• @[email protected]
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    110 hours ago

    Every professional that deals with stuff that needs around 1mm precision uses mm. Metal roofing, gutters, any machining, etc. It is to prevent ambiguity. I used to build roofs and for like wooden beams we used meters and cm, but that was because a couple mm here and there rarely ever mattered. All in all using mm is usually the best choice.

      • @[email protected]
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        14 hours ago

        Metal roofing thing (idk how to translate, am not british) are always in mm. We would buy them at like 5 meters long and measure for cutting using mm. https://limarija-sebastijan.hr/krovni-zidni-i-ostali-profilirani-limovi/trapezni-lim/ All the drawings for metal things are in mm. What is not is like diameter of the pipes. The store I linked sells rolls of sheet metal (again don’t know how to translate) in cm, but all the other stores sell in mm. https://olx.ba/artikal/19038696/lim-u-rolni/# When you want custom bent stuff (like the metal… things that go on the sides, or custom gutters) you make a drawing in mm (can’t explain, but I’l draw one if you want).

        I just said “professional” because the one I replied said it, without saying what profession. Roofing is a profession, and metal roofing stuff doing (again don’t know how to translate) is also a profession.

        And all the schematics I have seen for metal parts, and in cad software in general, is in mm. Tailoring is also in mm (https://tehnicki.lzmk.hr/clanak/kroj).

        Maybe it is a US vs rest of the world thing ? Maybe I’m not expirienced enough to make such sweeping statements.

        Again, you put thousands of mm because mixing cm and mm (and m) can lead to mistakes. I even remember cutting wrong because I heard like 2570 instead of 2507 (he’s up there measuring, while I’m down cutting).

        House blueprints are usually in meters. Window sizes are in cm.

    • jawa21
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      210 hours ago

      I’ve been a machinist for over 20 years. Just no. You get specs from the customer, and yeah the tolerances are usually in mm. However, listing dimensions in thousands of mm makes no sense. The tolerances are always specified. If it wasn’t for NDA, I could show you a print from Siemens Medical that shows this.

      • @[email protected]
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        4 hours ago

        Sure. I’m not a professional machinist. I have worked on roofs and all sheet metal things are in mm. I have even worked for a company that makes those metal things and as a customer for another one. I also was by far the best at technical drawing in school, not to brag. And all the schematics for things I have seen are in mm, for example https://www.iclarified.com/images/news/48931/228250/228250-1280.png . Disclaimer, all the schematics that are not in, ugh, inches (or architecture).

        Sure, if I made something for someone they can give me dimensions in Smoots for all I care. But I would transform it into mm, and would never buy tools that don’t use mm.

        For context, I am not in an english speaking country nor Myanmar.

        Edit: Actually I have seen house schematics in mm as well. I thing they now give out in m, but use mm internally (depending on architecture firm).

        • jawa21
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          14 hours ago

          I think you’ve missed my point here. Something that is 6,300 mm long should be listed as 6.3 meters. Doing otherwise completely eliminates the purpose of a pure decimal system. People don’t even use the system properly, completely omitting things like decimeters.

          • @[email protected]
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            14 hours ago

            When I asked the boss, who has been in the business for a couple generations, why it says here 4000 instead of 4m, he said what I am telling you. So you don’t mix up measurements.

            • jawa21
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              14 hours ago

              I guess that’s my whole issue here. People don’t use the system “properly.”