You also have to understand that, in an investigation engineering, details matter.
Australia went through that back in the 1960's and 1970's, but as EVERYONE went metric (including the suppliers) in the end, it all worked out fine and now you want a 2400x1200 sheet, just order it (you can still even get the old imperial stuff if you want for reno's etc- but its more expensive than the metric sheets)- and because everything is in metric (rather than 'converted imperial') it all works seamlessly with no cutting or waste involved- you put your studs in at the required distances and the seams of the plasterboard fall right on themYeah, it is a struggle at times.
Metric should make construction so much easier - try adding up a long string of dimension in Imperial units (feet, inches, fractions) compared to the same long string all in mm. Yeah, I will go have a coffee and come back in half an hour.
I have seen a ton of wasteful use of material as a consequence, instead of the wall lines being some even value in terms of sheet sizes, they will show even numbers in metric that will result in cutting every sheet of plywood, drywall and foam on an entire building, for absolutely no gain.
Worked on many Government buildings, on a few they decided to have "metric ceiling tiles 500mm x 1500mm" - so where did these come from? - yeah the supplier (in USA) re-ran 2.5'x5' commerical tiles through the cutting room to make custom 500 x 1500 tiles for that 300,000 sqft building, at nearly double the per sqft cost of standard tiles. So how do you get a replacement tile later?
And where will the Tee-bar material come from for a 500x1500 ceiling?
YUP - they just re-ran the normal bar through the slot cutters with the new spacing right beside the original slots, to make it a guess for the installer to know "which of these two slots, a few mm apart are the right ones?
But wait! it gets better!
How will the electrician find 1500mm light fixtures to fit that tee-bar grid?
yup, the lights came to the job 1'x4' rivetted into a prefinished white blank-off sheet cut 500mmx1500mm just to fit the grid.
Yah can't make this stuff up people.
Lucky thing, they stopped doing this insanity after a few of these gov office towers were built, and the facilities managers saw the cost/conseqences.
In 2012, Ontario, in it's infinitesimal wisdom did a even dumber thing with metric conversions, they made the "barrier free" minimum door width 930mm
without checking how doors are actually sold. Doors are multiples of 2" increments. You buy a 36" door, or you buy a 38" door. But 930mm is more than 36" (exactly converted 36" is 914.4mm) so all across Ontario (and no other Province or US State that I know of) we must use 38" wide doors instead of 36" wide to meet the new barrier free accessibility requirements. And yes since 36" is standard commercial size, so we pay a premium.
I am all for making public buildings barrier free, but is Ontario's population 2" wider than everywhere else in N.America??
I saw an out of Province Architect design a school built by an out of Province contractor, install 200 36" wide doors - later to fail occupancy inspections...for 14mm "too narrow" to meet code. Offset hinges to the rescue!
I will say, using both systems daily my whole life, I can freely convert between the two systems in my head, and know all the standard sizes of construction items in both units without thinking about it, making it easy to understand our EU/UK/AU/NZ members just as easily as our US neighbours. Were Canadians, we get along with everyone. ok, we try to. LOL.
{rant over, please return to your regular DIY Solar postings}
but as EVERYONE went metric (including the suppliers) in the end, it all worked out fine
So, you're saying - its our Giant export customer next door's fault? - they should go metric so we can too? LOL
Everything on a car made in the USA is metric, but we sell them wood & plywood cut to imperial dimensions.
We do too!it all works seamlessly with no cutting or waste involved- you put your studs in at the required distances and the seams of the plasterboard fall right on them
3412 of course...ok that is BTUs to kWatt, but we are just born knowing this right?Watts BTUs again
Hey!That's the thing though- metric is what most of the world uses, and there are only a few holdouts... Canada is using 'both', as is the UK,and only three are still using the old 'hogsheads per furlong' imperial measurements exclusively lol
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The US really doesn't export that much outside of north America- here in Australia for example the US is right down at only 12% of our imports come from there (combined, Japan and Thailand actually export more to Australia than the US does...)
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If you want it to actually work it'll take several more days.Depends on your definition of "install"
You could make a lot of money advertising that as a diet plan.Right at the centre of the Earth, your weight will be zero there too.
Nothing- but it does limit your export markets when you make stuff to the imperial measurements lolHey!
we like measuring density in Stone per acre-foot ! what's it too ya!!
Omg, don’t get me started with pi… (22/7 is ok to 3 or so places, 355/113 gets you 7 or so…3412 of course...ok that is BTUs to kWatt, but we are just born knowing this right?
I like this one: 355/113 (better than 22/7)
Nope,Omg, don’t get me started with pi… (22/7 is ok to 5 or so places, 355/113 gets you 11 or so…
Nah, that’s not it… it will usually work, but it will not be a quality install. Unless everything happened to be oob ready…If you want it to actually work it'll take several more days.
Yup, I realized I was off as I typed it, went back and corrected myself, but you had already quoted my oopsie.And what diameter are the Rims on those cars...
Nope,
22/7 is wrong at the third decimal place! 355/113 is wrong at the 7th
not that we ever need this much accuracy generally - but math is fun.
OOB ready is what meant. I forgot to mention that they will install a split system as a window unit but the customer will have to open the window for them.Nah, that’s not it… it will usually work, but it will not be a quality install. Unless everything happened to be oob ready…
Rims and tyres are one of the very few things left that are (partially) in imperial- but many younger people don't even know the diameter is in inches (the width and rolling diameter is in mm)- they often think it is just a 'size'- like buying a size 6 shoe versus buying a size 8...And what diameter are the Rims on those cars...
Nope,
22/7 is wrong at the third decimal place! 355/113 is wrong at the 7th
not that we ever need this much accuracy generally - but math is fun.
and now you can calculate the circumference of earth's orbit to a fraction of a mm-well if the orbit was a circle, which it isn't but likely you don't need this much acuracy in everyday life. LOL3.14159265357 is about all I remember. Apparently I'm a couple digit's short of NASA's requirements, and my brain has suffered some parity errors.
3.141592653589793
How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need? - Edu News | NASA/JPL Edu
While world record holders may have memorized more than 70,000 digits of pi, a JPL engineer explains why you really only need a tiny fraction of that for most calculations – even at NASA.www.jpl.nasa.gov