Do you work in Imperial or Metric?

Interesting reading the replies and thanks for posting them.

I like fractions such as 1/8th, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 etc but must admit to a major struggle when it comes to 9/128, 11/128, 7/64th, 11/32 etc etc

I'd be lost without my digital calipers that at the push of a button convert a measurement from fractions, to metric or inches.
 
A unit is a unit, I don't care if America switches to the metric system, it's just a size measurement unit.

Although I usually work in imperial, I have the capability to work in metric if needed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GL
I used both at different jobs...SI being used when paired up with immigrant coworkers; English welder; German machinist.

I often work for an English production engineer and we use inches when dealing with our product but any fixtures he designs are in SI.

Work I do for myself is all in inches. All the trades I've dealt with use inches. We're a metric country but there's this 363KG...er.. 800lb gorilla next door who doesn't want to change. :p
 
I use imperial as that's what everything is here but I do make parts that are metric simply convert the mm to inches. I am actually getting pretty good at just knowing the rough sizes mentally. I didn't explain that well but I can see 100mm and think 4 inches which isn't exact but close.
 
I dont think it makes a hill of beans which you use if the tools read it. Now fractions suck and I really cant stand them my self. But dealing with decimals is just as easy in either. 1 is always smaller then 2 in any of them.

Now if you dont have the proper tools to read mm(I dont) you just do as Pat mentioned and convert each number before you start working. In theory the drawing should come with both on it if it may go to a shop that uses the other. If it's drawn in England to be sent to a US firm it should have both and the other way. IN THEORY
 
At work I pretty much use solely imperial. At my home shop I use both. Imperial being my standard but many of the motorcycles and autos I work on are metric so I am well versed in both. As far as hand tools, I pretty much have complete sets of both as automotive is mostly metric nowadays but in the 80's-early 90's even they were a mixed bag. Engine and engine related components being imperial whereas body and chassis fasteners were all switching over to metric.
 
Like many others I use both. I have both metric and imperial measuring tools, drills, fixtures, reamers, taps & dies, etc., etc.. Most of my stock is in imperial measurements, but since it's cut and shaped to size it really doesn't matter. I was lucky enough to purchase a Bridgeport with both metric and Imperial dials. Later when I added a DRO it got even easier to think and act in both worlds. I still prefer the Imperial measurements since those were the ones I grew up with. Now that most things are manufactured for "world wide use" metric has become much more popular.

None of the saws, mills, lathes, drill presses or other equipment seem to care which tooling or measurements are used. Most of my work is repairing older industrial machinery. Consequently I still do quite a bit of work in imperial measurements.
 
I have inch-based machines but sometimes work from metric plans. Three tools are critical to me: a calculator (e.g., a specialized conversion calculator for iOS), a pencil (for reasons already mentioned), and my Starrett 799A digital caliper. Even though I'm more physically comfortable with a dial caliper, the electronic one lets me switch from inch to metric or back with one button touch. It's a thing of beauty, ...makes work easy.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
+1 for using both. Most of my measuring tools including my tape measures are "bilingual". At work, I design equipement in metric and prefer that over inches, but sometimes the old "empeiral" units work better... I find, that when I am laying out projects in the yard I use feet and inches. But I have actually found that when trying to cut lumber to exact sizes, I actually prefer the metric side of the tape measure. There are numbers every 5mm (~3/16"), so it is a lot harder to get lost in the fractional makings. Plus, I really like decimal measurements much better. I also tend to use mostly metric fasterners. First off, whenever we need to clean off the benches at work, I wind up with another grab bag of mixed fasternes :) Also, since I work with them every day I have gotten used to picking metric sizes for a given job. I also think that the metric "medium" pitches are alot easier to deal with than having to figure out if I want to use a UNC or a UNF for a given task.

Just my $.02
 
I use both. Being in South America, must of the technology came from USA, but at present it is mixed up. We study both at school. When I need to visualize something in my mind I better do it in metric, but I am so used to use imperial in some things that still use it, like depth units for diving, imperial..... surfboards sizes, imperial......tire pressure, imperial......person height, metric......distance, metric......and so on....completely crazy!!!!.

At the shop all my machines are imperial, so working with thousands of an inch no problem, but struggle using fractions and use a chart. It is something like not knowing which hand to use, left or right.
 
Back
Top