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Ruler of PCBs — Parallax Forums

Ruler of PCBs

ercoerco Posts: 20,250
in General Discussion
Not what you expected! A ruler apparently made of PCB material with dimensions and references which may be helpful in creating custom PCBs for $2: https://www.ebay.com/itm/352519766998

I was searching for DIY soldering kits for class and came across this. I actually wish it was a solder kit, with blinking LEDs, a speaker and touch pads... I mean who wouldn't want a blinky ruler???

Of course I ordered two.

pcb%20ruler.jpg
pcb ruler.jpg
1200 x 1200 - 314K

Comments

  • apcountrymanapcountryman Posts: 33
    edited 2019-05-04 20:26
    Both Adafruit and sparkfun sell similar rulers. I have the Adafruit one and have occasionally found the footprints useful when doing qualitative comparisons/checks.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,250
    Thanks apc! I'm behind the curve... again! :)
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,975
    edited 2019-05-06 07:01
    Check this one from Digi-Key. Part no. PCB-RULER-ND $4.95USD Think it was a freebee when I got it with a bunch of parts.

    https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/digi-key-electronics/PCB-RULER-12INCH/PCB-RULER-ND/5767550
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    I got the free DigiKey ruler last year. IMO, it's almost totally worthless. In fact, I can't even find it, so I might've thrown it away. My go-to is a ruler I got from Circuit Services decades ago. It's very simple and measures inches in tenths instead of sixteenths. That's all it does, and I use it all the time:

    ckt_svcs_ruler.png

    -Phil
    ckt_svcs_ruler.png
    2951 x 557 - 1M
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    Ah, the tenths ruler. Somewhere I have a computer ruler marked in tenths of inches to 132, the magic number for printer layout in 15" fan-cold computer paper. It was a soft see-thru mylar of some kind that I was given in the 70's.
  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,621
    I have Toledo rulers that include 1/10 and 1/20" (in addition to metric)

    Check out this 'multimeter ruler' concept
    DkC3nI6U4AUi3Vm.jpg
  • iseriesiseries Posts: 1,452
    I'm a millimeter guy. I don't like those tenths things either.

    Mike
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    The DigiKey PCB ruler is very busy and confusing at first but it is also very useful once you figure it out. It's graduated in eights/sixteenths etc. for half its length and tenths for the other half, and it is crammed with useful hole size guides, conversion tables, and font examples. I have three of them which I use pretty regularly.
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,933
    edited 2019-05-06 16:44
    I have a handful of PCB based rulers that are at my desk at work from various places. One has wind speed calculations which I thought odd for a PCB ruler, but the design was into sailing and since it was just a marketing tool for AllFavor fab house, I guess it doesn't really matter. My most coveted ruler is not from a PCB, but related to PCB manufacturing. In the 1990's, the Fuji ruler was only in the hands of Fuji field service techs that worked on the CP/IP series of pick-n-place machines. I was lucky enough to earn the respect of one of the techs to be handed his and instantly became the envy of anyone that knew Fuji equipment. Not sure why the thumbnail doesn't show the whole ruler.

    There is a Kitspace open source ruler that has a BOM to allow populating parts as well. https://kitspace.org/boards/github.com/kitspace/ruler/
    PCB-Rulers-AW.jpg
    1013 x 555 - 249K
    Fuji-Ruler.jpg
    1169 x 194 - 68K
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,250
    Fantastic, Tubular! Your ruler RULES!
  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,621
    edited 2019-05-06 22:27
    A friend made that one

    Remember the PS2 mouse kit Parallax used to sell? We could incorporate one or two of those into the design, and maka a digital slide rule (2nd for protractor etc)

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