Image to Gerber Companies ...
Walt Perko
Joseph Corda
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Walt Perko
Patrick Linstruth
On Nov 23, 2025, at 11:04 PM, Walt Perko <r4r...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
For an exercise I sent the 1200dpi scans of the mini-Front Panel board to the company in India ... they asked me for dimensions. It'll be interesting to see the estimate to make KiCAD or EasyEDA files for the board.
<S-100 Board Dimensions.jpg>.On Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 7:22:12 PM UTC-8 jjco...@gmail.com wrote:Thanks for sharing the links Walt !On Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 10:10 PM Walt Perko <r4r...@gmail.com> wrote:Hi,I did a little searching and found a few that look promising. I added them to my resources list. Look for "Image to PCB Gerbers" in the list:.--
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<S-100 Board Dimensions.jpg>
Walt Perko
Walt Perko
Walt Perko
Walt Perko
Thanks so much for reaching out to ScanCAD, and thanks for the great question about your S-100 PCB project. I appreciate the specific detail—scanned images of vintage computing hardware are exactly the kind of work we love tackling.
Here's the honest answer: scanned JPG images can absolutely be the starting point for reverse engineering, but the quality and resolution of those scans is critical to what we can deliver. Our NIST-calibrated imaging systems and technical team have spent over 30 years helping companies reverse engineer complex PCBs, and we've found that working from high-resolution scanned images typically requires some additional analysis to get the best results.
Here's what we'd typically recommend for your S-100 project:
- Share your current scanned images - We can evaluate the resolution and detail level to see what's workable from your existing JPGs
- Determine if physical scanning is needed - If the JPG resolution isn't sufficient for accurate layer-to-layer tracing, we can do professional high-resolution scanning at our facility
- Generate manufacturing files - Once we have quality image data, we create accurate Gerber files, CAD layouts, and can export to KiCAD or other formats your team prefers
- Bill of Materials - We'll also identify all components so you have a complete picture of the board
The key advantage of working with ScanCAD: Our team combines advanced imaging technology with experienced engineering analysis—we don't just scan and trace, we verify layer alignment, component placement accuracy, and ensure the final files match the original board's functionality.
I'd love to help bring your S-100 board back to life! To get started, here are a few next steps:
- Share your scanned images so we can assess the quality
- Tell us your timeline - do you have a specific deadline?
- Confirm your preferred ECAD format - KiCAD is no problem, though Gerber files will be included regardless
For detailed information about our services and to submit a formal RFQ with your specifics, please visit: https://scancad.net/service-bureau-request-a-quote/
Feel free to reach out with any other questions—I'm happy to discuss the technical details or provide more information about how we approach vintage board reverse engineering.
Looking forward to working with you!
Best Regards,
Derek
Derek V Trask
Service Bureau Manager
ScanCAD
International, Inc.
Voice: +1 303.697.8888 Fax: +1 303.697.8580
Email: derek...@scancad.com
Mail: P.O.Box 598, Morrison, CO 80465-0598 USA
Shipping: 26437 Conifer Road, Conifer, CO 80433 USA
.
Walt Perko
Dear Walt,
Thank you for your recent inquiry!
You will also be contacted by the ScanCAD Service Bureau with more information on the Services we offer as well as how to proceed with getting a Services quote, but we wanted to make sure you were aware we offer Systems in case it makes sense to bring PCB Reverse Engineering capability in-house.
ScanCAD has been offering PCB Re-Engineering systems to the marketplace since 1990 and our systems are the leading systems in the world. There are hundreds of systems in the field including systems at the US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, FAA, Boeing, Honeywell, Harris, Canadian DOD, US National Labs and many more. We offer the only system that can generate all the Gerber data and Drill data to re-manufacture a PCB to the same Form, Fit and Function as the original PCB which eliminates the need for costly and time consuming testing and re-certification. In addition, we also offer additional software modules which can take the data back to schematic or into a CAD package for re-design.
Please see below for a short summary of ScanCAD’s re-engineering capability.
ScanFAB
ScanFAB is a flatbed scanner based re-engineering system that has the capability of scanning PCB's, film, stencils, etc and producing the Gerber data and Drill files necessary to manufacture the PCB. It also contains a full Gerber editor that can be used to modify the Gerber data as necessary.
The high resolution scanner included with the system is calibrated with a NIST traceable glass plate ensuring an accurate image of the scanned film, stencil or PCB. The color scanning capability of the scanner and the powerful color separation software algorithms in the system permit the fast and easy color separation of images needed to vectorize multilayer PCBs. The system also includes some powerful raster filter, clean up and editing features to help massage the raster data prior to vectorization.
The full FAB product has all of the powerful vectorization functions that have made ScanCAD successful for the past 30+ years. The resulting Gerber X data file sets the quality standard in the industry and is the reason why ScanFAB is the most successful and widely used PCB re-engineering system in the world today.
Additional Capability
ScanCAD products are very flexible systems and it is easy to add additional capability by simply purchasing additional software modules. ScanCAD offers solutions for customers that would like to re-engineer all the way back to schematic and/or to get the re-engineering data all the way back into a PCB design package.
One of the products that you may be interested in is the ScanPLACE product. It can be easily added to the full ScanFAB system to give you the additional capability of extracting component centroid, rotation and reference designator information.
We also offer a product called ConvertPLUS ARE (automatic reverse engineering) that takes the ScanFAB and ScanPLACE data and can be used to add footprint and pin number information as well as extracting netlist information. This data can be input into your current CAD system or into our schematic generation software. We offer a software module that can be used to generate schematic information from the ConvertPLUS ARE data and output schematics in a searchable PDF format or in a variety of industry standard CAD formats.
It is also possible to add software for first article inspection of your artwork or even actual PCB’s. The artwork or PCB can be inspected versus Gerber data or they can even be compared to each other.
Video
Please select the button below to view a video demonstration of the ScanCAD PCB Re-Engineering System. The video is about 50 min long and consists of both a short PowerPoint Overview as well as a demo of the actual system/software. This video will provide you with a great introduction to the many powerful capabilities of the ScanCAD system.
Internet Demo
Please note that we have the capability to set up a "live" demo of any of our products for you or any of your colleagues via the Internet. This will allow you to see the actual product menus as we demonstrate the functionality of the software. The only requirements for an Internet demo are a high speed Internet connection and a phone line for the audio portion of the meeting.
We look forward to the possibility of Brainless joining our family of thousands of ScanCAD customers located in 50+ countries around the world...!!
Best regards,
Jeff Rupert
Director of Sales & Business Development
Main Office: +1 303-697-8888 Fax +1 303-697-8580
Direct Line: +1 734-994-8626 Cell +1 734-417-9549
Email: Jeff.Rupert @ scancad.com Skype: jrupert01
Shipping: 26437 Conifer Rd. Conifer, CO. 80433 USA