Reply To: Why is the world of model engineering still imperial?

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by HOWARDT on 08/03/2023 08:28:00:

Isn’t the simple answer the drawings were created in the imperial age and being copyright they cannot be metricated. …

I don't see much merit in metricating existing plans unless there's solid advantage in doing so. Such as selling them to newcomers with metric workshops, nothing but metric stock sizes, who have no background knowledge of Imperial or English measure. The amount of unnecessary conversion baked into Imperial is one of it's chief evils, and converting again just to be in metric is evil too. Metrication's advantages apply mostly to new design, not slavishly redimensioning old plans.

This thread's title is 'Why is the world of model engineering still imperial?' That's debatable! True modelling is popular in the UK, but surely unjustified to assume there are more British modellers than the rest of the world combined? Dare I cause further upset by suggesting it's likely more model engineers work in metric than Imperial? Not in your local club maybe, but remember that's a tiny sample. Be interesting to know how many mini-lathes are sold worldwide each year, and what proportion of them are Imperial rather than Metric. Even though I expect Imperial machines predominate in the US, is anyone prepared to bet the farm on Imperial being the winner?

Looking to the future, has it occurred to anyone else that loyally sticking to traditional British measure is a good way of ensuring that British model-engineering will die abroad, and probably here too in the long run? Very few countries know much about Imperial, and the little English boys next door to me aren't taught it at school either. My generation was probably one of the last to cover imperial in depth, and I had to learn Metric too. Being taught both in parallel gave me a very clear understanding into which of the two performed best in the large.

Strange that so many enthuse about Imperial measure without insisting we go back to £sd, a monetary system with many of the same advantages; 240d = £1, 12d = 1s, 20s = £1, 2/6 = £⅛ etc. I think £sd passed relatively painlessly into history because most people had been hurt by the way it makes sums unnecessarily hard, whilst the simple advantages of 100p = £1 were instantly obvious. Doubly so when everyone could own a calculator!

Dave