Hi Ben,
I don't have any version of those plans, looking forward to seeing your build. I have chosen to go metric with all my tooling. When I design small parts I often compare with the detail on published plans. I find that you have to be careful to not only convert dimensions of the metal bits, but also check the remaining clearances between closely spaced holes and so on, sometimes the accumulated differences mean there is no remaining clearance, or perhaps just not enough tolerance for a slight position error.
So sometimes you have to round down to the nearest tool size, sometimes up, but always check clearances as well as the part size. The threads you use will make a difference to the overall look, and sometimes metric nuts look a bit oversize on a small model, but I have found this is also apparent if you look at a full size metric machine if you are familiar with looking at imperial threads. Unless you are trying to make a truly authentic historical machine, you soon get used to seeing the proportions of what you use.
And sometimes you can still only get imperial size materials, so you are faced with just using it, or extra machining to get the size you want.
I have collected a series of 1 mm pitch taps and dies to give me a finer thread option for parts when there are only a few threads. But I suspect I will eventually end up with a few ME sizes when those 32 or 40 tpi threads are just right for fine adjustments, or to allow connections to some purchased fittings.
MJM460
