American screws drive me nuts!

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#4
Speaking of "the wrong voltage", don't just use a step down transformer. The 120V PT won't like 50Hz power.
Also I know the feeling. In Canada, we're about half and half. 95% of the fasteners I use to build my amps are M3 but there a couple of places 6-32 works better so they get used instead. You need 2.5mm, 3mm, 7/32", a #2 phillips, and T15 Torx depending on the build and what screws I had at the time.
 
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#5
Try being a "car guy" in the 80's when US auto companies were transitioning slowly from SAE fasteners to metric. This was also the beginning of outsourced manufacturing so various subassemblies came from different countries. You needed two sets of tools to work on an "American" car. I raced Chrysler "L bodies" (Omni, Horizon, Charger 2.2, etc) from the mid 80's through the mid 90's. Here the engine was all metric, while the body was mostly SAE, but random oddball combinations were common, especially when the Mexican made engine used a Bosch alternator with a US made water pump and a Japanese AC compressor. for the turbo models, and a different combination for the non turbos. I stuffed a 1984 fuel injected turbo motor into a 1982 Charger that was originally carbureted. There were lots of weird fastener combinations in that car.

For today's electronics stuff, I have kept every spare fastener left over from every PC I have built since the 80's along with all the fasteners from the US made stuff that I have parted out, especially old HP and TEK test equipment. Something in those two boxes will usually fit.
 
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#6
The whole process of refurbishing started because of the 'wrong' voltage of the Hafler P3000, humming like crazy with a step down transformer @50hz.
There is no way to fit in the cramped space a compatible 230V transformer in place of the original one (4X45V, 4X15V).
I contacted Hafler (now Dynaco) but this model is no longer supported (there was even a 230V version, the P3000CE).
And they would not tell me the specs nor sell me a double voltage spare transformer of the very similar and still supported P3100.
Took me some time but I was able to unscrew the beast completely.
 
#12
planet10 said:
In Canada one has to be able to use both, officially metric but most construction industry is imperial, drives the architects crazy — and the pants.

I love shipping stuff round the world with Robertson (square head) screws.

dave
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When I dismantled my ML Aeons i found the crossovers were held in with square head screws. Never come across them but they didn't defeat me for long.
 
#14
In Canada, nobody knows which drive somebody will have... Leviton makes recepticles with screws that can be used with Robertson, Philips, or slot. I just backstab though 😛
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#15
batteryman said:
Quality not quantity! UK,, Australasia, Japan, and much of Asia. (i.e. many former British colonies), and one EU country (Rep of Ireland)
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The quality is the same, but it would certainly be more awkward for me to shift with my left hand. And you with your right.
There's an interchange at a border somewhere with a fancy ramp to switch which side of the road you're on... I can't remember where, but there's a picture on the net somewhere.
 
#20
Oh, sadly there was a similar accident, with huge Human loss, when an Aeroflot plane (fully metric and speaking meters, kilometers, liters, etc.) crashed on Indian airspace with another speaking feet, knots, gallons, etc.

"In principle" Pilots are trained in both, same as Air Controllers, but at some point a mixup happened ... and Plane crashes are never "small" 🙁
 
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