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Digital caliper question

Machinists seldom deal with fractions at all. If I was king for a day I'd squash the metric system in this country. The system we used 200 years ago played a part in us becoming the greatest country on the planet and it still works. I don't feel strongly about what other countries use, either way but conformation is not a strong suit for me. As long as we end up at the same place, why should we change to suit others? It's not like we owe them this and I see no reason to fix something that's not broken. Teach math in schools and hand me a 3/8 wrench please.
You just want the 3/8 wrench, because you lost the 10mm somewhere Lol!
 
Machinists seldom deal with fractions at all. If I was king for a day I'd squash the metric system in this country. The system we used 200 years ago played a part in us becoming the greatest country on the planet and it still works. I don't feel strongly about what other countries use, either way but conformation is not a strong suit for me. As long as we end up at the same place, why should we change to suit others? It's not like we owe them this and I see no reason to fix something that's not broken. Teach math in schools and hand me a 3/8 wrench please.

Believe it or not but the oldest civilization ( Mesopotamia 14,000 years old / 12,000 BC ) used a mathematical system based on the number 12, not unlike 12" inches in 1 foot.

Many current mathematicians agree a 12 point numerical system is superior to the 10 most of the world uses today.

So the Foot/Inch/yard etc... has been around for as long as civilization itself.
 
Working with automotive drawings was a joy at times, depends who made the dwg, might get both measurements, might not. Everything on the frame was metric since about 1980, cab could be whatever was handy at the time for a few yrs, engines had a transition period too. Metric bolt stuff could be a pig to get locally, took many years to become relatively easy to get, and even then involved some searches. Then came the prefab hoses with exotic German metric fttgs that were not sold in the aftermarket, as they require an exotic heat molding machine to make them, fttgs molded into a plastic housing, it never ends.
 
You can also make up your own units for even more enjoyment/confusion. Back in the old days when I was actually using my chemistry degree I had about a dozen technicians that reported to me. Each one had to do a monthly report of progress, problems, etc. I was probably a little drunk (I controlled the supply of pure ethanol) or maybe just bored and sent them all a memo that I wanted a new standard of velocity used in all reports and it would be furlongs per fortnight instead of inches/min or cm/hour. It was kind of amazing that the majority weren't aware that a furlong is a measure of distance and a fortnight is a measure of time. Once adopted this became standard practice for years, even after i left.

IIRC 1 furlong per fortnight is 0.395 inches per minute which was about the rotational speed of the drums we plated copper onto for use in making printed circuit boards........
 
Ancient trivia for the day: A 'furrow long' is the distance that could be ploughed by an ox without a rest. A mile was 5000 roman feet or 1000 soldier paces and an 'inch' is from the Latin word 'uncia', meaning 'one-twelfth' ( of a roman foot). In the 1500's the English designated 'their' mile as being 8 furlongs. A pound was based on 7000 grains of cereal weighed on a libra (scale in latin) and thus abbreviated as lb.

Metric trivia: The meter was designated by dividing the distance from the north pole to the equator in 10,000,000 increments. A cubic meter of water weighs 1000 kg. There are a 1000 liters of water in a cubic meter. ie: the metric system has weight, distance and volume interrelated and divisible by powers of ten, and which are all based on permanent natural items being our globe and water. And water freezes at 0 degrees and boils at 100, instead of 32 and 212 degrees. Metric time automatically tells you if it is day or night because it uses 24 hours instead of 12.
 
Ancient trivia for the day: A 'furrow long' is the distance that could be ploughed by an ox without a rest. A mile was 5000 roman feet or 1000 soldier paces and an 'inch' is from the Latin word 'uncia', meaning 'one-twelfth' ( of a roman foot). In the 1500's the English designated 'their' mile as being 8 furlongs. A pound was based on 7000 grains of cereal weighed on a libra (scale in latin) and thus abbreviated as lb.

