My engineering design, lab, and CAD classes involved both english and SI units ... I also work daily in both english and metric designs depending upon the age and application of the machine. In general most of the newer designs are given in metric.
Worth buying SAE?
- Thread starter DieselRiver
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My engineering design, lab, and CAD classes involved both english and SI units ... I also work daily in both english and metric designs depending upon the age and application of the machine. In general most of the newer designs are given in metric.
KamiCrit
Well-known member
So, real quick how many inches in a mile?
I'll let you figure that one out.
Ok, how many millimeters in a kilometer?
1,000,000.
How's that inches thing going?
I'll let you figure that one out.
Ok, how many millimeters in a kilometer?
1,000,000.
How's that inches thing going?
Steinmetz
Well-known member
Exactly so. All you need to know is how to multiply and divide by ten. Interestingly, when our country started, we didn't adopt the British system of monetary denominations. Instead, a "metric-like" system was adopted (100 cents to one dollar).
nicksnothereman
Well-known member
Some. Depends on what you're working on. Everything is metric on my car (that I know of) then I ran into the drain plug on the supercharger. Thanks eaton for throwing an sae hex at me!
I've got 3/8 sae shallow sockets (craftsman usa) and wrenches. Don't really run into sae too much.
BrianNStPaul
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I worked as a diesel mechanic for several years before moving to maintaining metal punching/forming equipment. In the construction/trucking trades you will need SAE tools. Much of the maintenance is not directly related to the engine, where SAE fasteners and fittings are still the most common in North America. When it comes to pneumatics, hydraulics, and electrical fittings the metric sizes are an even bigger mess than the Imperial standards, so their adoption has been much slower compared to simple fasteners.
silagehauler
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Ummm, knots, is the ICAO standard for speed.
I work on 2012-'14 trucks and use all my SAE sockets up to 1 5/16" You really need to have both.
- Metric: Cab, interior, and engine
- SAE: Suspension, brakes, and some frame work
As far as flying goes, some (many overseas) countries use meters for altitude, and QNH for altimeter settings. Then again, pull out the Flight Information Handbook with conversions and it is an easy fix. But for working on aircraft, SAE. If that is not in your circle of influence, then it is only necessary if you need it, as others have said.
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87FoRunner
Well-known member
Politics aside: service body parts are still SAE, under the hood is metric. Hydraulics are SAE.
Wrenches from 1/4 to 1 1/2 and some seriously good quality adjustable wrenches for the bigger sizes. Play the big sizes (1 7/8, 2, 2 1/2) by ear as you encounter them. Harbor freight can take care of you for a long time for the "jumbo" stuff.
Wrenches from 1/4 to 1 1/2 and some seriously good quality adjustable wrenches for the bigger sizes. Play the big sizes (1 7/8, 2, 2 1/2) by ear as you encounter them. Harbor freight can take care of you for a long time for the "jumbo" stuff.
87FoRunner
Well-known member
In the future I'll be tooling up and after looking at this.
I find it hard to swallow the SAE pill.
Too bad Heil, Leach, Ox, Bendix, Haldex, Dana, Eaton, and all the other companies making components for big trucks can't see that.
619DioFan
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63,360 inches in a mile.
sparky5982
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As has been said repeatedly, it depends on what you work on. I need and use both everyday working on CNC and other machinery, and in building maintenance.
Brand new mills and lathes from Haas (USA) use all SAE. Doosan (Korean) and Mori Seki (Japanese) are all metric. All of our older machinery, conveyors, building infrastructure, wash line equip, mechanical systems and equipment, etc. are SAE. Okuma Howa (Japanese) and Trevisan mills are metric. Sometimes the conveyors attached to the metric machine is after market, SAE. We have both metric and SAE hydraulics. If somebody at work asked me to borrow an SAE socket smaller than 1-1/2", or a metric socket smaller than 30mm, I'd tell them they should have one. If they told me all they had was SAE or metric, I'd tell them they need to buy the tools to do their job.
Cars, for the most part, don't last like some machines do. The institutionalized use of SAE is prevalent, and would be needed for the next 100 years even if another SAE fastener never rolled off the line starting today.
