CAD or Similar Advice Required - Drilling Measurements

[aziltz]

I've been making good use of PedalPartsPlus and their pre-drilled/pre-painted enclosures, but I'm moving past their stock drilling layouts.

I need to make my own drawings with measurements so they can drill for me.  What's the easiest way to do this, electronically?  I've never used CAD before, and I don't want to overcomplicate things.  I've seen all those great layouts with clip art that people like RG have made for the popular boxes, complete with drill size lines, but I need measurements. 

I just need a clean and clear way to measure out points and indicate spacing and hole size measurements electronically so someone else can do my drilling, and hopefully share it with the community to use.

If you have any suggestions that will help me, please advise. 

[Andi]

I use the eMachineshop CAD client. It's free and quick, though you'd have to add in dimensions as text by hand. On the upside it'll print at correct size and create DXFs and with something like CutePDF you can output PDF as well. All for free.

[.Mike]

Check out Google's SketchUp.

It's less of a CAD program and more of a drawing program. It's flexible, relatively easy to learn, and allows you to easily display measurements. I used it to submit a drill template to PPP with success.

There is even a 3d Warehouse that has some effects made by other people. You can pull parts out of other people's designs-- stomp switches and LED bezels, for example-- and use them in your own designs. It really helps you visualize a completed project.

Here's an example of what I submitted to PPP for a passive splitter box:



Mike