[speaker001:] So, how do you feel about the metric system?
[speaker002:] [T V] Oh, I like it. I, I, I have a foreign, actually I have more than one foreign automobile. And I, I, I find the, uh, I find the, the nondecimal system with all the halves and quarters, I was trying to build a shed and they give you these measurements like forty-two and three eighths inches and we had to go a little less and trying to figure what's less than three eighths, uh...
[speaker001:] Yeah, and it's, I forget how many millimeters. So you used the metric?
[speaker002:] Well, no. What we did was wind up using, and you just go, you just go down and, and you get out the, the, so many inches and, and we just marked a little bit less than that, uh, which is somewhat awkward but had it been millimeters, you could have done. I think what's interesting, the way engineering people do is they, they, in essence, have gotten around it by, by listing, uh, decimal inches.
[speaker001:] Uh, yeah, yeah.
[speaker002:] Do you-, are you involved in any engineering drawing stuff that? [Dishes] [talking].
[speaker001:] Uh, yeah, yeah. Uh, I work in metal fab and tenths of inches are, are normal. And, you know, me-, you know, it is broken up in, you know, the inch is broken up and has been for quite some time for, in tenths, hundredths, thousandths, ten thousandths, of an inch.
[speaker002:] Well, have, have you, do you, are you involved in any other, uh, metric type things like...
[speaker001:] Yes, I am. I, I have a Suzuki motorcycle and, and I've had motorcycles, Japanese motorcycles for years and years and the metric system comes easy to me. But my...
[speaker002:] I think it's interesting you we-, you know, when yo-, you go out there and you're looking for a wrench and you want the next size larger. I've got, I inherited some, some stuff like fifteen thirty seconds.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] Well, now that one's fairly easy, because that's probably slightly under half an inch. But some of them, like, like, twenty-seven and, and there are some thirty seconds and some of the things that, that, uh, don't translate.
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah, trans-, yeah. To go from, from eighths to sixteenths to, uh, thirty seconds and remember where it falls, it...
[speaker002:] Yeah. and, and you've got to go over there and try it and I suppose, you know, I need a larger one. I need a smaller one. I mean obviously you can look at it and say well, anyway. I think the other thing that's interesting is that a lot of our stuff is already changed that we haven't, I don't know, do you, do you drink adult beverages?
[speaker001:] Yeah, I drink beer.
[speaker002:] We-, th-, have you noticed that, um, that a lot of the, um, a lot of...
[speaker001:] Yeah, whiskey is in liters.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] And, and the next, yeah, point seven five liters and then liters and then one point seven five liters, yeah.
[speaker002:] It's like a fifth, like fifths of whiskey I thought was always kind of strange.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] What's a fifth of whiskey? [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yeah. I, I always wondered about that myself.
[speaker002:] It was a marketing ploy.
[speaker001:] And, and they had quarts at the same time though.
[speaker002:] Yeah. But the idea was, is that by, with five fifths, um, they could, uh, they could, uh, they could sell five and, and, um, it was [LAUGHTER] simply a ploy to, to get people, you know
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] to buy, to buy more for, it's, uh, I find that interesting.
[speaker001:] It's...
[speaker002:] But it's like, you know, the, the, the, the soda and this kind of things coming in
[speaker001:] Liters.
[speaker002:] on-, one liter bottles and, um, I, I think it's kind of generational. Although I must admit that, that I am not, I ca-, I'm not conversant in saying, you know, that's three centimeters away. I mean, or, or, or...
[speaker001:] Yeah. It, it's, like I say, I work in a machine shop and, uh, everything's still inches.
[speaker002:] Yeah. .
[speaker001:] Everything's still fractions of inches, or pa-, or tenths
[speaker002:] Yeah. It's, it's hard to think
[speaker001:] or thousandths, or, or...
[speaker002:] though.
[speaker001:] Yes. it is a mental thing. It is a conversion thing.
[speaker002:] It's like a mill, you know. We, we do, uh, um, well we use a one mill bond wire or one point five mill co-, bond wire on
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] on semiconductor devices. And well, what's a mill and...
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah. But what really annoys me is the way we, in the United States, have been converting to metric. We have a eighty-nine Chevy Blazer. And before that we had a Horizon. Uh, you know, Plymouth Horizon?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And both of them were a mismatch of both [pause] American and metric.
[speaker002:] Don't you find that interesting? Uh, that they, that [LAUGHTER] that they're doing that, uh, in any field, for ho-, why, why, why pieces, could you, could you get any connection on which was metric and which wasn't.
[speaker001:] Uh, okay. The engine itself was mostly metric because it came from Canada.
[speaker002:] Oh, okay.
[speaker001:] And the starter was Bosch American, so.
[speaker002:] The bolts were, were Eng-, were, were English then.
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah. It was, it was annoying. One, one half of the starter wa-, you know, three bolts on the starter and two of them were American and one of them was metric.
[speaker002:] Now that's strange.
