Imperial drill bits

[sawtooth-9]

Aus went metric eons ago, but still so many things have odd metric sizes that correspond to imperial dimensions.
If you can't get metric increments of 0.1 mm, then imperial sizes are very useful
I do a lot of work from stainless steel bar - which comes only in imperial sizes from local supply. I work with sizes from 1/8 - 2 inch dia. I usually turn these to metric size, but long shafts etc remain imperial.
Oh yes, and imperial reamers are a must !

You've got me worried now. I'll have to go down to Mega and check, but last time I looked (2-3 years ago) they still sold both metric and imperial (I haven't had to buy any recently as they had a good supply at work).




Nuts. I wanted some 1/4" round bar (to thread 1/4" BSW) two weeks ago and Fletcher Steel said they had none in New Zealand.

I'll send you some imperial drill bits if you send me some imperial rod...

Cheers, Vann.

No problems in getting basic imperial drills in Aus.
Just google Hare and Forbes and you can order over the net. There are plenty of other sources here on line.
For really " difficult stuff, you can google Mick Moyle - in Sydney. His website is very poor, but if you email him - you can really get some "hard to find" stuff.
Stainless bar is no real problem here ( up tp 2 inch ). !/8, 3/16,1/4,5/16'3/8,1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 1,1.5,2 inch
Depending on the quantity, I could buy and ship to you if you really run into trouble. Suspect postage cost would be high though !

 

[Richard_C]

I don't have a strong view of allowing imperial unit selling, and there is nothing to stop it happening now as long as a metric unit is on the pack/scales alongside imperial. It does seem to be a bit of unnecessary blue passport populism, we could do that before Brexit too, like Denmark.

2 things concern me. One is that to do business in the wider world its useful to use the units they do (the USA recognised that a long time ago for some industries) but the main concern for consumers is sneaky shrinkflation. A half pound of butter looks like a 250gm pack until you get it home, but I doubt the retail price will shrink by 9%. I buy coffee beans, a few years back they were 250gm bags, now they are 227. Clearly marked so not illegal but it took me a while to spot it. One supermarket did it so they all had to follow suit or they look expensive. It strikes me that the change might be an opportunity for corporate sneakiness.

Back to drill bits. A friend was clearing his deceased father's garage, father had lived in USA for a few years. He gave me an index box of brand new hss bits, shiny and still covered with protective oil. All the 64ths from 1 up to half an inch. Really nice, and I have used a few sizes recently in "fixing things" jobs. There are days when only a 23/64th will do. (and yes, I know you can get 0.1mm increments but how many of us have them in the drill bit cupboard)

 

[J-G]

2 things concern me. One is that to do business in the wider world its useful to use the units they do (the USA recognised that a long time ago for some industries) but the main concern for consumers is sneaky shrinkflation. A half pound of butter looks like a 250gm pack until you get it home, but I doubt the retail price will shrink by 9%. I buy coffee beans, a few years back they were 250gm bags, now they are 227. Clearly marked so not illegal but it took me a while to spot it. One supermarket did it so they all had to follow suit or they look expensive. It strikes me that the change might be an opportunity for corporate sneakiness.

On a similar tack - Cadbury's chocolate bars 200g -- well they were! 2 for £3 since it my habit to take one 'row' of squares from a bar at any one time - and never more than once a day - I quickly realised that Cadbury had changed their molds so that a 'row' was now only 4 squares not 5. Checking the wrapper, what do I find ? They've reduced the weight to 180g !! that's a sneeky 11% price hike.

 

[Spectric]

Aus went metric eons ago,

So why does Triton still use 1/4 unc in it's routers?

 

[Spectric]

Us older folks really feel robbed because we can remember the sizes of many things and can see how they have shrunk, you used to get a packet of crisp but now you just get a sample but at much greater expense, most confectionary has shrunk several times so now they are in minature and things like wagon wheels are not fit for a go kart. With many items the packaging is used to disguise the small volume of contents, with some boxes you need a torch to see what is in there because the air space is so cavenous.

 

[Richard_C]

So why does Triton still use 1/4 unc in it's routers

It's a low volume product. Maybe once upon a time a trainee in the purchasing office, keen to impress, saw that he could get a better price if he bought 250,000 components all at once. When they run out, estimated sometime late this century, they will go metric. Or its a strategic decision, they won't have to change back when in a year or few our new King and JRM force the commonwealth to readopt hogsheads, furlongs and ancient thread sizes. 2BA or not 2BA, that is the question.

(going on a bit I know, tested very faint + and definite - for C19 this am and although I feel fine aside from gloom and lethargy, the responsible version of me is treating it as an asymptomatic positive. So I have little to do, missing a live CBSO concert right now)