Tape measure - Why the imperial???

[mickavalon]

Just a quickie. Does anyone know why all the tape measures you seem to be able to buy still come with imperial measurements. Why can't we buy Tapes in metric only? It was 1971 that we went metric, I never use imperial measurements on site. Surely we've all caught on too the metric system by now, so why can't we get measuring devices that match our measurements.
The frustration of only being able to use one side of a fecking tape is beginning to get to me. Especially when your cutting in Paving and you can't turn the tape the right way to get the measure.
Does anyone know where to get a tape, 7.5m or up with only metric? ???

[lutonlagerlout]

I think its because a lot of big manufacturers sell to the USA and they still use imperial in America
i use 1 of
these on brickwork

check here for more links

cheers LLL

[London Stone Paving]

Old habits die hard mick. The reason that yorkstone is supplied in 38 mm thickness as standard is because 38mm is 1.5". When we started sawing our own York, we thought sod that and cut our stuff at 40mm

[GB_Groundworks]

also why are they so crap? ive stopped buying the £12 stanley fat max etc i go bq and get 10 cheap hi viz 8m ones instead

a tape might last years for a joiner but for us in the mud and filthy they dont last at all

[Exsparky]

As I have found, it's so that the guy measuring for lengths of 20mm conduit can use whatever one comes closest to a full amount, much to the confusion of the guy (me) who is down on the ground cutting and measuring. For successive lengths all around two metres I would get measurements of: eighty one, 2012, 197, eighty two, five and a half.

(I think the last one was in cubits, and yes it does make you crazy)

[London Stone Paving]

We get peopel ringing up for a quote on a step

"I need a step which is 6 foot long, 300m wide and 2 inches deep"

[henpecked]

We get peopel ringing up for a quote on a step

"I need a step which is 6 foot long, 300m wide and 2 inches deep"

Ha ha! You forgot the 'five eighths' mortar joint

[joydivision]

LLL, don't you find those tapes rarely work when working on domestic extensions etc like you seem to do?
Imperial bricks, the tapes useless for gauging straight away, new imperial brick can be all over the show in length from one to the next, even the poor quality of metric bricks these days often means that brick lengths can be other than 215.
Alright if the bricks your using are bang on, I just use a normal cheap bandq baby.
Just what I have found with them!

JD

[ringi]

I often measure in both metric and imperial then cross check them. It is hard to misread both scales in a constant way!

[peg basher]

http://www.adventtools.co.uk/specialist/vice_versa.html double sided metric tape

[rab1]

Steel pipe is still in inches, granted carbon steel is metric and so is copper. the tap connections in your house in most cases will also be imperial.

[lutonlagerlout]

I just measure twice and cut once

if its 70 inches then so be it
if its 2345 then thats it also

accuracy is everything

I do know what you mean mick,i was cutting today and sometimes the imperial face is facing you
cheers LLL

[Suggers]

We've been here before.
Love being able to move the decimal point.
Also love 12 - is divisable by 1,2,3,4,6
10 divisable by 1,2,5
Being a child of the 70's, it changed midway thru my education.
Still have to translate 100mm = 4ins.
Cheers you all

[Suggers]

ps - i think it's also about visualisation - my water meter is 300 yards down the road ?

[Bob_A]

We've been here before.
Love being able to move the decimal point.
Also love 12 - is divisable by 1,2,3,4,6
10 divisable by 1,2,5
Being a child of the 70's, it changed midway thru my education.
Still have to translate 100mm = 4ins.
Cheers you all

Decimalisation came when I was at school.

I drink pints, I walk miles and yards.
I buy litres of petrol but want to know the mpg of my car
When I want to measure something roughly I measure in feet and inches .
When I want to be accurate I measure in millimetres.
So I say keep tape measures as they are are