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
\ufffdMy TV Typewriter project is getting close to the finish line so I\ufffdm working on lining up a new project.
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What I\ufffdd like to do next is a replica of the SOL terminal prototype that appeared in Popular Electronics in July of 1976.\ufffd I have the artwork for it here:
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http://www.sol20.org/articles/img/PE_SOL.pdf
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As you can see, the quality of the scan is pretty lousy.\ufffd There\ufffds no other sources for this that I\ufffdve found.\ufffd 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).\ufffd I\ufffdm wondering if there\ufffds a better technique than endlessly using the rectangle tool to remake the traces and remote the \ufffdnoise\ufffd.
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I expect there will be other challenges, being that this is a double sided board.\ufffd There *isn\ufffdt* a way for a home PCB maker to do thru-plate without third party help is there?\ufffd I don\ufffdt want to send this off to a board house because of the likely cost but also because that\ufffds not how a hobbyist would have done it back then.\ufffd Since this artwork was sent to those that wrote in for it, I\ufffdm 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.
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I also don\ufffdt want to completely redraw the thing.\ufffd For me, that would lose the spiritual connection to the original artwork.\ufffd I\ufffdm trying to leave as much of it as original as possible.
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Anyway, thoughts and suggestions here are most welcome.
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