The PCB Ruler. It can frustrate us, assist us, and accidentally slice us. But at the end of the day it always helps us measure things. It has three places in its heart for our Pmods, and one big place in its heart for us.
Recently Jay took us through his journey of acceptance regarding this useful little device, so today I thought I would take it even further and list out the rulers’ many uses in the hope that more people share his epiphany.
So without further ado, I present 101 uses for the PCB Ruler!
(And by 101 I maybe mean 18, but hey who is counting? I am profiling a ruler, not a calculator.)
Like its circuit board counterparts, its connections are softly wrapped in copper, surrounded by a swampy-green tinted fiberglass epoxy resin. But it doubles as a ruler, and triples as a Pmod-friendly PCB circuit board. It quadruples as… what’s that you say? Anything? Here are some of the most useful uses for our PCB Ruler, in convenient order from least-useful uses to most-useful uses:
- Measuring things
- Pmod dock
- Opening boxes
- Opening letters
- Screwdriver
Why employ this ruler for such practical uses, when it can be used for much, much, more?
- Stirring coffee
- Cutting sandwiches
- Spreading butter
- Spatula
- FPGA cookie making
Still feeling limited?
- Drum stick
- Robot fetch
- Intern discipline
- Conduct an orchestra
- Fight the Sith
Or, grab some LEDs, Pmods and lots of wire like we did and let your imagination run amok:
PCB Ruler and the PmodMAXSONAR – measure lengths much longer than 6 inches! (see picture to the right)
PCB Ruler and the PmodGYRO – make your ruler double as a level!
The lists above are just the tip of the ice berg – comment below and tell us how you use your PCB Ruler!
Lol, “I’m profiling a ruler, not a calculator”
For me it is mildly inspirational. When I look at it, I see the possibilities for a modest amount of prototyping, and a little curiosity about what Pmod is. There is a very limited amount of prototyping space. I examine the traces and think about ways they might work for me. Overall it is a fun little piece and I will use it for something sooner or later, and maybe think of something simple and fun that can be built with it, then give a few away 🙂
I attended an education conference in which one of the vendors was giving away PCB-Ruler-NC. I have three that I do not know what to use for. I googled the ruler to see if I can find what profession uses the ruler so I can gift someone with the rulers. That is what brought me to this page. Of well, I guess the next best thing is to donate them to a local university with an Engineering school. 🙂