Just a little minimum radius info

DeaconKC Aug 16, 2022

  1. Inkaneer

    Inkaneer TrainBoard Member

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    By the same token, we should not be using toilette paper because 80% of the world does not use it.
     
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  2. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    I have metric measurement devices. Have had metric/mph speedometers. Just don't like metric temperatures. Too vague.
     
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  3. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    We are using metric already! Isn't 1/10 of an inch metric??? :ROFLMAO::D:LOL::p
     
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  4. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I respectably disagree.

    Can you imagine the cost to...lets say...change all the speed limit signs in every town, city, county. state in the good old USA ?? Not to mention any and all measuring devices that people use ? I wont even get into the Fahrenheit vs Celsius thing.
     
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  5. Rip Track

    Rip Track TrainBoard Member

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    I remember the big push to go metric during the 70s. I'm not sure if this was nationwide, but I recall seeing mile markers on the Ohio interstates, indicating the distance to major cites in miles with the metric equivalent. I believe it was not long after, that speedometers began showing both measurements.
     
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  6. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    As a machinist and quality assurance tech. I have used both and another.
    New and more speed limit signs should also come with electronic speed control and identification. (some say to replace the other means).
    In the '70s most speedometers had both displayed. Now they have big touch screens to so.
     
  7. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Yes, too coarse.

    Doug
     
  8. DeaconKC

    DeaconKC TrainBoard Member

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    What about Sabermetrics in Baseball?
    By the way Pujols, 691st and 692nd HRs last night! Come on 700!
     
  9. DCESharkman

    DCESharkman TrainBoard Member

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    As a former Navy guy and an Engineer, I get where you are coming from.

    You forgot Latitude and Longitude are also in hours, minutes and seconds! At least that is what is on my Sextant. Yes I know how to use it as well. Because you never know when the electronics might fail.

    I have no problem navigating my sailboat using the Sextant, I pulled into Bora Bora in the Tahitian island chain with no issues, same with Maui or Kona in the Hawaiian island chain. I have even used it to sail to Wake Island and Guam. It is not the technology that matters, it is the skill of the operator of the technology. Time was all derived originally by observing the sun. In Theoretical Physics and AstroPhysics time is based on something else like a molecular decay or the period of a gravity wave. So who is to say which one is right?

    There is really nothing wrong with the imperial system, and there is nothing wrong with the metric system. it is similar to Ford vs Chevy or Atlas vs Kato thing.
     
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  10. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I agree David...BUT

    The problem arises when/if it is mandated that you can no longer buy or drive a Chevy and that you can only buy and drive a Ford. Same with Atlas/Kato or Imperial/Metric. JMO
     
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  11. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    Sure, there are nice things about the imperial system. "A pint's a pound the world around" (approximate, for water.)

    But the metric system ties volumes, linear dimensions, and approximate weights/masses of water together:
    • 1 microliter (ul* = 1 millionth of a liter) is 1 cubic millimeter, and weighs 1 milligram (1mg)
    • 1 milliliter (ml = 1/1000 of a liter) is 1 cubic centimeter (cc), and weighs 1 gram.
    • 1 liter is 1 cubic decimeter (dm = 1/10 of a meter), and weighs 1 kg (1000 grams).
    • 1 kiloliter is 1 cubic meter, and weighs 1 metric ton (1000 Kg = 1 Mg = 1 million grams).
    *microliter is sometimes abbreviated "mcl"

    Now, see how easy that is?! No more pints/quarts/gallons or oz/lbs!

    And I weigh less in metric!!!
     
  12. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I dont get or follow any of that other then i weigh less in metric....lol
     
  13. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    If you've ever had to convert gallons to cubic feet, etc., you will appreciate how simple the metric system makes converting between volume and linear dimensions.

    And the relationship with the density of water is that you can apply the specific density (relative to water) of the material you are working with to come up with the weight of that volume of material.

    Questions like "Can I carry 500 gallons of water in my half-ton pickup", but in metric, will get much easier. 500 gallons of water is 500x8=4000 pints, which weighs approx 4000 lbs., divided by 2000 lbs/ton is 2 tons.

