Learning to Love the Metrinch

Oh goody I have just changed my headlight bulbs to right dipping, like hell!

Clive

According to this manufacturer, the Americans already have their own variation.

* Danny M *

We always have to change to suit everyone else.

Worst bit since going metric is you only get 39.37 winks now and not the full 40. :~((((((

We could call it the German inch, or the 4th Reich Inch

Edited By Ady1 on 26/03/2015 00:49:31

Didn't the EU want to make it that bananas must be straight instead of curved.

Ian S C

We could call it the German inch, or the 4th Reich inch

Not while the Camerooon Clan rules pal. Wheel have teh call it the bonny Highland inchey.

But yeah I've already got a set of BA spanners AF spanners Whitworth spanners Metric spanners and not forgetting taps and dies to suite. I could mention Philips and Posi drive and straight screw drivers to which you can add all those wonderful hex sets which most modern goods including cars are screwed together with. Self tapping and no thread needed types too. (naughty you're not supposed to open that, type of threads and drivers)

But hey if we didn't have all this crud to play with what would we do, build stuff? Come on be realistic.

PS: We'll just add it to everything else while the Acme company down the road caters for all those who haven't got that elusive what the hell is it thread??!!

Edited By Jesse Hancock 1 on 26/03/2015 08:24:20

And note the addendum to directive 104/2015: grinding sparks will now come in packets of 10 instead of the traditional dozen, or in bulk tins of 100 instead of the traditional gross. Bet the price does not drop even though the number of sparks will be fewer.

I am pleased that most people quickly spotted this spoof however I feel a few were more than half convinced due to natural suspicion of the EU in general.

The EU has absolutely no powers to change the conversion of 1" = 25.4mm as it is an internationally accepted conversion used by all the countries of the world (there may be a few od ball exceptions).

The following is copied directly from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) website.

The (international) inch has been exactly 25.4 mm since July 1959. At this point in time the (international) yard was redefined as 0.9144 metre - until this time the ratio between the US yard and the metre was different to the ratio between the UK yard and the metre. For more information, see Engineering Metrology by K J Hume (2 ed) Macdonald London 1967. The American inch changed by 2 millionths of an inch and the UK inch by 1.7 millionths of an inch. The international inch falls mid way between the old UK and US inch.

References:

• The Yard Unit of Length Nature Vol. 200 No 4908 pp 730-732 23 Nov 1963
• The United Kingdom standards of the yard in terms of the metre (British Applied Journal of Physics)

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Spoilsport..................

Good morning all,

One of the best descriptions of a metre I ever heard came from one of our elderly members who in his best Sussex accent when asked, replied "simple boy, it's a yard n the thickness of a brick n a tile! In fact, not far adrift, 36" plus 21/2" for a brick and 1/2" for a tile; but If you want to confuse the lad in the builders merchants, go in there and ask for a bushel of sand!

Regards,

Bob Youldon

I was looking forward to the new regs. My bodge jobs I use a 1/4" drill as clearance for 6mm bolt, the new conversion would make it more engineered. also all my old worn and stretched spanners would fit better.

The really sad part is that I have seen people using 1:256 (or some fraction thereof) ratio for scaling built from raw materials.

It actually works quite well, for stationary engines, hot air engines, steam driven feed pumps etc, etc....

John.

Metric/inch spanners have been around for years, there called "adjustable" spanners and what's the point in buying metal that is the correct size it's much more fun machining it.

Ken.

I have had this ruler for a while - how would one pronounce the units?

* Danny M *

That's a glaziers ruler with an error on the 'c'

As to pronunciation..

English - One, two, three....

Irish - Wun, too, tree

Scots - Wee, moore, enoo

Welsh - Thumb, hoof, try

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Ken,

Wash your mouth out !!

... I presume you were just entering into the spirit of Neil's joke, but [just in case you were not]: A less than perfectly fitting conventional or adjustable spanner will inevitably bruise the points of a hexagon. The aforementioned Metrinch spanners are Flank Drive [originally devised by Snap-on, I think], which apply the pressure to the flats, not the points. ... The "metric/inch versatility" is just a useful side-effect of the design, and a clever piece of marketing.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 27/03/2015 08:22:20

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 27/03/2015 08:24:32

Back at the time of decimal change over in Australia, one of the states(Queensland I think), education supplies department ordered wooden rules for use in schools. When they arrived in Australia, customs found that they had both metric and imperial markings on them, and impounded them, and burned the lot, inches NOT allowed.

Ian S C

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Ian,

That's tragic ... it's uncomfortably close to burning books !!

MichaelG.

> The "metric/inch versatility" is just a useful side-effect

Interestingly they are nominal 1 mm steps leaving a few gaps in the 1/32" steps (although many of the 1/32" sizes aren't going to be found anywhere!)

I also see a couple of the larger sockets (but not spanners) cover two mm sizes, which shows how much leeway there is.

Neil

HI, well all my adjustable spanners are just metric.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 27/03/2015 09:48:40