Quite often I am asked to repair a PCB (with components on it) with no support data. When it is quite a simple PCB (less than 100 components) and there really is no service information to be had via the web I photograph or scan both sides of the PCB (assuming it's single sided track with components on the other side.) Then I just put the 2 printed photos, which are to the same scale, on a light source with the track side reversed. I can then mark the positions of the components on the track side but it isn't too easy as you'll imagine. I just wondered if there was a software package that enabled a print side PCB photo to be overlaid manually with circuit symbols to produce a full circuit that could then be 'autorouted' to produce a logical (input on left output on right, ) 0V at bottom sort of circuit diagram? I would very much like to try one out if it's reasonably priced (free seems eminently reasonable too). My attempts to go from my 'components overlaid on PCB track' to a logically laid out diagram are quite often akin to an explosion in a spaghetti canning factory.
- posted
17 years ago