To My Readers



If this is the first time you're visiting my blog, thank you. Whether you're interested or just curious to find out about PCB reverse engineering (PCB-RE), I hope you'll find something useful here.

This blog contains many snippets of the content in my books to provide a more detailed overall sampling for my would-be readers to be better informed before making the purchase. Of course, the book contains more photos and nice illustrations, as evidence from its cover page. Hopefully, this online trailer version will whet your appetite enough to want to get a copy for yourself.

Top Review

I started doing component level repair of electronics with (and without) schematics more than 40 years ago, which activity often involves reverse-engineering of printed circuit boards. Although over the years my technical interests have shifted into particle beam instrumentation, electron microscopy, and focused ion beam technology fields, till this day——and more often than not——PCB repairs have returned multiple multi-million-dollar accelerators, FIB, and SEM instruments back to operation, delivering great satisfaction and some profit.

Many of the methods described by Keng Tiong in great details are similar to the approaches I've developed, but some of the techniques are different, and as effective and useful as efficient and practical. Systematic approach and collection of useful information presented in his books are not only invaluable for a novice approaching PCB-level reverse engineering, but also very interesting reading and hands-on reference for professionals.

Focus on reverse engineering instead of original design provides unique perspective into workings of electronics, and in my opinion books by Keng Tiong (I've got all three of them) are must-read for anybody trying to develop good understanding of electronics——together with writings by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, Phil Hobbs, Jim Williams, Bob Pease, Howard Johnson and Martin Graham, Sam Goldwasser, and other world's top electronics experts.

Valery Ray
Particle Beam Systems Technologist

Q&As

Question:

I'm undergraduate student major in electronic in Korea. I have interest about reversing PCB. If I learn this book completely, how much can I achieve on a technical level? Can I apply this knowledge in my work right away? I want to become a skillful technician like you.

MinHyung Kang

Answer:

Glad to hear from you, and an aspiring student from Korea!

PCB reverse engineering is an interesting and rewarding skill an electronic engineer can pick up, but it's by no means easy to master, except for those who are determined and have a good foundation in electronic components and circuits (not necessary design, but will be invaluable if you have that knowledge as well).

My book provides the basic knowledge of electronic components and essential information on circuit schematics and topologies. It is the accumulation of my 15 years of experience in this field, and there's also a writeup of my own journey and learning. Reading my book alone will not make you a master. No book can do that. But it will teach you the steps and useful tools available to enrich your learning process, and to avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that may discourage you from gaining speed and progress in refining this skill. The advanced chapter also contain valuable gems especially if you use Microsoft Visio for technical drawing and illustrations. I have also provided free downloads to those who buy my book, information, templates and data which I've collected and created to help you get started.

I have emphasized in my book that every engineer will have to develop his or her personal style in reverse engineering a PCB. My style may not suit you completely but it gives you an idea how to go about creating your own, perhaps even better than mine. As far as I can honestly say, it'll take at least 3-5 years to attain a level of proficiency in this trade, depending on your abilities, the equipment and the software tool of your choice.

Lastly, never give up! That's the best advice I can give to anyone who wants to learn and master this art.


Question:

I am looking into reverse engineering for a couple of small projects that I was thinking of modifying in my spare time. I came across a post of yours, and someone else's who recommended using tinyCAD (and also Visio obviously). My issue is that I only have a small project to do, so would just like to know the features/benefits of your method, and the software you use. What are the vital software tools for reverse engineering a simple two-layered (front and back) PCB that you've found?

The reason I ask is that my main interest is in writing software, and I may consider taking up modding tinyCad, or writing my own package, comprising the necessary tools, possibly incorporating automatic track recognition, etc. to make this easier for everyone!

Thanks for your time

Andy

Answer:

Thanks for dropping by my blog and for your interest.

I advocate the manual method of PCB reverse engineering using different approach (or strategy) for different kinds of boards. I understand that most electronic hobbyists and even engineers or technicians do not have sophisticated equipment to help them in undertaking this challenging tasks, with possibly only their knowledge of electronics and experience working with PCBs as the starting point.

For a simply two-layer board, I assume you're referring to a through-hole type of PCB? I have worked on two-layered SMT boards which can be quite tough due to the pitch size and miniature parts that are so densely packed in a small area, it still took me 1-2 weeks to reverse engineered the board.

I use Microsoft Visio as the preferred software tool because I can create my own templates and smartshapes for drawing the layout and schematics in a very professional way. TinyCAD is actually quite primitive and does not support multiple-page schematics, but if it's for a simple PCB it should suffice.

When you said automatic track recognition, I suppose you want to scan the two sides of the PCB and let the software do the tracing of connections between the components? It may work on some boards but not on all boards since components and chemical compounds (such as adhesives and epoxy) may obscure the image, rendering the recognition and tracing difficult unless you pre-process the scan images.

Hope the above information helps.

2 comments:

  1. Gabochivon!May 20, 2021 at 6:32 AM

    Hello! I have a question. I create a Library but I cant see it on the Design.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ng Keng TiongMay 20, 2021 at 10:41 AM

      What do you mean by Library and Design? Are you using Visio or another drafting tool?

      In Visio, you draw the symbols (objects) and then collect them in Stencils, which can be opened and displayed at the side of a workspace. You then drag the symbol you want from the Stencil into the worksheet you are working on.

      Delete

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