Labeling styrene offcuts

[NOBLNG]

For all those who like to scratch build stuff.? I like to number the offcuts that I get from sheet styrene. I keep them all in an old Mackintosh’s toffee can. Numbering them means I don’t have to grab the calipers every time to find the thickness I’m after.

Edited November 25, 2022 by NOBLNG

[yh70]

i never had to do that..

[Darren B]

I have done this before on the piece I use for the build, but that makes sense for the left over pieces as well.

[JohnU]

Makes sense. As a tool and die maker, off cuts of steel material returned to the shelves are marked by size and type so it can be quickly identified in our shop. No reason this can’t translate to the hobby shop.

[Bugatti Fan]

I mark mine with the actual thickness rather than a numbering system.

[peteski]

I also do  this.  I assume that .040 is the thickness (0.040").  That is how I mark mine.  Saves getting the calipers out.

Edited January 4, 2023 by peteski

[NOBLNG]

I just put a 4 for .040”, 2 for .020” and 15 for .015”. I just mark it with pencil now too so I can erase it if needed.

[peteski]

I fixated on the piece marked .040 and didn't notice the other numbers.   I just write the actual number.  I guess if you have a 0.050" and 0.005" pieces, you will mark both as "5", but visually you will be able to tell the difference.

[Bugatti Fan]

I still have my old imperial micrometers from my apprentice days before we went metric back in the seventies. This thread reminded me that the inch system is still alive and kicking in the US by the way you guys are describing your card thicknesses in thous. My card gets marked in metric increments, although I still often picture things in my mind in inches. Old habits die hard I guess!

[NOBLNG]

3 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

I still have my old imperial micrometers from my apprentice days before we went metric back in the seventies. This thread reminded me that the inch system is still alive and kicking in the US by the way you guys are describing your card thicknesses in thous. My card gets marked in metric increments, although I still often picture things in my mind in inches. Old habits die hard I guess!

We’ve gone metric here in Canada, but not completely.? The government has gone 100% metric. Industry and peoples minds…not so much. The metric system is a much better system really because weights and measures are all based on 10. There are 10 millimetres in a centimetre, 1000 metres in a kilometer.? The imperial system is all over the map. Why does water freeze at -32F instead of zero? The inch is divided by twos until you get to 64ths…..but if you want to be accurate, you use thousandths.? It’s too bad the US didn’t switch over with us. I’m sure it would have been a more complete transition here.

[Repstock]

1 hour ago, NOBLNG said:

We’ve gone metric here in Canada, but not completely.? The government has gone 100% metric. Industry and peoples minds…not so much. The metric system is a much better system really because weights and measures are all based on 10. There are 10 millimetres in a centimetre, 1000 metres in a kilometer.? The imperial system is all over the map. Why does water freeze at -32F instead of zero? The inch is divided by twos until you get to 64ths…..but if you want to be accurate, you use thousandths.? It’s too bad the US didn’t switch over with us. I’m sure it would have been a more complete transition here.

Should we change our time system? 24 hours in a day 60 minutes per hour, 60 seconds per minute...messy,messy,messy. Since you can't hear me, this is an attempt at humor. No jerkdom intended.

[Tom Geiger]

I save all my cutoffs of everything.. styrene, wood, parts and shapes whittled off of kit parts, old non kit plastic pieces..  for instance I changed a toilet flush handle this week. The arm was white plastic shaped like a scale girder.. so into the box!

[NOBLNG]

2 hours ago, Repstock said:

Should we change our time system? 24 hours in a day 60 minutes per hour, 60 seconds per minute...messy,messy,messy. Since you can't hear me, this is an attempt at humor. No jerkdom intended.

Well I wasn’t aware of any other time systems than the common 12 hour AM/PM and 24 hour military time……but, those crazy Frenchmen…..? From the web:

 “The French developed a clock that ran on metric time. It had…20 hours in a day, I think? They did a whole bunch of metric things during the French revolution. Doubt that anyone uses that clock exclusively, though I’m sure someone has tried.”

“10 hours per day, divided into 100 minutes, each divided into 100 seconds. The fact that it really never caught on is illustrated by the fact that most surviving clocks had a third hand which displayed 24 hour time as well:”

 

[peteski]

17 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

I still have my old imperial micrometers from my apprentice days before we went metric back in the seventies. This thread reminded me that the inch system is still alive and kicking in the US by the way you guys are describing your card thicknesses in thous. My card gets marked in metric increments, although I still often picture things in my mind in inches. Old habits die hard I guess!

Just the opposite for me. Growing up and being schooled in Poland metric was all I knew, but after I came to USA few decades ago I had no choice but use inch system.  I still find the fractional representation a big pain in the butt, so for modeling I use decimal representation.