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I wanted to get a metric tape measure but I already bought a engineer's tape and that one was already met with "don't you have a bunch of those already, why are you spending money?" from the SWMBO. So, I figured I'd make the best of it.

I would love to have all the tools fill the shop. And I was wiling to invest in a couple more that I neede... wanted, but we are really trying hard to get into our first house soon, so extra money is going that way. Plus, I kind of like the challenge of spending as little as possible, even if that means bothering my friends for favors!

Sorry, but it's funny reading about Americans using metric. Canada switched to metric before I was even born, but I grew up on a farm and my dad was a machinist, so I use imperial for nearly everything I do. Carry on, the irony just made me giggle a bit.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

Sometimes it is easier to work with a decimal equivalent than to have to bounce between 8ths,16ths and so on.
The Metric system is easy, once you got over the idea that "they were forcing it on you".

A physics professor I had in college talked about an early NASA project where the team soon discovered that one sub-set of engineers had worked out all the distances in miles/yards/feet while another had calculated the velocities in kilometers/meters per hour. (Given that this was "early NASA" the group using metric was probably German.) The story goes that one of the engineers, frustrated with all the converting of his Metric numbers to Imperial then proceeded to calculate all the velocities in Furlongs per Menstrual Cycle...

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

There was almost a plane crash in Canada in 1983 because of confusion between metric and standard. The ground crew was using pounds, and the flight crew was using kilograms for figuring out the fuel required for the flight. They ran out and the pilots managed to land the 767 on an old military base airstrip that had been turned into a drag strip. Amazing that nobody was seriously hurt. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

I just wish we would switch to metric already. Try to find a metric tape measure in your home improvement store right now, good luck. I also work in industrial maintenance and all the older guys laugh when I try and use metric.

What's so funny is that the USA was one of the first countries to accept the metric system, and permit it as an official measurement system for use in commerce (The Metric Act of 1866). We signed "The Treaty of the Metre" in 1875. We ARE officially a metric country. It's the "customary" or "Imperial Units" that keep getting grandfathered in as each deadline to convert to metric approaches.

Under President Eisenhower we actually started the "final" conversion to metric. In '56 we in California get new math books that were in metric units. Our female teacher freaked, but I thought it was cool. My dad was in the Army at that time, and the U.S. Army had adopted the metric system for many functions beginning with WWI in Europe, so I knew about it. Eisenhower was a former Army General and thought we were way overdue for the conversion.

I've been through two other educational (SI Units in engineering/science) conversions, and one "almost happened" national metric conversion under President Ford in 1975. Imperial units just fail to die! We just keep putting it off. Now our only non-metric company are the nations of Liberia and Myanmar.

A couple of years ago, I took two refresher courses: one in mechanics; and the other in materials science. Mechanics was taught with both Imperial and SI units used in the text, while the materials science class used SI unit only. We're still schizophrenic about this, even in our educational system!

My apologies for the thread hijack.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

I went to elementary school in California in the 1960s. All we had was the metric system. Two of them, actually, mks and cgs, for no reason that was ever logically explained to me.

Moving elsewhere and learning about cubits and slugs and drachms was a bit of a shock. On the other hand, it all worked pretty much like metric, in that there were only a handful of units that people actually used, and the rest just looked impressive in the reference book.

So I used Imperial units for a while, and then needed to do some metric stuff, except all the unit names had changed, and it was DIN metric now. And then later it changed again, and it's ISO metric, and all the old units like kg/cm^3 are now Petains and de Gaulles, and there are now half a dozen different units for measuring air pressure, and...

The Imperial system hasn't changed noticeably since the 1800s, but "metric" won't stay put. Meanwhile, I've rejected squishy metricky units like "Hertz" and have returned to proper cycles per second as Faraday and Tesla named it...

No no! It's not thread jacking, I love the discussion! Thank you all for you input!

Check out how long an inch was in the 1800s. It varied from country to country. Even here it was changed around 1930 to synchronize it with the meter, so it would be exactly 25.4 mm.

From Wikipedia: "In 1814, Charles Butler, a mathematics teacher at Cheam School, recorded the legal definition of the inch to be 'three grains of sound ripe barley being taken out the middle of the ear, well dried, and laid end to end in a row'".

I've worked in metric CAD for nearly 30 years now and find Imperial units frustrating sometimes. Our internal machine shop uses decimal inches so if I'm doing some kind of tooling, I'll dual dimension it. I did design our house in feet and inches, but when it came time to physically cut all the trim and the wood flooring, mm was sooo much easier. I did go out and buy a couple of 26'-8m dual dimension tapes.

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-Keith

I should have purchased that one! Maybe there's still time...

I started the table! I didn't get any pictures, but I did make a video. I believe videos are much better anyway.

Spoiler alert: I decided to hack up a free storage rack to start making the base of an MDF table.
I was in search of some bug structural steel to make a chassis table, but they ended up being too cost prohibitive.

I got most of the table built today. I ended up using a free rack shelf system that I cut up and reinforced. I have 8 legs with nuts welded on and carriage bolts for adjustment. If I have to, I can shim the MDF as well. I think with 8 legs and adjustability, I only need one sheet of MDF. I actually started out yesterday going to Acme Industrial and Also Steel looking for some structural steel to make more of a traditional chassis table, but they metal just cost too much.

This 8' drop cut channel at Alro was $.89 a pound and came out to $52. I would have needed two of these, plus legs and braces. It would have been even more expensive at the industrial salvage place. I do like the idea of using heavy, straight steel though.



Here, the racking has been cut and stuck together to resemble a table. I'm adding 3/4" square tubing that I purchased for my chassis, I bought an extra stick though, so I think it's fine.



Almost finished, but the day was done and dinner was ready. I still need to attach the MDF to the table and level it.



I left the bottom of the legs open so I could hopefully get an engine hoist under there. I don't have one at the moment, so I couldn't test it.



That's it for this week, video of the build will be up tonight or tomorrow!

Thanks for playing,
Steven

I started moving forward on my build table. In true locost fashion, I reused some steel racks that I got for free, then added 3/4" MDF on top. Still need to level the legs and screw the top down. Hopefully I can get a flat surface out of this setup. If not, maybe it'll turn into a cool workbench.