I have reverse engineered boards too, and the 'layer peal away' method works
pretty well if you are careful. A vertical end mill or possibly abrasive
removal might work. John's method sounds like a very good solution.
However you will destroy the original. Sometimes you only have one copy of
the board and want to preserve it... then what?
It was suggested to me that you could send the board to a local board shop
and have them generate a net list by probing all the points on the board.
Having a netlist would help a lot... maybe even if you wanted to recreate a
schematic to go with the board design...
X-ray might be useful additionally in seeing the internal layer structures
but seeing the details can be difficult to do thru a lot of layers...
Just a thought... I wonder if heating it to a level that delamination occurs
would help in stripping off the layers or not... probably would make a mess
of it though... hard to say, never tried it.
Before going through that though, I would do an exhaustive search for the
original artwork, in house, and at previous vendors that made the board for
us to see if I could obtain images of the layers that way.
Good luck.
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: John Burke [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 10:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] reverse engineering, legit style
Jeff.
I had to do this once and for the record here is how I did (and still would)
do it.
Take a camera and fix it in a stand looking vertically down at the base. On
the base you have tooling pins for your board.
Place board on the tooling pins and take a picture.
Remove board and using a standard sectioning equipment remove the solder
resist down to the copper layer 1 - take another photo. Grind down to copper
layer 2 - take another photo.
You will end up with all 12 layers, effectively "pin registered" that you
can scale from the original board size and re-create using a CAD system.
Have fun
John Burke
(408) 515 4992
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jeff Seeger
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 9:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] reverse engineering, legit style
,
Hallooo, Technet -
I've been handed an unusual request, to try and duplicate a PWB
from >10 years ago for a resupply type of contract. The OE has
officially declined participation and releases to that effect
have been obtained. Parts have largely been identified and are
mostly sourced.
My question is, what manner of tool stands a chance of imaging
internal layers? XRay Laminography? A chance to stay in photo
methods would sure help keep costs down.
Board is reasonably small, 2x5 or so, and thankfully not jammed
or superbly advanced for its era. Layer count is at least 6,
which would seem appropriate for what I see. However there is
one scary marking of 12L off to one corner.
If by chance a vendor with expertise happens to be in earshot,
I'd love a call.
Thanks in advance - one more thing to try and sort out before
vacation next week (ain't that the way)!
--
Jeff Seeger Applied CAD Knowledge Inc
Chief Technical Officer Tyngsboro, MA 01879
jseeger "at" appliedcad "dot" com 978 649 9800
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