[speaker001:] And, uh, you go from the, uh, water pump up to the radiator and on the water pump, it was all metric. And, and on, you know, the factory fittings, you know, the factory, uh
[speaker002:] Yeah. Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] screw lock
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] uh, uh, radiator hose clamps.
[speaker002:] Essentially they do that though because if, if you look at General Motors, the size and, and, and of course, Ford and Chrysler. If they all went, if they all went metric, but in a sense, um, you know, it's like when yo-, a measurement though, when, when you put, uh, you know, one point four three two inches, whe-, when you're milling something, uh
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] you simply set your, uh, equipment, or, or you measu-, or you got your calipers there and, and you measure, you know, you mic it to see if it's accurate and.
[speaker001:] Right. It's it's not a problem either way.
[speaker002:] No.
[speaker001:] Like I said, my only complaint is where they mixed them on the same car.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And you go to look at it and you don't know which set to reach in, American or metric.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and, and, you're never quite sure, well, is that a metric bolt.
[speaker002:] You get you a pair of metric pliers, right [LAUGHTER]?
[speaker001:] Right, right.
[speaker002:] And you beat on it and a metric hammer [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] It, it can be annoying and my other con-, concern is, is the American government going to force us to go.
[speaker002:] Oh, I think, I don't think so. I, I think that, th-, uh, I think they've now just taken the attitude that, well, if it happens, if it, because it, there a lot of things that, that, uh, um, like sports, you know. It's a hundred meter.
[speaker001:] Oh, absolutely.
[speaker002:] And, uh, uh, but automobile races if it, I don't think they'd ever, it's still going to be the Indianapolis Five Hundred. They're not going to...
[speaker001:] Yeah, Yeah. They're not going to change that to meters. It will always be.
[speaker002:] Yeah. And, and it, I, I don't think it, I don't, you know, I don't think, I don't think it's particularly bothersome because in reality, uh, you, it's like troy ounces in ounces of gold. How many ounces of gold, you know.
[speaker001:] Twelve.
[speaker002:] I was trying, I was trying to figure up gold content on something. It had, has, uh, gold plated, uh, header. And, and they're trying to think of what's a Troy ounce.
[speaker001:] Yeah. There's twelve troy ounces to the pound.
[speaker002:] Yeah. Now that makes, you know.
[speaker001:] Yeah. And, and is that going to change too?
[speaker002:] Well, I mean, and, and then there's a metric ton and then there's a ton. But what's a metric ton?
[speaker001:] Uh, se-,
[speaker002:] I don't know.
[speaker001:] I don't remember. I, I read it. And are we still going to maintain drams for perfume?
[speaker002:] Yeah. And, and then, but then the medicine. And, and some of these other things and, and the chemistry in those kinds of areas, milliliter.
[speaker001:] It's all metric all ready.
[speaker002:] Yeah. And, and so, um, but, but when you go to order a drink, um, you know. say, they, they, I don't know, it's uh...
[speaker001:] And what will a shot be? Will a shot be an ounce?
[speaker002:] I don't know. And, and, but, you know, when you go to the store and, and you're trying to figure, you know, well this box is, is, uh, is, is twelve ounces and, and this one's, uh, uh, three pounds, um, and you...
[speaker001:] And the other one's two point one kis, and, and you're, you're lost.
[speaker002:] That's right. And, and I don't know. I, I think that, I, I think, I think the Federal government is going to, more or less, leave it alone. I think they've got, I think there are more pressing problems.
[speaker001:] Oh, yeah. The economy.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] Uh, what I was thinking about is an economical issue concerning it. Uh, a machinist has a huge number of dollars invested in tooling. Personal tools to be able to do his job.
[speaker002:] [Breathing] Yeah. But, but are, are the tools that, uh, if you're cutting, are you talking about cutting equipment or tools for tha-, for set up?
[speaker001:] Uh, tools for set up and for measurement. Uh, you got to have a one tenth indicator, it's a hundred dollars. Uh, five tenths indic-, uh, usually two one tenth indicators
[speaker002:] Huh.
[speaker001:] at a hundred dollars each. Uh, five tenths indicator at about a hundred dollars. You got to have, uh, six inch set of calipers at anywhere from sixty to a hundred twenty dollars. You got to have a zero to one for sixty dollars. Uh, one to two inch micrometer for sixty dollars. A two to three for eighty dollars. A three to four for eighty dollars.
[speaker002:] So you've got thousands of dollars or so. I mean you get a thousand dollars worth of tools.
[speaker001:] Real fast.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] Real, real fast. Edge finders and...
[speaker002:] But I was thinking about though that, that when you actually get to the milling equipment though, when it starts turning...
[speaker001:] Well, I know, because, okay. Your end mills will be measured in inches or fractions of inches.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] You know.
[speaker002:] But whe-, you, when you, when you simply drilling a hole, I mean, a real simple thing, like gee, I need a hole there.
[speaker001:] What size hole?
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] As in metric size hole or a, or an American sized hole?
[speaker002:] Yeah. And, and what, but the thing is then you've got to with screws and that's the other issue. Uh, the pitch and [T V] [dishes] [talking]...
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah. Well and thread,