Today in the shop (I should have know better)

[reible]

I thought today would be a good day to work on a jig that I have been planning to build. I have collected the supplies and just need to get at it.

I got 8 feet of t-track from Rockler for the project, need less to say t-track is not cheap anymore. The data sheet from Rockler shows the opening in the top of the track to 3/8" or .375". Keep this in mind.

One of the parts I needed was some plastic rod that will slide in the track and keep the parts level and a t-bolt will secure it in place after sliding to adjust. I found a nice rod that was 3/8" and a claimed tolerance of .001".

So the first thing I did today was to start looking at the parts and figuring the fine details of how it was going to come together. It did not take long to find the 3/8" rod and the 3/8" slot did not fit together.... at all.

I checked the rod and it was .001" over or less which was expected and was not the issue. The Rockler track on the other hand was. The data sheet clearly shows 3/8".

ScreenHunter 38.jpg (14.36 KiB) Viewed 14770 times

When I measure it I see .355". Not even close. I checked some other track I have from them and the same thing. I checked some other places track that also claims to be 3/8" and guess what, it is! The rod slides nicely but that is no help now since I have the Rockler track.

So I have to put the project on hold and decide what I want to do. Maybe back to cleaning the shop rather then making more of a mess.

Hope your shop project today goes better then mine.

Ed

[john_001]

0.355 is suspiciously close to 9mm. I suspect the t-track is another victim of metrification.

[jsburger]

0.355 is suspiciously close to 9mm. I suspect the t-track is another victim of metrification.

Yes but it is still advertised in English dimensions. You can't have it both ways.

[john_001]

Unfortunately, that's not unusual. How many chisels are advertised as 1/2" (in the US) when they're really 12mm?

[masonsailor2]

It is sad that the world has never been able to get to a standardized system. Specifically that we have not transitioned to the metric system. Having both systems in play has plagued us as a country for so many years. Some really large and some fatal mistakes have been made due to the confusion. In the woodworking world it plays out to make things merely difficult. Two big examples are the different thicknesses of plywood and the 32mm system of European hardware. I have seen some major cabinet jobs end in a total fiasco over those two.
Paul

[JPG]

It is sad that the world has never been able to get to a standardized system. Specifically that we have not transitioned to the metric system. Having both systems in play has plagued us as a country for so many years. Some really large and some fatal mistakes have been made due to the confusion. In the woodworking world it plays out to make things merely difficult. Two big examples are the different thicknesses of plywood and the 32mm system of European hardware. I have seen some major cabinet jobs end in a total fiasco over those two.
Paul

It only become a problem when 'lies' are told. If it is metric, say so in mm or cm or ... , if 'imperial' say so in inches,feet,yards ... .

[reible]

I'm not so sure this is a metric/imperial issue. More then likely no one bothered to check what they were getting and if it matched the drawing. I've had this sort of thing happen to me before, even at work where I always wanted to make a prototype just to make sure that things were as the drawings said they were. When I hand layout circuit boards I always wanted parts in hand because the libraries sometimes contained errors or the suppliers swapped manufactures and the values might have been the same but the physical size was another matter.

Anyway I have written a review, still not posted on their site and wrote to customer service about the issue. Will see what they have to say. BTW in the past they have been very responsive to issues I've had so I really do expect to hear back from them.

If I have some time later today I will check the other dimension to see if they look like imperial or not.

Ed

[moggymatt]

Common core math graduate at the extursion mill it sounds like.

[JPG]

Common core math graduate at the extursion mill it sounds like.

Common Core spelling?

[rpd]

Common core math graduate at the extrusion mill it sounds like.

I suspect someone at a warehouse, either at Rockler or the manufacturer, put the metric extrusions in the imperial bin by mistake, and because they are very close in size no one caught the error.

I had something similar happen at Lee Valley recently, (the stores have a showroom out front, but the orders are filled from a warehouse at the back), I filled out the form but when the clerk brought the item from the warehouse it was not correct. He said I must have put down the wrong number, but a check in the catalog showed I was correct and the wrong item had been stocked in the bin. He made a second trip to the warehouse, now knowing what the correct part looked like, and got me the correct one.

For the curious, what I ordered was a brace driver - 3/8" socket. (did a great job driving lag screws)

socketdriver.jpg (244.73 KiB) Viewed 14383 times

and what he brought the first time was the brace driver - 1/4" hex. (just one digit off on the stock number)
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.a ... 2337,32300