On Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:28:45 +1300, Malcolm Moore
wrote:

On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:26:06 +0000, Mike wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:50:18 +1300, Malcolm Moore
wrote:

Many europeans express a decimal point by using a comma. In your
example above 1,6 is the same as 1.6

It's not 'Europeans' it's an ISO standard, ISO being the
*International* Standards Organisation, ANSI (and Standards New
Zealand) being member bodies of ISO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_in_International_Organization_for_Standa rdization

I don't doubt that such an ISO standard exists. However, just because
Standards NZ (for example) is a member of ISO does not mean that the
ISO standard is automatically adopted for use.

Absolutely, and as far as Brits are concerned the areas BS 8888 (our
implementation of the ISO) is applied to are very limited, they
certainly don't cover everyday life!

Yes, using commas for decimal points is loopy but the rest of the
metric planet (outside the USA) in the Engineering profession have
been doing it that way and have been for many, many years - The ISO
standard has been in place for around 20 years although places like
the UK only adopted it as a national standard in 2002.

Not all parts of the metric planet outside the USA use the comma as a
decimal point, for example Aust & NZ. I wonder if any UK adoption is
a result of EU harmonisation. Having said that. I have recent drawings
from UK manufacturers that still use the full stop.

Not really, unless you were involved in current engineering projects
you'd use the same separators as the USA, OZ and NZ. Thinking back the
first time I ever saw it used would be with Rotring ink drawing pens
in the mid 1970's. They wouldn't be marked 0.5mm or 0.7mm but 0,7 and
0,5 So the Germans were certainly using that format 35 ish years ago.

But just like the screwups with metric and imperial, this new format
is I fear a disaster waiting to happen, it 'fixed' a problem that
maybe we once had with bad dyeline prints. In use it really is a
complete pain in the arse especially if you have a mix of old and new
drawings. For the Germans, the Swiss, the French, the Italians and
the Spanish it will be a breeze. For everyone else...

Along with other number formatting principles inherent in the standard
there should be no ambiguity, nor misreading of a drawing due to a
speck of ink or a badly placed fold.

The electronics industry often uses the multiplier to avoid such
problems. eg a 2.2nF capacitor is written as 2n2 The F is usually
implied by the capacitor symbol. Likewise 2k2 for a 2.2kohm resistor
etc.

That is sensible, but more recently surface mount devices have ended
up with some of the most obscure coding on the planet, to such an
extent that there are many websites to decode the markings.

Twenty, thirty or forty years ago it was easy to prototype a circuit
design either with a ratsnest or a prototyping board, now it requires
near perfect eyesight, hot air tools, tweezers and masses of lighting.
I've a couple of kits that use some surface mount kit. I had intended
doing them over the winter but it was hopeless even with a really good
illuminated magnifier so I'm waiting for a bright sunny day - on the
current trend we've had our summer two days this week, now its another
11 months of rain


--