Clone vintage PCB to new PCB

[sfeinsmith]

KiCAD is an excellent software for hobby. I am still learning to use KiCAD and still not become a master at handling the program yet.

My primary question is about a feature that may help KiCAD users to reverse engineered the vintage PCB such as S-100 boards from the 1970s and 1980s. In the past, people who worked on PCB lacked a computer system. They used a mask and tapes (analog method) to create the PCB. Nowadays, we use digital procedures to make the board from the old one.

KiCAD has a missing critical feature that will allow it to scan the old PCB and procedure into the new PCB with original traces and component positions. This kind of software will be tremendously worthwhile for KICAD users. I discovered there was a software called Altium. Unfortunately, it has exorbitant costs and is not affordable for the hobbyist level. That is frustrating for the users who wish to work on vintage boards, even if they can modify to correct mistakes and improve by minor modifications.

I hope the developers of KiCAD can create new software to add to the current program.

Thank you,
Steven

[jmk]

You can place a correctly sized photo as a bitmap in the PCB editor then use that as a guide to recreate the original board over the top.

[marera]

check out this video, it gives a good idea of how to use KiCad for what you attempt to do.
KiCad and bitmap