RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

How to Convert PCB to Schematic Diagram

PCB to Schematic Diagram

Esimate Cost converting PCB to shematic diagram, Pls send email

to sales@raypcb.com Now

PCB

Schematic Diagram

Here are step by step introductions on how to convert PCB to

schematic diagram and schematic diagram to PCB file.

Step 1: The engineer analyzes the PCB layout through the circuit

board and then divides the circuit into several units.

Step 2: Prepare two computers, one of which is used to view PCB

documents, and the other is used to draw circuit diagrams.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

Step 3: Retrieve the components in the unit circuit and do

layout according to our work experience.

Step 4: Highlight the PCB document on the computer and then link it

to another computer. After the link is completed, the network needs to

be deleted.

Step 5: Repeat the first two steps until all files in the PCB document are

deleted. After that, the engineer can optimize the schematic.

Request PCB to Schematic Quote

Contact Us

How to draw circuit diagrams according to real products?

When repairing electronic products, engineers often encounter

problems finding the drawings, especially for legacy products; the

circuit diagrams may no longer exist. In this case, to analyze and

improve the product, it is necessary to draw a circuit diagram based on

the actual product. The skills of this operation are as follows:

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

1.Use the components with a large volume and many pins as a

reference for drawing. Use this as a reference to start drawing, which

can ensure accuracy andimprove work efficiency.

2. When an engineer is printing a circuit board, be sure to label

the components and pay attention to the regularity of the serial

number. They cannot randomize or remember which one to write.

Write and arrange according to a particularorder and rules to

ensure that it is not easy to make mistakes in the drawing

process.

3. Without marking the serial number of the components, if the

engineer wants to improve analysis and proofreading, you have to

number the components yourself. It is not annoying;otherwise,

the later work will be more difficult. Important components must

be marked so that they will not be missed in the process of

drawing the schematic.

4. Correctly distinguish the various wires on the circuit board.

There are various wires on the circuit board,such as power wire,

ground wire, signal wire, These wires have different layout

positions, rules, and functions. When drawing a schematic, you

must figure it out.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

5. When drawing a sketch, be sure to use transparent tracing

paper and mark it with colorful pens. It is convenient to identify,

modify,and analyze the circuit to reduce errors. In addition, when

drawing a circuit diagram, try to find a similar circuit diagram for

reference so that there is a multiplier effect, which is very worthy

of reference for newcomers.

It can be seen from the introduction that the process of

converting a PCB to a schematic diagram is not difficult.

Still, many novices lack experience or have not operated before,

so they will find it challenging to convert PCB into schematics.

Protel+PCB Convert Into Schematic – Detailed Steps

Full raiders from Protel PCB to SCH

This article takes the 4 Port Serial Interface, provided by Protel 99Se, as

an example. Open the PCB diagram, select the menu File-Export, export

the Protel network table; the file name is abbreviated as Serial.Net. 2.

Start the program Omninet for Windows, select Protel as the input file

type (Type). In Input File 1, use Browse to specify the location of

the netlist file. Select EDIF as the output file type (Type). In Output File

1, specify the file name and path of the output file. Then click Run (the

running icon).

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

An output window pops up. Click Accept Data. Click “OK” when

finished, and then click “Done” to close the output window. Exit

Omninet for Windows.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

3.Start the E-Studio software and open the EDIF file generated in

step 2

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

1. Right-click the Serial.EDF file and select Generate

Schematics:

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

The system pops up a window

Click OK.

5. Select menu File-Save As, and select ORCAD as the output

format.Select Design v9.10 in the Save As drop-down menu.

Click Save to save. Click “OK” in the pop-up window to end.

The generated schematic can already be opened in ORCAD. The

drawings are a bit big! The picture below is just its parts.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

There is no hierarchy concept in drawings. No matter how

complicated the circuit is, there is only one plane graph.

6. Convert ORCAD schematics into Protel schematics.

Because the output format of E-Studio does not have Protel, it

must be converted separately. Protel 2004 is recommended for a

better conversion effect.

Start DXP 2004, select menu File-Open, select Orcad Capture

Design(*.DSN) for the file type.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

Click “Open.” An error occurred during the opening process, but

the file conversion was successful. Click OK to close the error

window.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

Double-click 1.SchDoc, the file can be opened normally. The

picture below is part of the file:

Select the menu File-Save AS, select Schematic Binary 4.0 (*.Sch).

This is the format that 99Se can open.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

At this point, the conversion of Protel 99Se PCB to the schematic

diagram is complete.

