Metric Rant

With the current world connection created by the Internet, I frequently hear people complain about the US measurement system. Let me let you in on the real problem with metric adoption: We really can't get metric stuff.

I ordered some screws for mounting my bearings. Regular skate bearings (608) have an 8mm bore. I can't just go up to the store and say, "I'm looking for some M8 screws. Let me have a box of 25mm and a box of 40mm." If they have any at all, they will be maybe one length and in little plastic bags of 4 screws for $3 or $4 as opposed to $0.06 for a SAE equivalent.

Instead, my only option is to order them online. Ok, first, I have to find a vendor that will sell less than 50 lb. boxes. Once I find some, I have to go ahead and order many more than I need or end up paying the same amount of money for less screws. I ordered a bag of 100 of the 25mm and another bag of 100 40mm. Well, I also needed washers and nuts. On top of that, I pay almost an additional 20% for shipping.

I had someone that was really surprised when I was talking about building my CNC mostly out of wood and gluing things together rather than all bolted together being a money saver. My fastener purchase was the single most expensive component of my CNC build. This includes things that I have had shipped half way around the world from Hong Kong to the US. The fasteners cost more than any other single component.

As long as we cannot just go down to a local store and things that are really metric, we will not convert to metric. We have this fake metric adoption where you get things in some funky measure like my coke can sitting next to me has a metric measure: 355ml.  It is the same 12 ounce size as it was before, they just put a conversion on it and say "*Poof*, it's metric." Same as when I work on my bike. Some things are really metric, some things are fake metric. We have things that are 25.4mm and 31.8mm which are the same size as when we were using non-metric measure 1", 1-1/4", 1-1/2" and such. So, not only do we have that, we also have them with other dimensions where the measurements that really are metric. So, we have a 1" bore on a 80mm shank so much that we just about have to carry around multiple measuring devices at all times. We also have to keep around two sets of tools because some parts are metric, some are not. I have duplicate wrenches, allen keys, measuring tapes, etc. One set in metric and one SAE. Even more fun is when the parts you are working on have a mix.

I can work with both systems and it doesn't really make any differences as they are all arbitrary. They both have advantages and disadvantages. I just wish we would have one or the other. Playing mix and match with both is just an absolute pain in the rear.