On Sun, 13 Nov 2005 22:29:29 +0000
Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
John Elliott wrote:
Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com>
writes:
: The only way I can think of is to take a large piece of paper, draw
: the components (ICs, etc.), then trace each etch on the PCB. You
: might use a felt tip pen to put a dab of color on each pin whose
: connection you have marked on your drawing.
If you've got a digital camera, take pictures of both sides of the PCB,
and you can then draw on the pictures using a graphics program.
Duh, good plan :) Previously I've tried sticking boards on the scanner,
but it doesn't cope well with the upperside due to raised chips - the
image ends up out of focus and difficult to work with.
Depending on the depth of field of the scanner you use, you can get very good results
scanning 'objects' that are 3-d. I have a scanner at work (that I got at a
auction for $1) that has really good depth, that I often use instead of a camera to
'photograph' items. Just lay them on the glass and scan.
Many of the cheaper and newer scanners have terrible depth of field. Probably the cheap
optics. The older-generation Hewlett-Packard scanners, which you can get cheap these days
(and which require a SCSI controller) are usually pretty good.