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parallels

Susquatch

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There are also MANY different conversion programs on the android & apple stores that are really handy. They will usually do much more than back and forth from metric and imperial. For example furlong to yards to miles to..... Or acres to hectares to square feet to square miles.

Lots and lots of ways to skin the cat.
 

trlvn

Ultra Member
There are also MANY different conversion programs on the android & apple stores that are really handy. They will usually do much more than back and forth from metric and imperial. For example furlong to yards to miles to..... Or acres to hectares to square feet to square miles.

Lots and lots of ways to skin the cat.
Siri is right there in my watch and is happy to convert units for me. Or keep track of how long something has been on the BBQ, ...

My wife mutters about the 'bimbo' I'm talking to! ;)

Craig
 

Susquatch

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I have not embraced the smart watch yet. Don't really like a fat watch. Maybe someday when they make a waterproof slim watch.

But I do love Hey Google. Just wish they would let us rename her.
 

Johnwa

Ultra Member
I was using my digital calipers to convert back and forth, but then I realized my DRO has a built in calculator. I still use the calipers once in a while though.
 

Susquatch

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I was using my digital calipers to convert back and forth, but then I realized my DRO has a built in calculator. I still use the calipers once in a while though.

What I REALLY like about the DRO is it converts coordinates on the fly. You can work in either units system or even both simultaneously.

I have one digital calculator that does decimal inches, decimal millimeters, and fractions (128ths). I don't really use it for measuring things, but it's great for conversions.

VINCA DCLA-0605 Quality Electronic Digital Caliper Inch/Metric/Fractions Conversion 0-6 Inch/150 mm Stainless Steel Body Red/Black Extra Large LCD Screen Auto Off Featured Measuring Tool https://a.co/d/1n3BnzF
 
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PeterT

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Back to parallels, stumbled on this video showing actual measurements of a Bangood set. Cost is more than Accusize but also a bit tighter tolerance if that's a factor.
I also wanted to mention, I was skeptical that the height of parallels is necessarily exact, meaning if they say +/-0.0002" I'm pretty sure they mean parallelism variation across the length as opposed to a 0.5" high bar is not guaranteed to be within 4.9998 - 5.0002" like gage blocks for example. You can see that aspect in the video as he spot checks height with calipers. And hopefully it also means +/- 0.0002" absolute relative to its matched twin. I also doubt they are to that same dimension in thickness, but they are not supposed to be laid down.



 

Susquatch

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I was skeptical that the height of parallels is necessarily exact, meaning if they say +/-0.0002" I'm pretty sure they mean parallelism variation across the length as opposed to a 0.5" high bar is not guaranteed to be within 4.9998 - 5.0002" like gage blocks for example. You can see that aspect in the video as he spot checks height with calipers. And hopefully it also means +/- 0.0002" absolute relative to its matched twin.

I am perhaps more assumptive on this than you. I "believe" the matched twins are way better than a pair made up from different boxes. Which generally pisses me off - especially for 123 blocks. For that reason all my parallels and blocks are marked.

One of these days, I'll measure everything, but have not figured out how to do that just yet.

I am also making a set of 3 gauge blocks to hold my tramming disk. At first I tried stacking regular 123 blocks because I have them. But I had no faith that they were identical and no way to measure them accurately enough - yet. So I decided to make 3 identical blocks instead. But even that project is on hold until I can get my surface grinder wheel balanced enough to actually do that. Truth be admitted to myself, I really should get off my butt and make a decent system for measuring them. Unfortunately, too many projects have priority right now.

Enough confessions and excuses for now.

Suffice to say that this business of accuracy within pairs as well as accuracy pair to pair is a very real issue. I just wish it wasn't. Then again, I would probably not be willing to spend what it would take to achieve that.

My long term goal is to measure all my blocks against a known standard and then put those inspection measurements on a small inspection sheet kept with all my blocks.

Edit. - oh ya, and correct anything grossly out of spec.
 

Tecnico

(Dave)
I believe he is located in the only place worse than BC for a machinist. The machinery wastelands of the Maritimes. I heard they don't even have single phase power out there. It's all 1/5 phase.

Nah, don't need 'lectricity just squirrels and they work for peanuts but we can only get 1 in 5 to run at a time to drive the jack shaft so we call it 1/5 phase. We also call it our VFD (very furry drive).

BTW, the 'lectricity is measured in casks of whale oil.

This thread has gone to the dogs.......

So, @LenVW now that the amateur comedians have nodded off in front of the TV I can answer that I am indeed in the Maritimes, near Halifax to be precise. We're where most Albertans are from (well, if you include the Newfoundlanders....). :p

D:cool:
 

LenVW

Process Machinery Designer
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Nah, don't need 'lectricity just squirrels and they work for peanuts but we can only get 1 in 5 to run at a time to drive the jack shaft so we call it 1/5 phase. We also call it our VFD (very furry drive).

BTW, the 'lectricity is measured in casks of whale oil.

This thread has gone to the dogs.......

So, @LenVW now that the amateur comedians have nodded off in front of the TV I can answer that I am indeed in the Maritimes, near Halifax to be precise. We're where most Albertans are from (well, if you include the Newfoundlanders....). :p

D:cool:
We were just out on the Aspotogan Penninsula for a week of holidays.
I like the East Coast, beautiful and nice mix of people. :)
 

Susquatch

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Nah, don't need 'lectricity just squirrels and they work for peanuts but we can only get 1 in 5 to run at a time to drive the jack shaft so we call it 1/5 phase. We also call it our VFD (very furry drive).

BTW, the 'lectricity is measured in casks of whale oil.

This thread has gone to the dogs.......

So, @LenVW now that the amateur comedians have nodded off in front of the TV I can answer that I am indeed in the Maritimes, near Halifax to be precise. We're where most Albertans are from (well, if you include the Newfoundlanders....). :p

D:cool:

Too funny!

To be clear, I LOVE the Maritimes! I've been maybe 2 dozen times and always thoroughly enjoyed myself.
 

Tecnico

(Dave)
We were just out on the Aspotogan Penninsula for a week of holidays.
I like the East Coast, beautiful and nice mix of people. :)

Nice spot during the hot spell we have been having, it's always a few degrees cooler with the on-shore breeze. Nice beach at Bayswater as long as you don't mind the touch of the north Atlantic! Hope you got out off the tourist trail.

To be clear, I LOVE the Maritimes! I've been maybe 2 dozen times and always thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Me too! Born & raised here, been around a few corners of the globe including working in bella italia for a while but there's no place like home. Seeing how the other half lives makes you appreciate it even more. New Zeland was pretty nice though....

D:cool:
 

Susquatch

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Nice spot during the hot spell we have been having, it's always a few degrees cooler with the on-shore breeze. Nice beach at Bayswater as long as you don't mind the touch of the north Atlantic! Hope you got out off the tourist trail.


Me too! Born & raised here, been around a few corners of the globe including working in bella italia for a while but there's no place like home. Seeing how the other half lives makes you appreciate it even more. New Zeland was pretty nice though....

D:cool:

Well, if we are gunna expand the discussion to the rest of the world I can say this: I've been almost everywhere except the "No Travel" countries and prolly a few of the little ones.

If Canada ever gave me the boot, Australia, New Zealand, and Austria are the only choices I'd have. And I'm not sure about Austria any more. All this is just to say that I have learned to appreciate Canada more than I ever would have without having seen what it's like in other places. Even with all our problems, Canada is still the best place in the world to live, raise a family, and retire.
 
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