Here

You will need to fill out a form with some required info before downloading. (Ive used this for two years, never had any problems with malware or spamming)

You’ll receive an email with two sets of serial numbers, and activation codes. (There’s the ‘Free’ and ‘PRO’ version, avoid the PRO version 30 day trial, and just install the Free version)

Run the install, careful to select the Free ver., then enter the (Free)serial number from the email. It will prompt you for the activation code later.

When you fire the program up, you’ll see a dialog box for plotter drivers.

Select ‘ANSI ABCD Black’ hit OK, and you’re ready to go.

Camera>Standard Views>Front starts you out on a 2D plane. If you rotate, you can go to front view again and it snaps back. But your left with the 3D axes.

With PS Elements you can change line color, weight, and thickness. Is that even possible in Sketchup? I looked at something about “edge styles” but it looks more complicated than it’s worth.

If I could use color lines, I’d be tempted to try a 3D wiring diagram. How cool would that be….

Recently, I’ve developed a couple of mine models using only SketchUp, just as a test. This requires doing a certain amount of 2D work; like digitizing maps before I extrude them.

It helps to have a reference plane in the form of a raster image to constrain yourself to a single plane. That way the cursor normally snaps to the face of the plane. You can do the same with a rectangular face; but be sure to make it an object first, otherwise everthing will merge with it.

Do you know about locking the inference by using the shift key when rotating objects? When using the rotate tool, the protractor turns color depending on the plane it is representing. Even if your cursor is not on your desired point of rotation, you can lock the protrator on the plane you want, move to the point of rotation, and then click the left button to start the rotation. This can also be used with the move tool, and is helpful when there are lots of objects around that will interfer with a simple on axis move. By doing this, you can simulate the ortho command in AutoCad.

All that being said, when I just need a 2d drawing, I go to AutoCad. I like polylines in CAD verses the freehand line in SketchUp.

Used to be less than $500.

AutoSketch runs about $250 list, and might work for you.

PhotoShop elements has some drawing tools. I might give that a try.