Comment by gtvwill
5 years ago
> "I use inches here because in machine work thousandths of inches is the language du jour."
Yeah not in Australia unless your machinist is >50 years old. Metric is more accurate/easier/less prone to mistakes. Metric is what we use.
Still widely used and taught in the machine shops of highly reputable universities over here in the U.S.
If you're under 40 and can't use metric and imperial jargon without a second thought in the shop here that's a different problem. I personally enjoy doing machine shop-esque metal fabrication in metric and woodshop type things in imperial, but all machine shop instructors I've met through several good stem uni's that look even slightly middle aged love to talk in thou of inch, some to the point of getting quite physically frustrated when asked where the metric drill index/reamer set are in otherwise highly stocked shops...
Also, I've noticed and heard the same from others in surrounding states - Fluid Dynamics professors love to include absolutely unecessary boatloads of strange units and conversions in coursework/exams to apparently "prepare us for the shitshow that is industry"
I'm not denying the metric system. Just in the USA it is thou period. and if the measurement is a consistent unit of whatever it works. Also GM (and Holden in oz) are inch based. So using metric will subject you to mistakes possibly. I agree though in science SI is the way to go
Yeah I cut my teeth on Subaru engines (helped having a gf who was a subi then telsa mechanic walking me through it). Subi are all metric tho. My workshop is a mix of metric for new gear and imperial from my old mans days running a farm.
We even have some stuff thats neither metric or US imperial, but is british witworth imperial...so different again and just enough to make a difference. Makes for some confusing repairs when your working with stuff that's had a mix of all 3 systems due to a long life of repairs.
I'm in Europe, and I've had/worked on German, Japanese and Swedish cars and boat engines. Metric all the way.
Only time I've needed an imperial set of tools was when overhauling a B&S lawnmower engine.
I was trained in Australia, in the past decade, and was taught thoroughly in both metric and imperial. The engineers and machinists I have worked with that insist metric is the only way habe been more prone to mistakes when imperial components pop up, as they do. Accuracy is down to the spec, the person and the machine, ease of use is identical when decimal inches are used, mistakes are a result of poor communication.