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From your description of using the rectangle tool for remaking the traces, it sounds like you are using raster draw tools. If this is so, have you tried to use the vector draw tools in Photoshop? I don't use Photoshop, my preference is for PaintShop Pro, but I know that Photoshop has vector drawing tools similar to those in PaintShop. With the vector tools, you can draw the traces in continuous lines or segments that join together. Curves can be made with tool specially made of them, and joined to the straight segments. Objects like the IC pads are made by combining rectangles and circles, and filling them in. Objects like pads and IC layouts can be saved as objects, and reused.This is much less tedious than trying to draw overlapping rectangles. The down side to vector tools is that there is a bit of a learning curve, but I believe that it is worth it.
If you want to discuss the vector tools and techniques in detail, send me a private message at: hrconsult at cox.net
Harvey
My TV Typewriter project is getting close to the finish line so I’m working on lining up a new project.
What I’d like to do next is a replica of the SOL terminal prototype that appeared in Popular Electronics in July of 1976. I have the artwork for it here:
http://www.sol20.org/articles/img/PE_SOL.pdf
As you can see, the quality of the scan is pretty lousy. There’s no other sources for this that I’ve found. I can clean it up manually with Photoshop or Illustrator (and in fact have started on the former) but that will take hours (months, probably). I’m wondering if there’s a better technique than endlessly using the rectangle tool to remake the traces and remote the ‘noise’.
I expect there will be other challenges, being that this is a double sided board. There ∗isn’t∗ a way for a home PCB maker to do thru-plate without third party help is there? I don’t want to send this off to a board house because of the likely cost but also because that’s not how a hobbyist would have done it back then. Since this artwork was sent to those that wrote in for it, I’m assuming they just created it as a two sided board the usual way and then soldered in the connections between sides via ICs, jumper wire, etc.
I also don’t want to completely redraw the thing. For me, that would lose the spiritual connection to the original artwork. I’m trying to leave as much of it as original as possible.
Anyway, thoughts and suggestions here are most welcome.