It should be noted that this conversion may be useful for those

with fewer components on the PCB. If there are many

components on the PCB, the converted schematic diagram will

be very large, and the network connection is extremely

complicated. At this point, it is still difficult to interpret due to the

lack of hierarchy or main thread. It is also not to be divided into

multiple sub-graphs, and all networks are all connected.

In addition, the unconnected pins in the PCB no longer exist on

the converted schematic. As shown in the example below:

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

Another disadvantage is that the footprint information of the

component is gone and must be filled in again.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

Although there is no footprint information, the network name is

kept intact. After network comparison, no missing network is

found.

The electronic engineering industry is so vast and rapidly growing

that technology is evolving day by day. There are currently

numerous open-source software or Electronic Design Automation

(EDA) or CAD software available to help designers design

their electronic circuits and lay the PCB design along with tools

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

available in the software to generate files that will be used directly

by PCB fabrication house.

Among these software, the most popular one is ALTIUM designer.

The Altium Designer 18 will be discussed in this article. The Altium

Designer gives you a complete platform where you can turn your

imagination and ideas into reality.

We will discuss three main features of the Altium designer in

the following sections: 1- Schematic Capture, 2- PCB layout, and 3-

Fabrication Output Files.

The first step in turning the idea into reality is to do manual

design or hand sketch on paper. This gives a clear understanding

to the designer to know what he is looking for. Now the design on

paper will be transferred to a CAD software like Altium. This

process is called schematic capture. Having knowledge of the

software, an expert will professionally capture the design in the

schematic window.

File >> New >> Project >> PCB Project. Then right click on the

project to “Add New to Project” >> Schematic

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

You can save your PCB project and schematic file with *.PrjPcb

and *.sch extensions respectively. After saving, you can now start

the placement of components from the library on the rightmost

menu. You can add the manufacturer libraries available directly

from the Altium website.

Just download the library zip folder. Unzip it and copy-paste the

folders

inside C:\Users\Public\Documents\Altium\AD18\Library\ this

folder. Now find the component in the library and place them on

the schematic one by one. Ctrl+R will rotate the component. Press

and hold the right click to “Pan,” and the Left Ctrl + Right-click will

zoom in and out.

The top menu shows the wire, GND, library, place port, place text,

move, drag, and select options.

The left panel shows the project files like schematic Diagram, PCB,

Gerber, BOM, and other files are shown as sub-folder files inside

the main project. Any changes made in the schematic will mark

with a red symbol on the left panel schematic file. After you save

changes, the red mark will disappear.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

Now you interconnect the components using the wire or bus

option. GND, VCC, and other signal ports can be placed

accordingly. This will correspondingly generate “NETs.” The NET is

the interconnection between two leads/legs of components. The

net name shows the details of its connection. You can go

to tools >> preference >> Schematics >> General, where you can

edit and change the properties of the existing schematic

sheet, like snap and visible grids.

You can also annotate your components designators by Tools >>

Annotation >> Annotate Schematics. You can change the sheet

size by Right Panel Properties >>Page Options >> Formatting and

Size >> Custom, and change the values of width and height

according to needs, and change orientation to landscape or

portrait. You can also switch between the units of measurement

mm and mils.

The schematic capture is the basis of the PCB layout coming in the

next step. Hence schematic capture should be completed free of

errors. There should not be any error in the schematic design, and

it must be cross-checked by another verification engineer to

evaluate for any faults in the design. Otherwise, the wrong

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

schematic will be translated into PCB and cause PCB not

to function as expected.

Project >> Project options >> Class generation >> Uncheck

generate rooms and uncheck electronic component classes. This

is done to avoid any unwanted errors in PCB.

Now go to the schematic window. Design >> Update PCB

Document. This will open the “Engineering Change Order” window.

Now click on validate changes and then click execute changes.

This will generate a green color tick sign on the right of the

window. This shows everything is OK. Now go to the PCB

document, and on the bottom right, your components will be

available.

Drag and drop the components one by one onto the board. Now

to reshape the board and go to View >> Board Planning Mode 1.

You will see that the board color turns to green from black. Now

go to Design >> Redefine Board Shape. Now the green color plus

pointer will appear. You can now redefine the boundaries of your

PCB board according to your needs. Remember to connect the

last final edge with your starting edge/corner to complete the

board shape. You can also use the edit board shape or modify

board shape to change the board’s shape or style.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

Now go to Design >> Rules. You can edit the PCB layout design

constraints according to the PCB fabrication house capacity and

limits and your design requirements. This is very important

because while laying out PCB design (e.g., routing, placement of

components, holes, vias, and other inner and outer layers), if

there are violating constraints, the Altium will give you an error

and will not proceed.

