I just saw this, and I figured that as a confused French struggling to read values in inches, with a few arduinos laying around in the shop, I will definitely add this to my todo list.
You can convert everything to MM? My S3, fusion and Carbide motion are all set to MM.
I did a converter ages ago as an exercise in user interface design — also worked as a proportion wheel.
ProportionBar.zip (705.6 KB)
I think I still have the Mac version around somewhere — need to revisit it, should have found time to put it up on an app store or something.
Yes I am indeed using mm only, throughout the CC/CM workflow and there is no issue with that.
I now have muscle memory for mm equivalent of usual values like 1/4" and 1/8", but it’s just when I read a mention somewhere about some specific size in inches that I struggle to do the math mentally. Any conversion program or launching the calculator is easy enough, but the cool factor of this gadget and the opportunity to do some CNC in the process is why I want to make one
In Fusion 360, you can mix measurements in design and also include formulas and parameters. I leave my project default units in mm and when I want to use a half inch, all I need to do is enter “.5 in” and it will convert that for me on the fly to 12.7 mm.
This is actually incredibly handy. I’ve been copying some plans from the 30’s that are in inches, and integrating with some modern components that are…aren’t. Just enter the values in whatever units you have and they magically convert. The learning curve on Fusion360 is pretty steep, but it’s worth it.