Re: [EE] Reverse engineering a product

Maybe I didn't say it clearly enough, but no, the key is to get it back 
to where it is now so that the design doesn't change.
They have lots of these, but will run out. I didn't get into all the 
details, but the company who has been making it has raised the price 
significantly, and they're looking for move it to the US.
I know of the people here and trying to help them out.
At this point, they found a company who specializes in this, and would 
get back all the manufacturing files (gerbers & BOM).

-Neil


On 7/26/2025 3:38 AM, Clint Jay wrote:
> They're trying to avoid telling a major client the design has changed (it
> has, it's been RE)
> Their design house has refused to handover the files
> All they have is a sample.
>
> Would not poke with a long stick, sounds dodgy as hell and like a huge
> liability trap
>
>
>
> On Sat, 26 Jul 2025 at 06:50, Neil <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm in discussion with an entity who wants a couple products reverse
>> engineered. It's actually their products (and have their brand), but
>> they've parted ways with their CEM/design house who now doesn't want to
>> hand over the design & assembly files. And they need to be the same as
>> they are currently, else it may re-trigger a re-evaluation/approval by
>> one of their major clients. What they need is gerbers, BOM, and assembly
>> files so they can continue to make the product.
>>
>> For one product, I have a schematic, list of component part numbers (not
>> calling it a BOM as there are no quantities), copper layout for all
>> layers, and a sample assembled product.
>> For the other product, all I have is the copper layout for all layers,
>> and a sample assembled product.
>>
>> I'm trying to figure out what methods are available to reverse-engineer
>> these products back to gerber and assembly files so they can continue to
>> have it made by another CEM.
>> For one product I can pretty much re-design the board from the
>> schematic, but not sure how to figure out the component parameters (not
>> just values like 0.1uf, but also tolerances, thermal characteristics,
>> etc). One is a very tight board with lots of mosfets so thermal design
>> will be important.
>> For the other product, I can come up with a non-valued schematic (so I
>> know where say capacitors and resistors would be), but won't easily know
>> what the values are. Can all of these be measured?
>>
>> The products may be able to be re-engineered, but I expect re-interating
>> prototypes to finalize the design would be somewhat different and would
>> take longer.
>>
>> Any suggestions here? Are they any design houses that specialize in this?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> -Neil.
>>
>> --
>> http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
>> View/change your membership options at
>> https://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
>>
>