The main design rule constraints/clearances that need to be taken

care of are track to track, track to SMD or THT pad, track to via,

track to copper, SMD pad to SMD pad, SMD to THT pad, SMD pad

to via, SMD pad to copper, THT pad to THT pad, THT pad to via,

THT pad to copper, via to via, via to copper, and copper to copper

clearances. Moreover, the maximum and minimum routing

width and preferred values need to be defined. Solder masks and

power planes with power pads constraints are also needed to be

defined in design rules. Likewise, maximum and minimum via

diameter and preferred values can be set in “Routing via Style.”

Now go to Design >> Layer Stackup Manager. This will show you

the layer stack-up details, such as thickness, material, layer

type, and name.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

Now go to Route >> Auto Route >> All >> Route All. This will help

you automatically route your components placed on the PCB

according to the rules defined in the design rule wizard. The

auto-routing will save ample time and effort but may not be a

good choice when special care is needed for special ICs

for EMI and other thermal considerations.

After everything is complete, go to Tools >> Design Rule Check

(DRC). Running the DRC is important as it will identify any

violations of design rules.

For NC (Numeric Controlled) Drill File, checkmark the “Generate

Separate NC Drill Files for plated and non-plated through holes”

and keep all other parameters the same and then click OK.

Now that open source hardware is prevalent, many open-source

hardware manufacturers will make circuit diagrams public. For

example, for Arduino, we can download the Arduino Eagle file on

the official website. Still, many people don’t know the Eagle

drawing software very well. So you need to convert the file into a

format that can be opened with Altium Designer.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

1. Download the ULP file to be used on the official website of

Eagle circuit diagram drawing software.

2. Put the file in the ULP folder under the Eagle installation

directory, as shown in the figure:

1.

4. Click the ULP command in the command toolbar.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

5.Select “export-protelpcb.ulp” in the directory of the pop-up

dialog box and click to open.

6.Choose a suitable path and save the converted PCBfile.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

7.After clicking save, the following dialog box will pop up in the

Eagle software, click OK.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

8.At this point, the conversion of the PCB diagram has been

completed. Double-click the saved file to open the file with Altium

Designer, as shown in the figure:

8 Ways to Restore PCB Schematic Diagram According

to PCB Board

When encountering some small objects, or

encountering electronic products without drawings, you need to

draw the circuit schematic according to the real thing.

There are the following points:

1. Select electronic components such as integrated circuits,

transformers, transistors, etc., which are bulky, have many pins

and play a major role in the circuit, and then draw from the

selected reference pins to reduce errors.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

2. If the component number (such as VD870, R330, C466, etc.) is

marked on the PCB, since these serial numbers have specific rules,

the components with the same Arabic numerals after the English

alphabet are the same functional unit, so the drawing should be

used. Correctly distinguishing the components of the same

functional unit is the basis of the drawing pcb layout.

3. If the serial number of the component is not marked on the

printed board, it is best to number the component yourself for

easy analysis and proofreading. When designing printed circuit

board components, the manufacturer generally arranges the

components of the same functional unit relatively in order to

minimize the copper foil routing. Once you find a device that has a

core function, you can find other components of the same

functional unit as long as you can find it.

4. Correctly distinguish the ground, power and signal lines of the

printed board. Taking the power supply circuit as an example, the

negative terminal of the rectifier connected to the secondary of

the power transformer is the positive pole of the power supply,

and a large-capacity filter capacitor is generally connected

between the ground and the ground, and the capacitor casing has

a polarity mark.

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/

 RAYMING PCB & ASSEMBLY

The power and ground lines can also be found from the

three-terminal regulator pins. When the factory is wiring the

printed circuit board, in order to prevent self-excitation and

anti-interference, the ground copper foil is generally set to the

widest (high-frequency circuits often have large-area grounded

copper foil), the power supply copper foil is second, and the signal

copper is used.

The foil is the narrowest. In addition, in electronic products with

both analog and digital circuits, the printed boards often separate

their ground lines to form an independent grounding grid, which

can also be used as a basis for identification and judgment.

https://www.raypcb.com/8-ways-to-restore-pcb-schematic-diagram-according-to-pcb-board/

PCB Manufacturing & Assembly Services https://www.raypcb.com/