Scott,
You called them? did you ask them if you could buy a copy of the design files
(gerbers etc,) and make a copy for their former customer? They might look at a
little differently under those circumstances.
If you are convinced that all other avenues have been exhausted, and you feel safe
in trying to reverse engineer it yourself, there a few basic questions.
Is it SMT or Thru Hole?
Components on one or both sides?
How many of the layers are planes?
If you are lucky, it will be something simple like 2 routing layers, two planes, and
then 2 more routing layers, wherein you can actually see all of the traces under the
right "lighting" conditions once components are out of the way.
An important question here is whether there is a Sacrificial Sample available. By
that I mean is there a board available which you can remove parts from, where the
parts can be sacraficed for the cause, and the board will not be required to be used
again?
If so, then it should be pretty easy to remove the larger components so as to be
able to see under them and hence make tracing things easier, including being able to
see thru the top routing layer to see the routing one trace below. The trick here is
to sacrafice the parts (by cutting the leads, etc.) so as to not damage the PCB.
Are all components clearly identified, or are there some parts with "in house"
numbers on them (or no numbers at all) that you will be expected to identify in the
course of your "reverse engineering"?
Just how much "reverse engineering" will you be responsible for (are you expected to
reproduce a functional replecia, or just provide their engineering department a
schematic that they will review and accept final responsiblity for)?
Other very important considerations would be just what kind of functions the board
is used for, in that if it has any sensitive low level analog circuits of some high
speed digital sections or places where controlled impedance transmission lines are
used (LVDS, ECL, or RF), there may be far more than just a point to point connection
of traces involved in functionally replicating the design.
Food for thought . . .
JaMi
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Riley" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: [DC] A Reverse engineering question
Looks promising, but I don't see any contact info on their site ?
The customer is outside this country. Of course in Upstate NY we do not
really consider someone from Toronto as being from a foreign country (their
just across the lake). The board shop that produced the part is gone as I
mentioned and the original supplier had discontinued the part and will no
longer supply it (I called them).
The company is a re-seller of networking equipment and needs the board for
some of the older hardware that they have.
Thank you all for the help. This is a new customer with a one time request
(well you never know). They got my name from a customer that I had done
several flex circuits and a couple rev. eng jobs. But, being a one man show
I don't think the ROI on this is sufficient for me to pursue any further.
Thanks again for you input.
Scott D. Riley
Technical Design Service
607-658-9322 - Office
607-785-1696 - FAX
www.techdesignservice.com
-----Original Message-----
From: DesignerCouncil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
McGlaughlin, Jeffrey A
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 4:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [DC] A Reverse engineering question
The equipment is a little pricey for a one-off job, but if this is a
consistent source of work you might look at:
http://www.whingate.co.uk/reveng_pg1.html . We have demo-ed the system and
it does exactly as advertised. If you are only doing the one board you
might talk to them anyway. They may be able to do the reverse
engineering of a schematic on a sub-contract deal for you.
Jeffrey A McGlaughlin, CID
Engineering Designer
Battelle Memorial Institute
Columbus Ohio
http://www.battelle.org
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Riley [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 3:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [DC] A Reverse engineering question
I hate to switch gears on everyone, but I'm looking for a little input on a
job.
A customer sent me a 6 layer board (complete with all the components on both
sides) and wants to know if I can create data from it so that he can order
more. I have done several two layer boards as well as a couple simple four
layer designs, but six layers presents some problems. There is no
documentation (schematic, fab drawings, etc) and no manufacturing data.
Does anyone have any experience or suggestions on how this might be
accomplished ? Of course the customer wants it immediately and for cheap,
but before I NO QUOTE this one I thought I'd get some input from the the
experts. Thanks in advance for your help..
Scott D. Riley
Technical Design Service
607-658-9322 - Office
607-785-1696 - FAX
<http://www.techdesignservice.com/> www.techdesignservice.com
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