Brand new mills and lathes from Haas (USA) use all SAE. Doosan (Korean) and Mori Seki (Japanese) are all metric. All of our older machinery, conveyors, building infrastructure, wash line equip, mechanical systems and equipment, etc. are SAE. Okuma Howa (Japanese) and Trevisan mills are metric. Sometimes the conveyors attached to the metric machine is after market, SAE. We have both metric and SAE hydraulics. If somebody at work asked me to borrow an SAE socket smaller than 1-1/2", or a metric socket smaller than 30mm, I'd tell them they should have one. If they told me all they had was SAE or metric, I'd tell them they need to buy the tools to do their job.
Cars, for the most part, don't last like some machines do. The institutionalized use of SAE is prevalent, and would be needed for the next 100 years even if another SAE fastener never rolled off the line starting today.
Steinmetz
Well-known member
Based on the nautical mile.
Steinmetz
Well-known member
But not here.
RedF
Well-known member
I'm not a heavy-duty, but bordering on the trade. I use SAE more than Metric, my metric stuff collects dust.
Like it or not, SAE fasteners/fittings/measurements are not going away. You can argue until you are blue in the face about how metric might be superior, but you'll still be stuck with SAE long after you've given up the fight.
Canada is a country built on SAE, then forced to convert. It was stupid for Canada to change when our biggest trade partner opted out. The fact is we are still in an awkward stage. Not totally converted, honestly not even close. We buy fuel by the liter and drive KPH, but country roads still intersect by the mile, and building supplies are still by the inch and foot. Air and hydraulic components are still SAE. I don't have any metric drill bits or bolts at work.
Like it or not, SAE fasteners/fittings/measurements are not going away. You can argue until you are blue in the face about how metric might be superior, but you'll still be stuck with SAE long after you've given up the fight.
Canada is a country built on SAE, then forced to convert. It was stupid for Canada to change when our biggest trade partner opted out. The fact is we are still in an awkward stage. Not totally converted, honestly not even close. We buy fuel by the liter and drive KPH, but country roads still intersect by the mile, and building supplies are still by the inch and foot. Air and hydraulic components are still SAE. I don't have any metric drill bits or bolts at work.
wvrailroader
Well-known member
Most of my work at home is small engine repair, so I need SAE for all of that. Everything at work is also SAE, although on a much larger scale. All track and frog bolts are SAE as are all track switch components. I don't know of any metric fasteners that I have dealt with in 15 years on the job.
outdoorsman310
Well-known member
This is still the U.S., you need standard and metric. I do not think you need british standard or whatever that is!
pilotman81
Well-known member
I have worked on a pretty wide variety of things from pickups/cars, semi-trucks, and now large stationary engines for oil and gas industry, most of what I have used has been SAE. I have however run into both metric and SAE in just about every situation. I just figure that it pays to be prepared for everything that you can be.
AV tinker er
Well-known member
http://m.wimp.com/imperialmeasurements/
I'll just leave this little gem here.
I'll just leave this little gem here.
Chilliwack Murray
Well-known member
chuckle
KamiCrit
Well-known member
Might as well throw this one in also.
Deutschmann
Member
My tool box for work is full of SAE tools for aviation maintenance. I would say 95% of the aircrafts in the US use SAE fasteners and hardware, in Germany everything aviation of course is metric. My metric collection has been growing for my job rapidly. Also have a tool box at home for working on my cars, around the house and everything is metric.
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Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
It seems to me you need SAE tools if you are in the USA. It's annoying and costly having to buy two complete sets of tools, but I can't get by without both and I'm not a pro. Many American hobbyists use SAE more than metric as purpose built race cars (drag cars, off-road, roundy rounds) and parts are typically SAE based. Motorcycles tend to be mostly metric.
Art Unique
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Hahaaaa I love the above comparison.
But everyone is right. Depends on where and what youre working on. Im an aircraft mx. And EVERYTHING at work is SAE. By the way the planes I work on are European and Brazilian...so it depends on what and where you work. I suggest not to buy tools until you get the call you've been hired. Until then save up about $2000 to splurge on trucks/ebay/sears when the day comes. Then again all you really need to hold off on is sockets and wrenches.
Moose-LandTran
Well-known member
Strangely some US measurements are different to British Imperial one.
Your gallons are different, as well as some others. (Fluid Ounces?)
BioNerd
Well-known member
I only own/work in German cars. I got no sae mechanic tools.
At work, I have to use sae.
At work, I have to use sae.
