Interesting discussion on metric/inch and what people think of each system. I spent 32 years working in both and never considered it an issue and that was 20 years ago 
.All our instruments ware calibrated in metric but sometimes our results were presented in inches. Now if my hobby project requires something machined in inches that is what I use, if it requires metric I do it in metric. You use what you are used to. My 2 cents worth or should it be 10 cents?
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I was lucky to be in a private school and though my teacher was not requiring us to memorize the times tables, she challenged us to. Since then, throughout the rest of my schooling it has come in so useful and I decided to continue and learned all the squares to 20 by heart it has helped so much as i worked through highschool math because I could use that to provide a ballpark and estimate so much faster in my head. (I only wish I could learn an easy way to write good essays at grade 11 level)
I use Onshape and you can design in inches and export in mm so that the printer is getting it in the right dimension’s
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I’m like that too. Metric came about in grade 6 for me. I’ve been comfortable in both ever since.
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Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I have never used the imperial system; I have. I was taught both systems in school(as well as memorizing the times tables up to 12), and I used to work in the construction industry, so I have experience working with the imperial system. Left as fractions, the imperial system is quite workable, although still not as slick as it would be if everything was completely transitioned to metric; by which I referring to lumber as an example, which is still sold in imperial units. Building using metric units while using imperial lumber would be a disaster! What I dislike so much is the use of the decimal point version of fractions not divisible by 10, like I mentioned above. I can do basic mental math, but I am not all that proficient, and for me, numbers that are divisible by 10 like the metric system are much more convenient to use. A little illustration, if I may. I generally design to a tolerance of 0.1mm. If wanted to design to that tolerance using the imperial system, I would probably want to have very good handle on the decimal versions of a fraction of an inch down to 1/256 of an inch. Doesn’t sound very practical to me, at least for what I do.
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That is your problem, don’t design in fractions. Use the inch divided by thousands IE: .1, .01, .001, .0001 etc. It’s a decimal system and except for different units it works like the metric system. If you are designing something for construction then that is different but you only need the basic fractions down to 1/32" for all most everything, most things can get by with 1/16th. If fractions are a problem then get a cheap fractional calculator. Easy peasy.
When the gov’mint tried to force the metric system down our throats people stood there ground against it and the courts stopped it. Some things already where metric like science, medicine and the military plus the gov’mint went metric but the rest of us can continue with what we want to use. That is why lumber and most other construction materials like pipe and metal structurals are still in Imperial, the companies didn’t go to the expense of changing. Point of interest, pipe is interchangeable between systems. The sizes of each are with in the tolerance of both systems and so you can weld metric and Imperial parts together.
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It’s fascinating how a thread can change from what it started as.
Interesting discussion
That’s a fair point about designing without using the decimal version of fractions, but it still won’t convert nicely from inches to feet, or yards. And why would I want to buy a fractional calculator, or get yet another app, when I am happy with a different system that doesn’t require a special calculator? Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to start a shouting match, but you are presenting reasons why you like imperial, and I am presenting reasons why I like metric. I think that is fair. And that is interesting about metric and imperial pipe being within the tolerances of each other, I did not know that. I definitely didn’t expect this conversation though, when I commented on your shop sign.
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Look at it from a different angle. Most of the big equipment industries like refineries and chemical plants, mines, factories etc are mostly built with imperial sized materials. You are tasked to fabricate a replacement structure/part based on those imperial dimensions and you only have metric sized material. Maybe on some parts it doesn’t matter but say you need 1/4" plate and all you can get is 6MM. All your centre to centre dimension are out of spec using that plate and now have to be redone to fit metric material. It takes time, cost go up over the allowed budget, errors are made and need to be redone, more costs etc. I have seen this done shortly after we went “metric” when suppliers tried to switch customers over. Before long “they got told” we want 1/4" plate not 6MM and we got our Imperial sized material back (this also happened in construction and that is why we still have 2" x 4" and not 100mm x 50mm, in metric countries they reverse the sizes). A cost is a cost and nobody wants increases. As far as using ft. and yards. It really isn’t that difficult, very simple math. Use them if you have to but for a lot of things the rationalized standard is the inch. If you are free to use metric then use it, if not then you just have to grin and bear it with the obviously superior properties of the Imperial system.
Personally I am retired and I no longer care what the world does, in my shop the metric system is prohibited. It is easier and cheaper to get fasteners, material and tooling in Imperial then in Metric. Some day that will change but I will be weed fertilizer by then.
P.S. it is moronic to measure the power of an automotive engine in Watts, HORSE POWER RULES.
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@Loosenut that is 95% the reason that the USA and parts of Canadian infrastructure are still imperial. the only reason the US army uses metric is that in combat it caused major problems converting back and forth with the rest of NATO
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