The Maker Grid: A Fusion 360 Macropad

Hardware

4 Devlogs
5 Total hours

I am building a custom macropad designed specifically to speed up my mechanical engineering and CAD workflow in Autodesk Fusion 360. The pad features a 3x3 grid of mechanical switches mapped to my most frequently used tools, broken down into layers for Sketching, Solid Modeling, and Assembly. It also features a rotary encoder dedicated to zooming and panning across the canvas. To tie it all together, an OLED screen will display the active tool layer alongside RGB LEDs for visual feedback. This dedicated hardware will make designing custom robotics chassis, brackets, and mechanisms much more efficient.

Open comments for this post

@SharkyTheShark2 on The Maker Grid: A Fusion 360 Macropad · 23 days ago

1h 9m 37s logged

Finished the main code that will be flashed on there. Not too hard but a challenge in its own way. Programming is my specialty.

Open comments for this post

@SharkyTheShark2 on The Maker Grid: A Fusion 360 Macropad · 26 days ago

1h 38m logged

Finished my macropad. Fusion was a lot easier to navigate since I’ve used it so it didn’t take to long. Had issues finding models for everything but in the end I got it done. Also had to fix minor issues with the board and OLED layout.

Open comments for this post

@SharkyTheShark2 on The Maker Grid: A Fusion 360 Macropad · 26 days ago

1h 10m logged

I finished the schematic and the PCB. I imported it into Fusion 360 to get started with the design. PCB Editor had been giving me headaches learning the software but in the end I got it. I will proceed to work on Fusion.

Open comments for this post

@SharkyTheShark2 on The Maker Grid: A Fusion 360 Macropad · 26 days ago

45m 44s logged

Worked on basic schematic on KiCAD. First time using software but I got the hang of it. Currently mapping the correct footprints and double checking everything.