![]() ![]() “It’s a bit uncommon, but do you have a 2.3 mm drill bit?” I inquired. We were right near them and walked up to a large wall of drill bits. It’s a bit uncommon, but I could luck-out. I thought, well, it’s a long shot, but perhaps my hardware store has a 2.3 mm. I looked online and indeed I could order a single 2.3 mm bit, but it would be a small cost for the bit, and a large cost for shipping, if I wanted it next day or by two day. Larger more expensive sets of drill bits do include 2.3 mm, but I had not spent the money. I had purchased an inexpensive set of metric drill bits long ago with 2.0 and 2.5 mm bits, but I needed a 2.3 mm. For the given heat stake diameter, I needed a 2.3 mm diameter drill bit. Because the PCB I designed is an electromagnetic device, the tolerance has to be tight. My prototype PCB needed to have its pilot holes drilled to a larger diameter, so they would fit the heat stakes. I also had the plastic 3D printed prototype in my possession to which the PCB would be attached. I had designed a printed circuit board (PCB) which was to be “heat staked” into a plastic piece. Recently, a client was interested in a design which is (thankfully) all in metric. ![]() I’ve been very pleased with the changes I’ve made with his guidance. I also did the one thing which US engineers seem to find unnecessary–I sought out advice, and found it in the form of Pat Naughtin and his work. ![]() This insistence has caused a number of serious and humorous encounters with my clients over the years. I vowed that I would uncompromisingly use metric, and only metric, when doing my designs. When the avalanche of off shoring whisked me into unemployment, I managed to begin making a living as a Consulting Engineer. The default was to purchase Ye Olde English fasteners and such at a hardware store–because they were available. We did what we could to save time, and waiting for a large technical supplier to ship us parts, was only utilized when there was no other option. When we needed parts, we went to the local hardware store and purchased them. This is the strange cognitive dissonance of measurement which is thrust upon technical workers in the US. Looking back I feel I was unknowingly put in the position of the accountant in a Monty Python sketch who wanted to be a lion tamer, and when asked what his qualifications were indicated he had purchased a lion tamer’s hat. In reality I was only using millimeters, and not The Metric System (i.e. ![]() Everything else, pressure tests, pull tests, temperature tests, fasteners and so on were all Olde English. What I didn’t realize at the time, was that I really wasn’t using metric, but pigfish-metric. The start-up was purchased by a medium sized company which had a policy that one could use metric, but had to maintain it throughout the design. I wasn’t happy about that fact, but I had been ground down for so many years that I lived with it. The most notable difference was that this small company used Ye Old English fasteners and dimensions. One had to contribute in ways that were unthinkable in a large organization. I had thus far worked for large companies, but then I found myself with an opportunity to work for a small start-up with about 10 employees or so. I’m sure the company would have continued its merry way with Ye Olde English if the new owners had not stopped the practice. I was later told that they had been using inches for years, but after they were purchased by a French company, the French were horrified and mandated metric. There I was able to use metric measures with very little push-back. Following the disappearance of The Berlin Wall, I began working for a large consumer electronics manufacturer. Early on, I tried to argue against this, but the entire system is structured to maintain the use of decimal barleycorn inches and a feral unit called “the mil.” I was worn down after a prolonged period, and accepted the situation. This was where I learned that outside of the interior of a computer program, metric units are unwelcome. My Engineering career started with a number of years working in aerospace. ![]()
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