Prototyping Hardware

A few weeks ago I asked my friends network from FaceBook what I should use to do some drafting so I can prototype a Raspberry Pi based hardware build using an LCD and driver board set into a project enclosure. I really just needed to cut some plastic and get the mounting holes lined up.

I spent some time playing with SketchUp, and while I think the interface is superb, I can't seem to get scale drawings out to print out templates for cutting and drilling my mounting substrate. This is really frustrating - I've got scale drawings, but can't print a template to cut the material. And it's a known "bug" (how is this a bug and not a show-stopper?), so I don't have too many options besides export and manual scaling.

Is this a problem anybody has found a fix for? I'm worried I'll be back at work full-time soon and will run out of time to work on this.

To view or add a comment, sign in

More articles by Douglas Bodden

  • It's Not Easy

    To those of you out there who are trying to get started with technology, or really anything, for that matter, please do…

    10 Comments
  • IoT Architecture: Beyond WiFi - IoT Radio for Software Engineers

    In the previous article in this series, I presented some very high-level concepts about scale and complexity for the…

    31 Comments
  • IoT Architecture & Development

    "How do I get into IoT development?" I've gotten this question from several people, and it's a long answer. Hence this…

    13 Comments
  • Tech Recruiting Humor

    Recruiter Survey Section One - Introduction Because of the high volume of recruiters contacting me, please fill out…

    4 Comments
  • Why was I so productive this year?

    Why has this been my most productive year in my career as an engineer? Is it the programming environment I’m using?…

    7 Comments
  • 14 Things Wrong With Listicles

    No. Please.

    1 Comment
  • Build Something...real

    Don't allow yourself to become isolated from real-world problems. Building a deck, a microcontroller that actuates a…

  • Case Study: Cloud DevOps vs. Ticketed KPI Ops

    Quick analysis: I got stuff done. Details: Last week we identified a need for some functionality on the website which…

    4 Comments
  • DevOps Isn't a Jenkins Server

    I've been responsible for deployment in every job I've had. This has included not only plain-vanilla enterprise…

    3 Comments
  • Keyword Soup

    I am a software engineer with over two decades of professional experience looking for a new position after my business…

    2 Comments

Explore content categories