Metric trivia: The meter was designated by dividing the distance from the north pole to the equator in 10,000,000 increments. A cubic meter of water weighs 1000 kg. There are a 1000 liters of water in a cubic meter. ie: the metric system has weight, distance and volume interrelated and divisible by powers of ten, and which are all based on permanent natural items being our globe and water. And water freezes at 0 degrees and boils at 100, instead of 32 and 212 degrees. Metric time automatically tells you if it is day or night because it uses 24 hours instead of 12.
While interesting, not of much consequence as long as there is a standard, either way. I don't think one is better than the other, but just different. Using both is the problem. Kinda like Canada having two official languages. Make up your mind, people! Lol! Make a choice and live with it. Same here. We should declare one or the other as official and live with it. Nothing wrong with being multilingual but the key is that we all understand each other. That was the point of my last post and its attempt at humor about this subject.

We do recognize the metric system but that doesn't mean we should use it, officially. Sometimes you just have to make a choice and even if it's wrong, it's better than being indecisive or mixing two different sets of standards. That's the only real problem with the two systems, imo.

Being American, historically means we are a tad bit rebellious and conformity is pretty much opposite of our founding principles. The english language is said to be one of the hardest to learn and is far from perfect, but that's not to say that french is superior to english, but different. If we all speek in different tongues, it's also be interesting but not of much value to us as a whole. Detrimental in fact. Same with two different systems of weights and measurements. IMHO

Like shooting, just tell me the rules, hang the targets, and lets shoot.
 
Kind of a old thread, but no one mentioned replacing the battery with the exact type. If the battery is the correct size, but not the correct type, both my thirty year old set, and three old set of Mitutoyo calipers will not function properly.
ditto, grainger has the correct battery. mitutoyo brand. there is a difference in how they work with the caliper
 
Bought my first ones tonight.... Been using cheap calipers since I started reloading.... hopefully the mitutoyo will be a nice addition....
Just got a set in the mail today, now I can send my $350 one in to get fixed.. cleaned as good as I could with 91% alcohol and they won’t close without a lot of force and he’ll to open.
 
Believe it or not but the oldest civilization ( Mesopotamia 14,000 years old / 12,000 BC ) used a mathematical system based on the number 12, not unlike 12" inches in 1 foot.

Many current mathematicians agree a 12 point numerical system is superior to the 10 most of the world uses today.

So the Foot/Inch/yard etc... has been around for as long as civilization itself.
This is the way.
 
Fractions and imperial measurement units are different things. You can use decimals and inches just fine.

Also, the metric system is for communists and men with soft hands.

Safe to assume then that if I open your fridge I wont find 200 grammes of Pate de Foie and 500ml of chilled white wine spritzers?
 
Safe to assume then that if I open your fridge I wont find 200 grammes of Pate de Foie and 500ml of chilled white wine spritzers?
I like to think of myself as a man of culture.

Seriously, though. I don't get why people get too fussed about units. Depending on the task, one tends to be more convenient than another. Usually, I prefer imperial units, because they're more tied to every day life - an inch is the width of your thumb, a foot is a foot, a yard is a step. Farrenheit is basically a percentage of how hot it is outside - zero is full cold, and 100 is full hot. Grains are super convenient for reloading. MOA is great for scopes. I find thousandths of inches more convenient than millimeters when machining metal. It's just the way the tolerances work out. For 3d printing, millimeters are king. Metric is better for cooking, but most recipes aren't metric in the US so I just deal with it. For every day use, radians are annoying (is that a 90 degree turn or pi/2 turn?)

I also hate that metric is all powers of ten to convert units. I find it confusing and lose track of decimal places, which can be a big problem. Any interesting math is best done with a calculator anyhow, so there's no real benefit to the whole "multiply by ten" thing. You can more easily tell that you did it right when the number changes rather than the decimal point moving.
 
send it too them, they will fix it and recalibrate it. was this even worth the post? you bought a precision instrument, treat it as such.
 

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