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I am a bit older than you and trained on imperial machine tools , after early retirement 25 years ago I expanded my workshop from an imperial myford s7,a fobco drill ,and an old round head Colchester, I then in addition aquired an all metric Colchester triumph ,and a Colchester master with dual dials, plus an imperial turret mill I have a good selection of micrometers imp and metric and a lot of other mixed equipment ,at my last job I pushed a desk and the company changed over to metric.,and i got on well with metric drawings and measurement After retirement I I took on a few jobs ,a mix of imperial and metric and I found I was far quicker on an imperial machine,and one time I was very tempted to convert the triumph cross slide to imperial. so I would buy an imperial lathe particularly if you have the imperial micrometers etc..I have never been tempted to buy a dro ,electronics always seem to play up,and get in the way if machine capacity is pushed to the limit. I would go with what you are used to though in future a metric machine may be more saleable,though at the moment the hobby trade new and used sells both types,

I rarely use the metric dials on my dual dial Master 2500

Mick. Have you considered if the leadscrew is different in metric or imperial machines? You might find one has a more useful range of thread pitches or tpi than the other.

When I did my apprenticeship in 1975 to 1979 everything was imperial. I soon left engineering to work in IT and returned to engineering as a machinist in 2010, what a shock, everything had gone metric, drawings are third angle projection, machines are nearly all CNC or if manual have a DRO. But I much prefer to work in metric, everything is much more logical no messing about with fractions or number/letter drills etc. Oops! Opened a can of worms there.

Phil.

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… or perhaps millipedes

MichaelG.

I’m metricated but have used umpteen (it feels like) scientific measurement systems, so imperial is easy. My lathe and larger mill are imperial and the smaller mill is metric. I nearly always measure in metric unless I am using my limited range of micrometers – some imperial and some metric – but I nearly always aim for a metric size. 0.01mm target is more than close enough for most things I do and 0.04mm would usually be perfectly adequate.

As more and more goes metric, buying new would be a no-brainer for me. Long threads will be correct, with no approximations for the metric machine. Fewer and fewer imperial threads will be used as time progresses. DRO’s certainly take away those calculations, but I still find it easier to add cut by the turn of the handle for roughing cuts.

Gear cutting is similar – most of mine, because they are ancient machines, are DP – in that MOD will eventually take over. Depth of cut, if the gear is to be cut in one go, is currently imperial but eventually will be metric only.

Think here your old housing stock. 15mm copper pipe is the same as 1/2” but the rest need converters every time the pipes are altered.  Bricks are metric.  Everything is metric like large sheets of ply.  Think vehicles – they are all metric now.

Yes, metric is so much easier than imperial measurements. The only ones out of step are the Americans.

Edited By not done it yet on 22/01/2020 22:06:17

I only buy metric milling cutters for my metric milling machine nowadays. I've got loads of 3.175mm cutters which fit quite nicely in a 1/8" end mill holder

I have never made a 15mm/1/2” copper coupling with a “special’ connector, but I do know that 1/2” is 12.7mm, not 15😉. They are close enough, for a solder joint, to be compatible. 3/4”, and above, are a different story. You carry on paying out for the expensive connectors and I will carry on just as I have for the last thirty years, and I will also continue with the generalisations. Most sheet material is now 2400 x 1200mm – steadily changing from 2420 x 1210mm. Builders build at 400mm centres for roofing, etc, not 16” as they used to do. I’ve not come across a double glazing company still using inches for manufacturing details – perhaps you know different? No imperial gas meters are installed these days? – even though my supplier seems to take my metric meter readings as though they a cu ft – but charge me by the cubic metre.🙂

They likely make these expensive couplings for people like you to purchase?

I am aware that threaded pipe connectors are BSP – virtually worldwide. But get real, metric is here and here to stay. Some luddites will continue to use imperial units (I meaning beyond the generation that ‘grew up in that era&rsquo. That era has gone. Schools do not teach in imperial units (although converting to old units is part of the syllabus, still).

Yet some students only know their height and weight in imperial numbers – many unaware of manipulating those units mathematically. But these are becoming fewer, thankfully.

As someone from that era when imperial units were rife – but metric scientific units were rapidly becoming universal – I know which system is the sensible one. The only other old unit still commonly used these days is likely calories – but that is still a metric unit (but not SI) – nobody but nobody uses British Thermal Units per ounce (as far as I know). Let us know if you do.🙂

It’s like other things that have been standardised – like our domestic grid voltages – the same as the rest of Europe but not really quite the same. Yes, there will be odd-balls and some compromises (fudges) but metric is the sensible system and is steadily becoming more universal (apart from the Americans and some minor ‘buddies&rsquo.

Have a nice day. Go and cut some imperial metal – if the sizes are easily available or only at a premium.🙂 Even woodworking has now virtually gone metric (softwoods have been traded in metric units for decades, but hardwoods have only mostly changed to metric dimensions much more recently (possibly that was to clarify, to some lesser mortals, which timber type they were using?&#128578.

If only that were the case, plasterboard comes 1200 x 2400 and fits the 400mm spacing nicely but ply, osb, MDF, MFC comes in 1220 x 2440. or other multiples based on imperial

It has never come in 1210 x 2420 but did used to come in 8 x 4 sheets which work out ate 1220 x 2440.

Oops, sorry, yes 1220 x 2440. Such a long time since I bought any of that imperial/metric fudge! I’m neither a builder nor a plumber. But the principle is the same – they are progressively going metric.