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  #1  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 05:28
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Robert, remember that Kobus would be set up in millimeters, not inches.
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  #2  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 08:07
Kobus_Joubert
Just call me: Kobus #6
 
Riversdale Western Cape
South Africa
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Did nothing to the Step Puls and Dir Pulse setting there. As Gerald said I work in the NORMAL dimentions..
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  #3  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 10:44
Robert M
Just call me: Robert
 
Lac-Brome, Qc
Canada
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Thanks for reminding me GUYS !!!
….not much I can do, on this side on the continent, what is in relation with wood is still in darn old, obsolete, nonsense, irrational, more confusing than simple, old English measurement system…. !
It gets as, if not more confusing, on a daily basis….IE :
We buy at a grocery a liter of drinkable stuff ( milk, juices….)….yet fill a cup !!
They prices in promo flyers weight-able food mostly in pounds, but all are packaged & measure it in KG ?
We drive in km/h and travel distance in KM…but mostly will still speak in miles !
But buy a spanking new TV in inches, buy a property with flore space in square footage on a land measured in either square footage for in the city or….get this….in rural regions, in hectors !?!
Go figure out ???.....

It may help some tourist and in land old obsolete drunk habitant, but get just desperate and more confusing for others…..

Like any well balanced government, no one is brave enough to wear their “pants” and update it all to….well….. a NORMAL, UNIVERSAL, worldwide usable, UNDERSTANDABLE, EASY ACCOUTABLE, measurement…..NORMAL system…..
Goes to tell how our parliament is run around here ….. just don’t go asking directions !!
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  #4  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 12:22
liaoh75
Just call me: David
 
Taibao
Taiwan
Robert, I once read an article in Time Magazine about why North America hasn't converted to Metric. It's about the cost of doing it. Think about it. All of the multi-million dollar machines have to be replaced, computer programs that track all things like Department of Motor Vehicles have to convert the feet and inches to centimeters. Add that to the confusion of the masses having to convert these units into what they are used to seeing.

I would be a classic case myself. I came to Taiwan 10 years ago and it took me about half of that time to get used to metric. After that period of time, I can attest to to the fact that the Metric system is by far better than "standard". One day, North America will have to make the move, but I feel it is still a long way away. Just my opinion on the matter. I'm not knocking my home country, but just an observation.
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  #5  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 12:33
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Quote:
Originally Posted by liaoh75 View Post
. . . why North America hasn't converted to Metric. It's about the cost of doing it. . . .
Think about the cost of NOT doing it.

I, and many others outside America, avoid buying American made products because parts are not interchangeable/repairable out here. American producers hold the American buying public to ransom forcing them to buy products that meet their unique national standards.

It goes deeper than just the metric measurement system.....it also goes for 115V consumer goods with unique wall socket outlets, and probably a couple more.

South Africa was aligned with the American consumer before our politics went bad and America applied sanctions against us. This was a huge favour!......we then went and aligned ourselves with the other part of the world, particularly Europe.
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  #6  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 13:25
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Well, it just so happens that the exterior length of my preferred footware is nearly perfectly ... a foot. So I'm all for the metric system as long as materials come in multiples of 304.8mm.

Actually, there seem to be more and more metric products and fasteners every day, as fewer things are manufactured here. We can hope for progress.

For a while, beginning in the '70s we had highway signs with both km and miles, but they've all worn out and been replaced with miles only again.

Is there some standardization of wall socket outlets? Seems like they are pretty varied.
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  #7  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 13:47
Robert M
Just call me: Robert
 
Lac-Brome, Qc
Canada
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No personal attack nor direct offence to you David ….
But, to be in the same vein as Gerald, I’ll add to this ;
It's about the cost of doing it. Think about it!
Ignorance and what people think or believe they now is actually worst !

Again, not a direct attack to you David…. BUT….
Will not throwing proper stats as I’m not certain of any numbers on this, a vast majority of sophisticated machinery down to average low end cheep machinery is just that, made in countries where before seeing an order from corporate America, could not care and probably knew zipo about “inches & co” !
SO… it actually cost more to buy those darn “converted” machines and that goes without saying, just imagine how open opportunities it could be the export market if “America” would not be so….red neck about not following what works !

Secondly, no real need to replace suddenly those supposed expensive “obsolete” machines; machines just dont last an eternity.
Competitive markets & world immerges fast enough, if ever you have the little desire of “not foreclosing” you’ll need to change those machines, within a few years anyway !!

So…it goes to say that this philosophies is just that….rumors from darn medias that keeps on going and going and… but just like the energized bunny, it’s an none sense “media” advertizing scheme !

I think this last few post should be at another threat ???.....
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  #8  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 13:48
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
The Europlug is common on appliances drawing under 2.5 Amp (cellphone chargers, etc.) and Schuko for under 16 Amp. The Schuko wall outlet is the major European system. I think that any hotel around the world will give you adapters for Europlugs and Schuko.
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  #9  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 14:04
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Those plugs look funny.
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  #10  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 21:27
krabenaldt
Just call me: Kevin
 
Midland TX
United States of America
I will chime in

I have not posted hardly at all on the forums (as I have not started my build yet) but I just have to comment. I never bought the argument that metric is better. Physics is physics. That part does not care if it built in a metric or imperial measurement. It could care less. If more people (in the world) move to metric sized components then that becomes the standard.

My civil engineering professor many years ago, when we (USA) thought we had to convert to metric, went down to purchase metric sized wrenches and sockets, etc. The salesman asked him, do you want that in 3/8 or 1/2 inch drive? What? Why do we not make those drive tools in metric sizes or at least indentified in metric? We still do not. In America, you can not go down and buy a socket in a 13mm drive (1/2 inch = 12.7 mm). I don't even know how the rest of the world sizes their drive sizes.

