Why are shafts sizes metric??

hardydson

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just wondering why in our world of fractions and decimals are shafts measured in millimeters....i know theres a small difference in sizes and it's easier to say 13mm..than say 33/64..Was just kinda wondering how they got started in metric sizes??
 
hardydson said:
Just wondering why in our world of fractions and decimals are shafts measured in millimeters....i know theres a small difference in sizes and it's easier to say 13mm..than say 33/64..Was just kinda wondering how they got started in metric sizes??

I'm just guessing, but I would think that perhaps pool was invented in Europe or Asia or something, and not here in the US where we made up our own nonsense measurements. :p
 
Good question. I understand the convenience factor for the tip, but any other reasons why the tip measured in metric, the shaft length measured in inches, and the weight in ounces?
 
seymore15074 said:
I'm just guessing, but I would think that perhaps pool was invented in Europe or Asia or something, and not here in the US where we made up our own nonsense measurements. :p

Lol, we didn't make up our own nonsense measurements. Sure seems that way sometimes, though.
The imperial system was created by the British Bureau of Standards and was the world standard until the metric system was created by the French. We simply haven't completely adopted it....yet.
 
xidica said:
Good question. I understand the convenience factor for the tip, but any other reasons why the tip measured in metric, the shaft length measured in inches, and the weight in ounces?

If you look at the tires on your car, you'll find they have mixed unit systems also.

Good Rolls,
Rasta
 
Good question. I think you have answered it by yourself. As in, would you rather say .512 thousands or 13mm. LOL However it seems most give taper in thousands, joint diameters butt diameters etc.

Rod
 
I think it has something to do with which part of the cue can go bad first. Just imagine while in Europe or Asia and you need a tip replacement. If any part of the shaft goes bad, you probably need a new cue anyways.
 
Hmm, I didn't think about the shaft length and weight measurements... That is rather odd that it's mixed. Oh well, I guess I have no idea!
 
seymore15074 said:
Hmm, I didn't think about the shaft length and weight measurements... That is rather odd that it's mixed. Oh well, I guess I have no idea!

Most of the best cues are still made in the US, but they probably adopted a metric tip measurement for eventual replacement.
 
I can't tell you WHY the metric system is being used to specify shaft o.d. but I can tell you HOW its the better choice.

A shaft is typically specified by the 1/4 mm...as in 12-3/4 mm. Each 1/4mm is almost 0.001 inches or 1/1000 inch...a very small incremental change.

If we were to use english units, we would probably go with 64ths of an inch. Each 1/64 inch is about 0.016 inches...a very big incremental change.

As in most cases, the english system is too coarse.

Edit: Per the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the thickness of a dollar bill is approximately 1/10th of a mm or 1/250th of an inch.
 
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In machining (atleast in America) we measure everything in thousandths.. I.E. .001 being 1 thousandth of an inch. Believe me I wish cues were measured in standard it'd make things so much easier. If you measure a cue with a pair of calipers (std) and come up with .514 on the tip.. Well then it's .514, what the hell is that in MM? I dunno let me get my calcultor. What if I want my tip to be .520 thousandths? etc.. etc..

DJ
 
PlynSets said:
If you measure a cue with a pair of calipers (std) and come up with .514 on the tip.. Well then it's .514, what the hell is that in MM? I dunno let me get my calcultor. What if I want my tip to be .520 thousandths? etc.. etc..

DJ

Now, you know that you need to get caliper in metric.
 
Just another reason why pool wouldn’t succeed, we can even describe the dimensions of a cue consistently. Good question though. Hell I’m 6 ft 1 mm tall.
 
mosconiac said:
A shaft is typically specified by the 1/4 mm...as in 12-3/4 mm. Each 1/4mm is almost 0.001 inches or 1/1000 inch...a very small incremental change.

Each 1/4 mm is approx. .010 of an inch not .001
 
PlynSets said:
In machining (atleast in America) we measure everything in thousandths.. I.E. .001 being 1 thousandth of an inch. Believe me I wish cues were measured in standard it'd make things so much easier. If you measure a cue with a pair of calipers (std) and come up with .514 on the tip.. Well then it's .514, what the hell is that in MM? I dunno let me get my calcultor. What if I want my tip to be .520 thousandths? etc.. etc..

DJ

roughly......
.514=13.06mm
.520=13.21mm
 
mosconiac said:
Edit: Per the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the thickness of a dollar bill is approximately 1/10th of a mm or 1/250th of an inch.



I measured my newer dollars at......

.12mm
.0045 thou

the older ones were a bit thinner.......
 
A 12.7 mm tip is .50 inches.

Although I agree that the metric system works better for this situation, it would be kind of cool to call it a .50 caliber tip! :D
 
a more important question

Well, how about this. The amount of english is measured in
"tips". Well what the heck is a "tip" 12mm, 13mm, 14mm?
Most folks to not seem to care about precision.
 
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