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Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:09 pm
by 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? ???
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:21 pm
by 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
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:50 pm
by 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
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 11:29 pm
by 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
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 8:57 am
by 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)
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 9:48 am
by 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"
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 9:51 am
by henpecked
London Stone Paving wrote: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 
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 10:56 am
by 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
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 10:57 am
by ringi
I often measure in both metric and imperial then cross check them. It is hard to misread both scales in a constant way!
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 1:25 pm
by peg basher
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 4:42 pm
by 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.
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 5:13 pm
by 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 
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 5:53 pm
by 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
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 5:58 pm
by Suggers
ps - i think it's also about visualisation - my water meter is 300 yards down the road ?
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 6:41 pm
by Bob_A
Suggers wrote: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