Converting Metric Units

From the CAD Library: Imperial or Metric PCB Design Units?

For my next two columns, I’m going to diverge a bit from my normal format to give you a little variety in your reading material. Instead of talking about components, land patterns and the like, this column and the next will address a topic that is one of my passions: The metric system.

If the French had won the French and Indian War (1756-1763, also known as the Seven Years War) against the British, imperial units or the English measurement system would not exist in society today. Yet even the British transitioned to the metric measurement system 46 years ago. America is the last stronghold for the imperial measurement system.

How much longer will it take for the world to become united under a single measurement system? That’s what it’s going to take to fully automate all of our PCB processes – a global measurement system.

The metric unit system is one of the greatest secrets to PCB design perfection today. From 1974-1991, we used inch units for our PCB layout. From 1991-2001, we used mil units. From 2001-2011 we used millimeter units. I have to say that when we made the transition from mils to millimeters, our productivity levels slipped a bit during the learning curve. But after five or six PCB layouts, our productivity was back to normal.

And after about 15 PCB layouts our productivity levels surpassed all previous results. If I were forced to go back to the mil measurement system, my productivity levels would reverse. There is no way in the world that anyone in 2011 using mil units can outperform the same talent using millimeter units, because most component pin pitches are on a millimeter grid system (like the 1 mm pitch BGA) and metric units are vastly superior to work within the PCB design space. All of the numbers are evenly divisible by 10 and there is no need for calculators for mathematical calculations.

No designer I know of who has successfully transitioned to the metric unit system for PCB layout wants to go back to the imperial unit system. That statement alone says it all.

Why is the US Still “Inching” Along?

I hear it all the time from corporations who will not convert: “We’re American and we have our own measurement system. We are not part of the European Union or Russia or Japan. We’re proud to be Americans and we believe in our way of life and the system and values that we use.” 

Well, let me shine a little light for proud Americans who do not know the historical facts. Most Americans believe that our involvement with metric measurement is relatively new. In fact, the United States has been increasing its use of metric units for many years, and the pace has accelerated in the past four decades.

Weight and Mass units converter | Convert to units and culinary ...

This online conversion tool converts weight / mass units from Metric to US to (UK) Imperial systems, and vise versa it deals with all measurement values and conversions for any of the following mass and weight units : carat ( metric ), centigram ( cg ), dekagram ( dkg ), dram ( dr ), grain ( gr ), gram ( g ), hundredweight short ( US ) or cental, hundredweight ( UK ), kilogram ( kg ), microgram ( µg ), milligram ( mg ), newton ( Earth ), ounce ( oz ), pennyweight ( dwt ), pound ( lb ), quarter, stone, ton ( long UK ), ton ( short US ), ton – tonne Metric ( t ) or troy ounce. And in addition here is a complete list of one-way mass and weight units converters.

31 | 32 | 35 oz convert to lbs — Long time ago I got this old simple but very acurate weight sclales from my grand parents. However it measures only in oz and I am more used to lb’s but also to kg’s. With your calculator I made myslef nicely long table of content with all the oz’s values I use most often and exchanged them to the units I prefer…

Weight measure amount: 31 ounces ( oz ),

Hello,

This is a good website … as people also use it to calculate metals … can I kindly ask you to include Asian measurements scales ? such as: Mace, Tael, etc. as this is in relation to gold scale weights still used in Asia.

Many Thanks & All The Best

JG.

added by Admin : Hi Jason, thanks for the suggestion. I will add the Mace, Tael, and look for other scales used in Asian measurements – if you knew all of their names which are practiced in Asia please let me know. I will add the units here in the weight mass converter calculator this weekend, if not then this Monday. All the best to you too Mate.

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