Also, I have heard of countless times someone got the wrong dosage of medicine because it was measured in a volume that was 10 times off!

Better? No, just different.

OK, I have braced myself for the darts.
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  #11  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 23:22
liaoh75
Just call me: David
 
Taibao
Taiwan
Hi Kevin, don't worry, I'm not going to throw any darts at you but I operated happily in the "standard" environment most of my life. I was so used to feet and inches that I could do the fractions all the way to 1/64th of an inch in my head.

I hated metric when I got to Taiwan. It took me 5 long years to get used to it. After getting used to it. I found it to be more logical than what I was happily using for most of my life. There are still quite a few things here done in the imperial system like pipe fittings, some tooling, screws, nuts, and bolts.

I am not arguing that metric is superior, I am simply stating that coming from the U.S. and growing up in the "standard" world, I find metric to be more logical after using it for 10 years and getting used to it. I think the links below will do a better job explaining than I ever could. Maybe my using of the word "better" upset some people and for that I apologize. Before you Americans get upset at me, remember that I'm an American as well that just happens to reside and work in Taiwan.

See:

http://www.metric4us.com/why.html
http://members.cox.net/mathmistakes/metrics.htm
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  #12  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 23:40
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
The whole world's 3/8" and 1/2" drive sockets are interchangeable. What you call a 1/2" drive, others might call a 12mm or 13mm drive, but they are still the same physical size. Here is a mixed unit German website example. And then a pure German example

Which is the "better" system? My answer is the one used by most of your clients and patients with the least chance of mistakes.
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  #13  
Old Mon 05 April 2010, 23:56
KenC
Just call me: Ken
 
Klang
Malaysia
Its really a preference issue. No more no less, bothe does the job to measure... Which ever measurment system you wish to choose, eventually, the customer wins
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  #14  
Old Tue 06 April 2010, 06:13
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Kevin, that's an interesting argument. You may be ahead of your time.

Measuring systems that were based to average (or royal) body parts made sense before we started doing heavy duty calculations - you always had your tape measure with you. I still toe-heel measure distances regularly.

Decimalization made a bit more sense once we started doing lots of math with our measurements. It does make many common operations easier. There's a reason it first gained a foothold in science and engineering.

However, now that we are "progressing" to the point that our tools do all the math for us, the argument that it just doesn't matter gains more weight. Maybe I'll convert my MechMate to operate in Smoots

Now, the 3/8 or 1/2 drive argument seems a red herring. That's just backward compatibility; we do that all the time regardless of if the measurement system is changing.
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  #15  
Old Tue 06 April 2010, 12:19
riesvantwisk
Just call me: Ries #46
 
Quito
Ecuador
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Kevin,

the problem for us metric guys is this: you count in a metric way (from 0 to 10, then from 11 to 20 etc) yet there are 12Inch in a foot

You would expect 10 inches in a foot and maybe 6000 foot in a mile

The counting doesn't go with the named length
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  #16  
Old Tue 06 April 2010, 12:27
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Ries, you may not know this, but we actually have six fingers on each hand up here
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  #17  
Old Tue 06 April 2010, 12:32
riesvantwisk
Just call me: Ries #46
 
Quito
Ecuador
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Brad!!! Ahhhh!!!! Now I understand
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  #18  
Old Tue 06 April 2010, 12:46
Kobus_Joubert
Just call me: Kobus #6
 
Riversdale Western Cape
South Africa
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I have 11 fingers.....Start counting the fingers on the left hand......1,2,3,4,5.....(5 remember this)
Then go to the other hand and carry on 6,7,8,9,10...then on this same hand go backwards...., 9 , 8 , 7 , 6.......(therefore 6 on this hand and 5 on the first hand comes to 11.
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  #19  
Old Tue 06 April 2010, 14:59
krabenaldt
Just call me: Kevin
 
Midland TX
United States of America
I don't know

Heck, I don't know why someone decided to make 12 inches per foot, 5280 feet per mile. Or divide inches into half, quarters, sixths, 32nds, 64ths. From time to time I have held the reasons for this, but I forget. But once you know it, you know it.

Having ten fingers and ten toes makes it easier to work in base 10. IF some of us with the twelve fingers want to work in base 12 they could. We could work in any base we would want to. I also wondered what number base space aliens work in.

What we are doing, no matter what system we work in, are ways of describing the physical world. Along the same lines, no one invents anything, we only discover. Go discover your Mechmate!
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  #20  
Old Wed 07 April 2010, 08:59
gooberdog
Just call me: Chuck
 
Kansas City, MO
United States of America
I don't speak French at all or Spanish very well. While that does make English more convenient for me it does not make it better/superior/right nor worse/inferior/wrong. I do find that I can communicate better when the other party is speaking the same language though.
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  #21  
Old Wed 07 April 2010, 09:43
Jan de Ruyter
Just call me: Jan
 
Pretoria
South Africa
Well, you get American English and British English, two countries divided by a common language.
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  #22  
Old Wed 07 April 2010, 10:15
digger
Just call me: Milosh #113
 
Toronto
Canada
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert M View Post
We drive in km/h and travel distance in KM…but mostly will still speak in miles !
Robert,

when I came to Canada, they told me that distance is measured in hours.
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  #23  
Old Wed 07 April 2010, 12:32
Robert M
Just call me: Robert
 
Lac-Brome, Qc
Canada
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when I came to Canada, they told me that distance is measured in hours
That might have been a not so nice way to advise one tourist..….as many inlanders will simplify it and use n° of days or weeks as a friendly reply
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  #24  
Old Wed 07 April 2010, 19:16
KenC
Just call me: Ken
 
Klang
Malaysia
To some natives livinf in the Boneo island, distance is measured by number of cigaratte...
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