Technologyteacher
Well-known member
In the US we are accustomed to standard measurements. The rest of the world seems to use SI or metric. So do other countries use 1/4", 3/8", & 1/2" drive ratchets, or are they converted to metric measurements?
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Tool question to ponder
- Thread starter Technologyteacher
- Start date
rlitman
Well-known member
They seem to be adding metric numbers to all sorts of SAE sized things every day.
Audio jacks used to be 1/8" and 1/4" (and 3/32" came later). Now they're 3.5mm, 6.3mm and 2.5mm. Edison lightbulb sockets are now all in metric sizes.
Last year I traveled to Germany and brought home some ratchets. They were sized 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive on the packaging. But their website shows both 1/2" and 12.5mm drive symbols, so I guess that is slowly transitioning too:
http://www.wgb-werkzeuge.de/produkte.detail.html?id=7519&Rotationsknarre,+60+Zähne
Then there's these:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00S11U5FA/
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B001CA6H3G/
Audio jacks used to be 1/8" and 1/4" (and 3/32" came later). Now they're 3.5mm, 6.3mm and 2.5mm. Edison lightbulb sockets are now all in metric sizes.
Last year I traveled to Germany and brought home some ratchets. They were sized 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive on the packaging. But their website shows both 1/2" and 12.5mm drive symbols, so I guess that is slowly transitioning too:
http://www.wgb-werkzeuge.de/produkte.detail.html?id=7519&Rotationsknarre,+60+Zähne
Then there's these:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00S11U5FA/
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B001CA6H3G/
Last edited:
Jlbc212
Well-known member
It somehow doesn't seem right that countries that have metric standard would use SAE standard drive ratchets. Why not 6mm, 10mm and 13mm drives?
General Geoff
Well-known member
It somehow doesn't seem right that countries that have metric standard would use SAE standard drive ratchets. Why not 6mm, 10mm and 13mm drives?
Same reason that all car wheel and tire rim diameters are measured in inches. Legacy compatibility.
bczygan
Well-known member
In the US we are accustomed to standard measurements. The rest of the world seems to use SI or metric. So do other countries use 1/4", 3/8", & 1/2" drive ratchets, or are they converted to metric measurements?
We're the oddballs.
jakemac
Well-known member
We're the oddballs.
That's true, but all the equipment our military has left scattered all over the world for the last 75yrs has left a lasting impression and thrown an SAE monkey wrench into the metric system. It will still be decades or longer before it all gets sorted out.
Drives are such a small part of a toolset, it doesn't really matter.
converting a couple sizes (like 20.6 sparkplugs) to metric doesn't bother anyone. 3.2, 4.8, 6.4 etc are also showing up in small wrenches so you don't need sae sets to cover sae sizes all of the time. 5.5 hex kets for 7/32...the list goes on.
converting a couple sizes (like 20.6 sparkplugs) to metric doesn't bother anyone. 3.2, 4.8, 6.4 etc are also showing up in small wrenches so you don't need sae sets to cover sae sizes all of the time. 5.5 hex kets for 7/32...the list goes on.