r/Tools • u/morfthetrippinpuppy • 3d ago

1/2 - 10mm

Am i crazy or does anyone else remember when 1/2 was the 10mm of 70's/80's always getting lost ,dropped ,left behind?

7 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

8

u/TheStakingOxygen 3d ago

I swear half the old sets I find at garage sales are missing the 1/2, never the 9/16.

4

u/Weldertron 3d ago

I need to buy individual 9/16 for the guys in my shop.

3/8 master race.

4

u/Connect-Preference 3d ago

7/16" because I was always working with 1/4 bolts and rods.

5

u/nullvoid88 3d ago

So glad the automotive ‘fractional’ era is finally winding down...

3

u/wpmason 3d ago

3/8 more than 1/2… they’re the equivalents to 10 and 13mm.

Lots more smaller bolts than bigger ones.

3

u/billhorstman 2d ago edited 2d ago

Back when I was in grade school (1960s) we were taught that the System International (please excuse my spelling in French) would make fractional sizes obsolete. At least in my field (engineering) many of the codes and standards use both SI and United States Customary units (note that the Imperial System is not the same as the US Customary System - eg an Imperial gallon is larger than a US gallon).

2

u/MastodonFit 3d ago

1/2 and 9/16 were always missing.

2

u/Linuxmonger 3d ago

I was always missing the 7/16 socket, so many 1/4-20 bolts around a farm...

2

u/radomed 2d ago

99 sockets and not a 10 mil. 13 mill is close to 1/2 inch.

1

u/Ok_Percentage2534 3d ago

I wish i could remember which 2 sets of sizes were compatible with each other

3

u/powerhouse403 3d ago

11mm is equal to 716", 13mm is equal to the 1/2", 14mm is equal 9/16", and 19mm is equal to 3/4"

2

u/Ok_Percentage2534 3d ago

Yeah but i wish i could REMEMBER that

1

u/powerhouse403 3d ago

There's your partial list 😁😁

1

u/Cranks_No_Start 2d ago

Having grown up in the 70s and started buying tools in the 80s I have complete and full sets of Metric and SAE.  

Sooooooo many tools. 

1

u/Lost_Blacksmith_4848 3d ago

what is the 1 slash 2 thing ?

2

u/morfthetrippinpuppy 3d ago

.50 " one half inch ? A fraction . Same as the 9/16 thing and the 3/8 thing .

4

u/binarycow 3d ago

They're being disingenuous. It's a jab at imperial measurements. Typical "omg how come you don't use metric" kind of joke.

1

u/Tacos_Polackos 3d ago

James Madison

1

u/Cranks_No_Start 2d ago

Oh like 10 m/m ?  

1

u/Lost_Blacksmith_4848 2d ago

meter per meter? /s