Metric converter utility
- Thread starter JoeyInCali
- Start date
JoeyInCali said:
Why not buy a cheap set of digitals that convert and keep them in the shop?
If I had to come to the computer everytime to do this I would forget what I was converting it for by the time I got back to the shop........then I have to start all over and I'd be right back where I started ....at the computer again.
<~~~still trying to get yesterdays work done today.............
You have a 30-inch calipers?BarenbruggeCues said:
Dave, you know some dustmakers still think digital calipers are blasphemy or lazy.
The utility also does volume/weight conversion.
JoeyInCali said:You have a 30-inch calipers?
Anything over 6 inches..............that's what the pencil marks on the wall are for..........
BarenbruggeCues said:
I'm not into the metric world. I use inches for everything other than shaft diameter and I have digital calipers for that. There was a discussion on here a couple of months ago about how some cue makers like digital and some like dial calipers. I have about 8 or 10 digital calipers laying around the shop as they have become so cheap. This is where they shine compared to dial, being able to go from Metric to SAE with the push of a button. The capability to zero at any reading comes in handy also. No calculating. Like you, there are pencil marks on a work bench with a small piece of angle iron for a end stop.
Dick
Here in the mixed-up Canadian world I have a conversion card or 3 in the shop. Amazingly enough a hole-is-a-hole-is-a-hole be it metric or 'english' measurement and a 5mm drill makes a great hole for tapping 1/4-20 thread into 
Now for my tip-of-the-day ... when you want to calculate a division, say taking a piece of wood and cutting it into 6 equal lengths, measure the thing in metric. It is so much easier to divide 175.8mm by 6 than dividing 6-29/32nds by 6 !
Dave
Now for my tip-of-the-day ... when you want to calculate a division, say taking a piece of wood and cutting it into 6 equal lengths, measure the thing in metric. It is so much easier to divide 175.8mm by 6 than dividing 6-29/32nds by 6 !
Dave
I use the same one: http://joshmadison.com/software/download/dl.php?dl=convertZip4.10
It's completely portable, and will run off of a USB stick, or from anyplace you put it on your HD.
http://joshmadison.com/software/convert/
It's completely portable, and will run off of a USB stick, or from anyplace you put it on your HD.
http://joshmadison.com/software/convert/
DaveK said:Here in the mixed-up Canadian world I have a conversion card or 3 in the shop. Amazingly enough a hole-is-a-hole-is-a-hole be it metric or 'english' measurement and a 5mm drill makes a great hole for tapping 1/4-20 thread into
Now for my tip-of-the-day ... when you want to calculate a division, say taking a piece of wood and cutting it into 6 equal lengths, measure the thing in metric. It is so much easier to divide 175.8mm by 6 than dividing 6-29/32nds by 6 !
Dave
Or you could convert your fractions to decimal. 29/32 =.90625, 6.90625 divided by 6 = 1.1510416.
I guess it all depends on what you're used to. Coming from a machining background, we tend to work in thousandths of an inch. IMO, I happen to think that working in thousandths tends to be a little more accurate.
A simple conversion factor that I've committed to memory is 1mm = .03937"
Bottom line, to each his own. I guess that's why God made calculators.
KJ Cues said:
That's the way we've been converting for years.
KJ Cues said:Or you could convert your fractions to decimal. 29/32 =.90625, 6.90625 divided by 6 = 1.1510416.
I picked that measurement 'cause my largest mic is 5-6 (OK, I have a 12" vernier caliper too). I was mostly refering to measuring tape or ruler measured lengths, where portions are mostly fractions-of-inches. With a metric measurement you do not have to 'convert' and I hate dividing (I do all these calcs in my head, darned calculators won't work in my garage in the winter
).
Precision and accuracy are independant of units. On the other hand they are quite dependant on instrument quality and user technique. I am also a huge believer in understanding what is "good enough" in any given application. For many of my projects +- a few mm or 1/8"s is good enough, I'm a hack.
There is also a nice little calculator from Microsoft called "calc plus" (or something real close to that) that includes a variety of unit conversions. It can be found at the MS web site, naturally.
Dave