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Lonnie, you're spot on! I too bounce between the two systems when measuring, and almost always use mm if I am looking for half of a dimension. My drawings often as not are still feet and inches, from long-ingrained habit.

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Warren
Isuzu Pickup/SR20DE, +401 COLD frame
Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=11601

This "engineering tape" was for CIVIL engineers where it makes sense for survey. You know 5280 ft/mile, 640 acres/ sq mile etc. easy to do in your head. Fits the scale of what you measure. The same thing applies in carpentry and feet to inches and baking. Easy to divide by 1/2 or 1/3 or 1/4 or 1/12. Metric really isn't all that clever.
Most of my engineering is in metric but I am baffled by a wheel base in mm.

trying to teach students who have only lived in a metric world is fun, they think that there are ten inches in a foot and ten eigths in an inch.

as a draughtsman in the early 70's i did everything in mm but now i am here i do almost everything in inches (otherwise no one knows what you are talking about), in the early 70's we had to convert to mm because it was a new standard for the defence industry but up until that time everything was in inches so we would have to redraw every inch drawing converting it to metric with a new number, the drawing numbers were in the thousands and this process had to be performed by every government contractor in the defence industry.

this wasn't as easy as it sounds though, all the tapped holes had to be converted and any inch fitting with things like threads would have to be changed like tapping blocks, rivnuts and any outline drawings of components had to be scrutenized for a metric equivalent, but the inch drawings still had to exist in case a replacement for an existing part was needed.

fortunately i was already working on all metric contracts but it meant checking everything before you called it on an item list, what had been standardization of parts from one job to another now meant that the whole process had to be started from scratch incorperating the same standardizing as was done for the inch stuff.

there was no cad then, just pencils

as my favorite film cop says "son bitch"

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this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

In my build I to used metric and imperial units. It's not like they are easily confused.

Here in California awhile back CalTrans switched all road work over to the metric system. All contractors bought new tapes, rules, and rods only to have the state switch back a few years later after most workers had the system figured out.

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John - Slow and Steady. . . Well slow anyway
Build Loghttp://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=6245

I too was exposed to metric in the early 70's. I was working at the time designing IF and RF inductors. The common sizes were 10mm sq, 7mm sq, and 5mm sq. I would read the customer drawings and have to convert to English for our internal designs. The moldmakers, toolmakers and QA only had English measuring devices. I learned quickly to get a feel for the smaller sizes. I still have a fairly good "feel" for the conversion. However, I still think in inches and convert to metric. Today, I still review drawings where both metric and English dimensions are provided. Sometimes they do not match. Someone's finger slipped on the calculator or something!

Mid 70's were frustrating in auto repair. During the "conversion" of the auto industry, engines were metric and the rest of the car was English. I guess my Locost follows that mantra too. My Japanese engine and drivetrain vs. the stuff that I built in English measurements.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

I had to pull the heads on my 1992 F250 diesel years ago. The truck and accessory brackets were metric and the engine was imperial. Of course they didn't use sizes that were comparable so I needed two full sets of wrenches. What a pain.

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John - Slow and Steady. . . Well slow anyway
Build Loghttp://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=6245