97nismo
Well-known member
Flea markets are great buy sae there...
d.mcfarland
Well-known member
The average joe home and car owner need svery basic SAE sockets and wrenches. Not much need other than random jobs like lawn mower or something else rare.
Most of the other countries didn't "switch", they were always metric. When you think about how long something is, do you think in feet and miles, or millimeters and kilometers? It's not easy to switch the common measurement system that 300+ million people use on a daily basis.
ETA: I used to hang out with a Russian friend, and whenever you'd talk measurement she'd have to convert it to metric to get a reasonable understanding of what that was. It's not impossible, but one is just engrained and the other isn't--just like any language or anything of the sort.
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phil du jour
Well-known member
The only input I have is when I work used cars at work, even all the American brands use metric fasteners. I want to get a set of SAE sockets myself just to be prepared but when I do, I won't be spending as much on the SAE set as I did on my metric stuff.
Obviously when it comes to heavy equipment I have no idea, but I imagine brands like Komatsu use metric while CAT is probably SAE. Again, I have never worked heavy equipment in my life (unless you count C-130s, which are 100% SAE) so take what I say with a gigantic boulder of salt.
Obviously when it comes to heavy equipment I have no idea, but I imagine brands like Komatsu use metric while CAT is probably SAE. Again, I have never worked heavy equipment in my life (unless you count C-130s, which are 100% SAE) so take what I say with a gigantic boulder of salt.
plinker
Well-known member
The knuckle boom cranes (tech. term for "log loader") I work on are all inch/sae. Except for the new valve banks, those are metric now that I think about it. 95% of the new build add-on's we do are inch hardware as well.
As said for trucks, the engine is going to be metric and probably 50/50 on the rest. Mack is good for using just about every size available on the same size bolt. But what's fun is when they use a 10mm (hex size) nut on a 1/4x28 threaded t-bolt's.
Makes life interesting.
As said for trucks, the engine is going to be metric and probably 50/50 on the rest. Mack is good for using just about every size available on the same size bolt. But what's fun is when they use a 10mm (hex size) nut on a 1/4x28 threaded t-bolt's.
Makes life interesting.
zakmartin
Well-known member
One of my teachers back in the 1970's, when the US was considering going Metric and the schools were teaching it, told us that the USA would never become a Metric country because (I kid you not) "the Metric System is too French."
I now think she had a point.
I now think she had a point.
Moose-LandTran
Well-known member
The Metric system is French.
Steinmetz
Well-known member
I knew unenlightened people at that time that told me the metric system should not be adopted because it wasn't "god's measure".
It's surprising to me that this country progressed so magnificently in the engineering and scientific sense with people like this in abundance.
strutaeng
Well-known member
FYI: Civil engineering is still mostly Imperial. Some of the common units are:
psi, ft-lb, ft, MPH, BTUs, the list goes on. In the school you are taught both systems.
Has anyone bought any 21 MegaPascal strength concrete in the US?
Just yesterday I drank my self a liter of cola while waiting for the 34.5 MPa epoxy grout that I bought by the kilo to set up.
(Working in mixed systems *****. I recently mad a "error" thinking a SAE application was metric, ugh hella fail on that call.)
Cap'n
Well-known member
I have owned 5 early to mid 90s GM pickups (K1500s and K2500s) and have not encountered one SAE fastener anywhere on those trucks. That's everything from partial motor teardowns to a full frame swap.
Even the lug nuts are 22mm, axle nuts are 36mm.
Just throwing that out there.
Sent from somewhere between here and there
Heavy tech
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You're gonna need pretty much a full set of both.
I'm Canadian , they only taught metric in school, but standard is far more common in day to day life.
The result ends up being a hodge podge of both. Older folks are likely to speak in 4.5L imperial gallons. Younger people tend to use US gallons. Kilometre markers on the highway are commonly called mile markers. Kpa and Mpa mean absolutely nothing to most people. I prefer to read the outside tempature in C but the inside thermometer is set to read in F. You never know what you're gonna get
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I'm Canadian , they only taught metric in school, but standard is far more common in day to day life.
The result ends up being a hodge podge of both. Older folks are likely to speak in 4.5L imperial gallons. Younger people tend to use US gallons. Kilometre markers on the highway are commonly called mile markers. Kpa and Mpa mean absolutely nothing to most people. I prefer to read the outside tempature in C but the inside thermometer is set to read in F. You never know what you're gonna get
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk