Maker's Rule-The Feature Packed PCB Multi-Tool

01 Jan 2016 Tweet Pune, India

It has been a while since i posted my Tinker Rule which i made during college days. I received a few requests for the ready to etch pdf which helped me gauge if this seemed to be useful to people. The response was somewhat positive and so, i decided to put in some extra effort and make it handy, portable and manufacturable !

My initial scale was big and not handy, So, this one should be small and compact and must not miss a single feature from its ancestor. This one has :

• 0.1 inch grid to quickly prototype/resolve parts for perf-boarding or part creation
• A collection of footprints and holes to quickly compare parts
• A small pad with a sand paper to rust off those berg strips/resistor ends that just wont solder located ergonomically at the end to allow easy motion
• A key chain form factor
• A LED Tester
• A continuity tester compatible with most common 4.5mm banana plug type probes and alternatively alligator clips too
• A reference section for common equations,scales and track widths.
• 0.1 inch scale at right angles
• 1 mm resolution scale at right angles

I made an initial to-scale mockup to verify the parts and ergonomics.

Then redesigned the board iteratively in KiCAD. The size was a bit higher to utilise the low volume PCB fabs from China.This presented an opportunity to search and try some local manufacturers and add a month to the project. Most of them unfortunately gave disappointing replies to mails for low volume production.

Aghasted, I started street searching for PCB manufacturers here in Pune. Fortunately, I live near an Industrial Area and Just Dial churned out a humble number of results. I visited a few of them and finalised one based on cost, quality and turn around time. But had to re-design it yet again to match the tolerances.

But Yeah!

Made In India :D

Here is what i managed to make :

The 5mm hole doubles up as a key-chain ring.

Use normal multimeter probes with the Maker’s Rule for continuity testing. My multimeter meter has a habit of dying down when i need it the most to check continuity of newly etched PCB. Here i use a 0805 LED for the output.

It is available in two colors- Bright Green and Marine Blue & A CR2032 Battery adds more potential.

A LED Tester that helps you test those LEDs with equal leads or SMD packages with no marking.

A fine grit sand paper to beat some rust.

The first few PCBs had a drill issue as the 2.8mm drill hole was drilled by a 2.5mm one. I had to get them drilled again.

I have listed it on Tindie if anyone is interested.It ships with a key-chain blank, A CR2032 Battery and the Rule of-course.

Also any customisations like putting your logo/content on it are also welcomed.

Cheers !!

Rohit