    In metric, you might ask "Can I carry 2000 liters of water in my half-(metric-)ton pickup?" 2000 liters of water weighs approx 2000 kg, or 2 metric tons.

    Alas, in the south, the answer to both is "Hell yeah!"

    But in metric, you'd also know that the water would fit in a 1x2x1 meter tank, which fits neatly between the wheel wells, with the tailgate up.
     
  14. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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  15. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    We yanks used to pride ourselves on not following the rest of the world, much of which is in chaos. and going our own way. "Yankee ingenuity".Now, it seems many think we need to keep up. Anybody think no-lead solder, demanded by the EU, is a good idea?

    Doug
     
  16. DCESharkman

    DCESharkman TrainBoard Member

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    Lead free solder was developed in the early 1980's because of the spiking problem of the lead in the cold and low pressure of altitude was messing up electronics in planes and missiles. There is no problem with lead free solder. it has been around for 40 years.
     
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  17. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I don't want to get into an argument but lead-free solder is crap on earth. And then you have whiskers and why did the EU exempt makers of medical devices and aeronautics from being stuck using it? Oh yeah, those whiskers.

    Doug
     
  18. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    Umm... I think you have that backwards. Removing the lead from the solders and terminal finishes allowed tin whiskers to form and grow. Lead was actually intentionally introduced much earlier into solder formulations and terminal finishes, to inhibit whisker growth and improve solder joint reliability. Tin whiskers were not new, they had simply been solved and then forgotten...

    Lead-free solder and terminal finishes were developed in the early- to mid-80s in response to international bans on the use of lead in practically all things, excepting medical, defense and space applications. Of particular concern was the growing cottage industries in third world countries of removing components from printed circuit boards, so that the copper in the circuit boards could be recycled and sold. This process often included using a blow torch to heat up and remove (de-solder) the components from the circuit boards. This was often done at the edges of creeks and rivers by children, where the boards (or a burnt digit) could be easily quenched if the resin caught fire. This created lead contamination in the water supply, used for washing, cooking and even drinking, leading to rampant lead poisoning in the local populations.

    The commercial migration to lead-free solders and terminal finishes recreated old, forgotten problems with "tin whisker" formation in response to mechanical and thermal stresses of the pure-tin and related terminal finishes. Prior to going lead free, the most common terminal finish was simply a hot solder-dipped coating on the component leads. The tin whiskers would form and grow on many of the new lead-free solders and terminal finishes, shorting out adjacent contacts on the component or circuit board, causing functional failures.

    The "tin whisker" problem was caused when lead was removed from the tin used to coat component terminals, and removed from the solder used to join terminals to wires or circuit boards. Pure tin, in response to mechanical stress (due to vibration, thermal expansion/contraction, etc.) will "grow" whiskers of tin which can get long enough to short out adjacent conductors on circuit boards, etc. The lead had been added to solder and terminal finishes to aid "wetting" and solder joint reliability, and avoid tin whisker formation, decades earlier.

    Much research and money has been sunk into finding cost-effective, lead-free (yet not pure tin) terminal finishes and solder alloy combinations that do not grow whiskers, while yielding tough solder joints that don't crack and fail, particularly for long-life, critical applications. The efforts are paying off, and the problem has been significantly reduced. In most situations, refined conformal coating of the electronic assembly, and underfill of ball-grid array packages, re-achieves the necessary longevity and reliability.

    Before I retired, I worked on several studies and projects to assess and/or demonstrate processes and materials that could be used to reliably manufacture electronics assemblies for long lives in austere environments, while making use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronic components with lead-free terminal finishes, in order to save production costs.
     
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  19. NtheBasement

    NtheBasement TrainBoard Member

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    It is confusing. The rule seems to be, when in the US exceed the speed limit by 10. When in Canada exceed it by 15.
     
  20. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    In Wisconsin you'll get a ticket for driving UNDER the limit. MPH or KPH.

    Oh Boy!! This is wandering way off the path. upload_2022-8-22_7-17-56.gif
     

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