree, and besides, it would be nearly impossible to ban, you can make ginger beer with just sugar water and stem ginger. It's far too easy to make. America tried it and found out the hard way.

Michael W

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

For engineering use KIng Henry's body parts will always make more sense to me. I sometimes feel like measuring the ratio of the width of my thumb to the length of my feet etc.

Plus dividing heads and some other things and areas show clearly that base 12 is much better than base 10.

What really drove metrication forwards was all in other areas mostly sciences of some sort. I wonder what ISO make of CGS and MKS ? Bet they reckon that CGS shouldn't be used but it's still bound to be.

Does 1ml or more correctly 1cc of water way 1gram like it should? No, so they should have changed it. Rationalising things like that is one of the main gains in some areas. The inch had to be adjusted to 25.4mm so why didn't they adjust water or the ml but then the cc wouldn't make sense so change the mm too.

Nuff said about the metre. It had other errors too.

If everybody changed to a rationalise system we could have had wonderful units like 1/1000 of horse and mega and kilo horses. A gallon could have become 10 pints just make the gallon bigger. That wouldn't change the size of a pint. A pound could be the weight of a pound of water. The US got that right. For us Brits it weighs 1 1/4 so just change the lb and have 100 ozs in it to upset ISO. Then change the inch to suit.

John

–

Edited By Ajohnw on 06/01/2017 16:57:32

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Ajohnw on 06/01/2017 16:55:42:

For engineering use KIng Henry's body parts will always make more sense to me. I sometimes feel like measuring the ratio of the width of my thumb to the length of my feet etc.

…..

For us Brits it weighs 1 1/4 so just change the lb and have 100 ozs in it to upset ISO. Then change the inch to suit.

Didn't you work for NASA once apon a time?

Neil

[Nick HulmeParticipant @nickhulme30114]

Posted by Ajohnw on 05/01/2017 22:20:48:

I often drink halves when I'm driving – even worse.

John

You shouldn't drink when you're driving, you might spill it

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by John Flack on 06/01/2017 11:37:34:

I am really looking forward to the metric diving head. Some of the mathematics involved will be interesting???

What exactly would a "metric" dividing head be? Or did you mean decimal? Perhaps they should use radians instead. That would make some calculations easier

Russell

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Am I being unrealistic to wish that, when Brexit finally arrives, we might go back to yards, feet and inches; £s, shillings and pence; and buying petrol in gallons? I suppose a man can dream…

[Author]

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