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Missing metric sizes is more a symptom of cheap sets. Canadians will get me on this one, Canadian Tire (retail chain) is probably the single largest source of tools in the country among other things. When most guys start out, you usually go to Canadian tire and buy a tool set and a toolbox. Sears doesn’t carry that much up here, neither does Home Depot and Lowes is still an outlier. Anyway, to my point. You can go to CT and but a set of their standard Mastercraft branded wrenches and miss sizes like 21 and I think 16, some of the other sets won’t have an 18. Their Impact sockets are even worse, almost no 18’s anywhere. But… If you go up to their premium “Maximum” branded line, the wrench sets include everything. I have found this to be true with most store brands.
When you’re looking at the really cheap end of the tool spectrum you really have to do your diligence and check the descriptions to make sure that you have every size.
A funny story, if you aren’t from Manitoba you probably haven’t heard of the “Gimli Glider”. Story goes in the 80’s after the switch to metric someone messed up the fuel volume calculation for a 767 flying cross country. Somewhere over northern Ontario the plane ran out of fuel and the pilot had to make an emergency landing at an uncontrolled airfield, Part of the airfield had been converted to a drag strip and there were actually people racing the day this happened. No one even realized the plane was coming at them, because how much noise does a plane without the engines on really make? Here’s a link.
It’s like this Eric. Some countries use the metric system. The other one put a man on the moon.
They have the metric system, we have nuclear aircraft carriers.
I know that has nothing to do with it, but why should we switch? For the most part we have, but who wants to go kilometers per hour. 0-60 and the 1/4 mile sound so much cooler.
[quote=”Jasonw1178″ post=147254]It’s like this Eric. Some countries use the metric system. The other one put a man on the moon.[/quote]
You can thank Germany for putting Americans on the Moon.
Germany uses the Metric System.
The real irony is that every US unit is legally defined by metric units (inch is 25.4 mm, not 3 barleycorns, etc). If our units has to be defined by metric units, what does that say about our units?
I mean, check this out:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/faqs.html
Why is most of the statistical information in the Factbook given in metric units, rather than the units standard to US measure?
US Federal agencies are required by the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-168) and by Executive Order 12770 of July 1991 to use the International System of Units, commonly referred to as the metric system or SI. In addition, the metric system is used by over 95 percent of the world’s population.Great discussion! Some good points from a variety of viewpoints.
Since this is a forum/website/YouTube channel mainly centered on cars and other things automotive – I think we can let cars themselves guide us: The reality is that, since at least the late 1980s – virtually every car in the world, including those put out by GM, Ford, and Chrysler – was built using metric standards. The designers typed millimeters into their CAD systems. Because why? Because the auto industry is a global one. If Ford or GM (or Mercedes or Toyota) design a new car platform – they can only make money on it if they sell it worldwide. And thats just not going to work if mechanics at a dealership in Guatemala or New Zealand have to buy a whole new set of sockets to work on it. Or if you have to ask your fastener vendor to split every order between Metric and SAE sizes. And ask your JIT inventory management system to deliver the right ones at the right time. Metric won that battle.
Except for a couple of things: Wheels – even wheels installed on thoroughly European vehicles like Porsches and Mercedes – still tend to be sized in inches. Of course, its only one dimension: the diameter of the rim. Bolt patterns, tire widths, aspect ratios etc. are all done metrically. Why? I’m sure there is a reason.
The US is not going metric any time soon. There are very strong political/social forces that will probably preclude this from happening, probably in any of our lifetimes. Are these good reasons: Possibly.
Because, truth be told, there are still some very good reasons to hold on to at least a few of our old standard measures. Like cooking, for instance. In a recipe that calls for a cup of flour – I think most people “mentally” have an idea of how much volume a cup holds. 350 grams? Not so much. And in our automotive world? The good old horsepower is a useful example. If a horse came along and kicked me in the head, I know what that would feel like. If I needed to drag a cart down the road – two horses seems like a reasonable amount of power to do the job. But how many Watts would I need to do the same thing? I have no idea.
Chances are, if you are working on any car built in the past thirty years, its got metric fasteners in it. Except when it doesn’t.
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