Lazy-Ass People
I occasionally collaborate on design and fabrication projects with people in Europe. Much of the time this involves recycling parts we already have on-hand or interfacing to existing systems. Getting the job done can mean working in imperial units, metric units, and using a variety of different standards. We all bitch about it to some extent, but the Europeans seem to bitch more loudly than most.
The one that really gets me is the threaded fasteners. Invariably we wind up using a mix of metric and SAE (imperial) screws, nuts, and bolts. Invariably the cry goes up: "But we can't get that here!" Bullshit.
If I can get SAE screws, metric screws, BA screws (British) and Whitworth screws (also British) for crying out loud, they can certainly get off their asses, open a catalog, and order the damn things. Most suppliers ship internationally these days. Finding SAE screws in Europe isn't half as impossible as they make out.
What irritates me the most about this is that it's unit bigotry. The design work I do is pretty evenly split between inches and millimeters. Conversion is not that hard, folks. In both cases I work in decimal units rather than in fractions. It just makes more sense. But every time I work with someone who only uses the metric system, the first thing out of their mouths is, "Fractions are stupid." No kidding. Doesn't mean inch-based drawings are, too.
But the fasteners are the kicker. This is very much like someone who's only worked with involute gearing insisting that they can't work with cycloidal gears.
As a quick aside, involute gearing is typically used when a higher speed shaft is driving a slower shaft or a shaft moving at a comparable speed. It's used for power transmission. Cycloidal gearing is used when a very low speed shaft is driving a much faster shaft. It's used for the very slow release of stored energy. Examples of each are an automotive transmission (involute) and a clock (cycloidal).
Even the arguments sound the same: "I can't get that here!" Yes you can, just order it from a catalog. "But I can't get the right kind of cutter!" Yes you can. P.P. Thornton & Sons in England makes cycloidal gear cutters and sells them in sets. "But they use module and not diametral pitch! I can't do that!" There's a conversion to go from DP to module and back. Use it. "It's just too HAAAAARD!" Then what the hell are you building a clock for?!
I find I'm growing increasingly impatient with this sort of thing as time goes on. If you're too lazy to be able to work in more than one system of measurement, maybe collaborating on international projects isn't such a good idea.
The one that really gets me is the threaded fasteners. Invariably we wind up using a mix of metric and SAE (imperial) screws, nuts, and bolts. Invariably the cry goes up: "But we can't get that here!" Bullshit.
If I can get SAE screws, metric screws, BA screws (British) and Whitworth screws (also British) for crying out loud, they can certainly get off their asses, open a catalog, and order the damn things. Most suppliers ship internationally these days. Finding SAE screws in Europe isn't half as impossible as they make out.
What irritates me the most about this is that it's unit bigotry. The design work I do is pretty evenly split between inches and millimeters. Conversion is not that hard, folks. In both cases I work in decimal units rather than in fractions. It just makes more sense. But every time I work with someone who only uses the metric system, the first thing out of their mouths is, "Fractions are stupid." No kidding. Doesn't mean inch-based drawings are, too.
But the fasteners are the kicker. This is very much like someone who's only worked with involute gearing insisting that they can't work with cycloidal gears.
As a quick aside, involute gearing is typically used when a higher speed shaft is driving a slower shaft or a shaft moving at a comparable speed. It's used for power transmission. Cycloidal gearing is used when a very low speed shaft is driving a much faster shaft. It's used for the very slow release of stored energy. Examples of each are an automotive transmission (involute) and a clock (cycloidal).
Even the arguments sound the same: "I can't get that here!" Yes you can, just order it from a catalog. "But I can't get the right kind of cutter!" Yes you can. P.P. Thornton & Sons in England makes cycloidal gear cutters and sells them in sets. "But they use module and not diametral pitch! I can't do that!" There's a conversion to go from DP to module and back. Use it. "It's just too HAAAAARD!" Then what the hell are you building a clock for?!
I find I'm growing increasingly impatient with this sort of thing as time goes on. If you're too lazy to be able to work in more than one system of measurement, maybe collaborating on international projects isn't such a good idea.
posted by pencil at 1:25 PM
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