Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong
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ultrarunner
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Metric has been legal for decades... just not mandatory.
When I was doing construction in Europe... the residential water pipe and fittings were still called out 1/2 and 3/4... go figure?
When I was doing construction in Europe... the residential water pipe and fittings were still called out 1/2 and 3/4... go figure?
California
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Carpentry in feet and inches is needlessly complex. Try to calculate the distance from the end of a roof to the edge of the first of three dormers equally spaced, in a roof where the dormers and the roof itself measure some odd numbered feet/inches/fractions of an inch. (Without a pocket calculator that does fractions, obviously).
Or work out the rise/run measurements for stairs. Be sure to allow for carpet on the stairs but not on the floor of the lower level! Dividing vertical height by number of stairs is sure to result in some weird, hard to calculate fractions for each rise.
Concrete calculations considering area, depth, volume then ordering material in cubic yards takes some figuring. Base 27 mathematics???
(Once upon a time Journeyman Carpenter here, obviously pre pocket calculators).
Conversion to Metric will be gradual, particularly because building materials are in inches, but construction calculations will be simpler after we follow the rest of the world into the modern era.
Or work out the rise/run measurements for stairs. Be sure to allow for carpet on the stairs but not on the floor of the lower level! Dividing vertical height by number of stairs is sure to result in some weird, hard to calculate fractions for each rise.
Concrete calculations considering area, depth, volume then ordering material in cubic yards takes some figuring. Base 27 mathematics???
(Once upon a time Journeyman Carpenter here, obviously pre pocket calculators).
Conversion to Metric will be gradual, particularly because building materials are in inches, but construction calculations will be simpler after we follow the rest of the world into the modern era.
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I wonder if that anomaly has anything to do with the fact that 1/2 and 3/4 aren't really the measurements of the pipe, just a name, like "2X4" for instance? Or "half ton truck". And the dimensions are different if it's copper or iron, but the names are the same. Of course, unless you're talking about "tubing" instead of "pipe". Then it's the actual OD vs the imaginary approximate ID with pipe. But then we have 1/2" PEX, that is called tubing, but measures 5/8" OD. So is it tubing or pipe? 3/4" copper pipe is the same thing as 7/8" tubing and definitely not 3/4" anywhere. Sheesh.
aeblank
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There are weird numbers "in metric" too. Being base 10 doesn't make everything magically work out.
Spanner
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1/2 & 3/4 refer to the ID (In inches) of the water pipes installed in UK buildings. Changing the piping is impractical and there is a lot of water piping in existence - since before the Mayflower sailed westwards. Likewwise the Mile-Marker posts on the roadside for the stage-coaches pre-Shakespeare.
Because we were colonised by the British, as you were, our pipes are similarly "called" 1/2 & 3/4, even 1 inch etc. But new building & construction is dimensioned in metric terms.
1/2 and 3/4 inch ID piping should really now be called 13 & 19mm. (Which it is on mainland Europe).
The post by 'California' on this page and 'Raspy' on P.589 are excellent contributions to this debate. :thumbsup:
Because we were colonised by the British, as you were, our pipes are similarly "called" 1/2 & 3/4, even 1 inch etc. But new building & construction is dimensioned in metric terms.
1/2 and 3/4 inch ID piping should really now be called 13 & 19mm. (Which it is on mainland Europe).
The post by 'California' on this page and 'Raspy' on P.589 are excellent contributions to this debate. :thumbsup:
Spanner
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Such as?
aeblank
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The rise/run/accounting for carpet was one just mentioned.
Equally spaced anything could end up with .38474759483625 or whatever.
As a (mechanical) engineer, I assure you, even numbers rarely just happen. If you want it, then other things around it will be "non-even".
My dad owned a machine shop. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in (what my college roommate affectionately called) barbaric units. Those machinists would have to convert forever, introducing error.
Converting is painful. It was always easier 50 years ago.
Equally spaced anything could end up with .38474759483625 or whatever.
As a (mechanical) engineer, I assure you, even numbers rarely just happen. If you want it, then other things around it will be "non-even".
My dad owned a machine shop. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in (what my college roommate affectionately called) barbaric units. Those machinists would have to convert forever, introducing error.
Converting is painful. It was always easier 50 years ago.
California
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Yes but you can find .38474759483625 directly on your ruler. Faster, more accurate, more intuititive than looking for 25/64ths. Or converting that to 1/8ths plus a smidgen, or something else you recognize instantly.
