Double-sided PCB reverse engineering is the cheapest and fastest class of board recovery work we do, because both copper layers are visible from the outside and nothing has to be delaminated to see them. A palm-sized two-layer board with a modest parts count, quoted for Gerber files only, is usually a matter of a few working days. Price moves with board area, component count, how many part values have to be measured on the bench, and which deliverables you actually need.
What actually moves the price on a two-layer board
Nobody can quote a board from the words “double-sided.” Two boards of the same size can differ by a factor of several in engineering hours. These are the variables that matter, roughly in order of impact:
- Component count, not board size. A 100 x 80 mm board with 40 parts and a 100 x 80 mm board with 400 parts are different jobs. Every part needs a footprint, a designator, a value, and a net.
- Whether both sides are populated. SMT on top and bottom means two desoldering passes, two inspection passes, and more risk to the only sample you sent.
- How many values are unmarked. Unmarked 0402 ceramic caps and small SOT parts have to be measured or read from context. That is bench time, and it is the single most underestimated cost in schematic recovery.
- Copper density. A board with large ground pours and 6/6 mil traces under solder mask takes longer to trace cleanly than a loose layout with wide tracks.
- Deliverable set. Gerber and drill only is one price. Gerber plus schematic plus BOM plus netlist is another. Working assembled prototypes is another again.
- Firmware. If a programmed MCU has to be read out, that is a separate feasibility question with its own timeline and its own risk profile.
That is why we quote from photos and a short description rather than from a price list. If you want to see how the same factors scale on thicker stackups, our notes on multilayer board reverse engineering cost and lead time show what changes once inner layers enter the picture.
What we actually do to a double-sided board, in order
Intake and non-destructive capture
The board is photographed as received, both sides, with the reference designators and any hand rework noted. Then it goes on a flatbed scanner at high resolution — typically 1200 dpi or better — top and bottom. The bottom scan is mirrored and aligned to the top using plated through-holes as fiducials, since a via that passes through both layers is the most reliable alignment feature a two-layer board gives you.
Component removal and identification
Parts come off in mapped order. Markings are read under a stereo microscope, and unmarked passives are measured off-board with an LCR meter and a curve tracer where it matters. Diodes, small-signal transistors and voltage references get checked rather than guessed. Where a marking code is house-numbered or sanded, we work from package, pin count, and circuit function — and we tell you it was an inference rather than a reading.
Copper tracing and net building
With the board bare, the solder mask is either read through with backlighting or removed in the areas that need it. Traces are vectorized, pads are matched to real footprint dimensions, and drill sizes are measured, not assumed. Every net then gets checked with a meter on the original assembled board or on the stripped board, which is what catches the errors that pure image tracing misses: a track that dives under a pour, a via you read as a test point, two nets that look joined at 1200 dpi and are not.
Files, then verification
Output is a copper-accurate layout with drill data, a schematic drawn in readable functional blocks rather than a rat’s nest, and a BOM keyed to designators. We check the reconstructed layout back against the physical board dimensionally, and we sanity-check the design against normal rules — annular ring and spacing in the spirit of IPC-2221/IPC-2222, and trace width against expected current using IPC-2152 as the reference. If the reconstruction says a 10 mil trace carries 5 A, something was read wrong.
Optional: fabricate and prove it
If you want boards rather than files, the copies are fabricated, inspected to the IPC-A-600 and IPC-6012 class you specify, assembled, and powered up. Functional testing against the original sample is the only honest proof that the reverse engineering was right.
How long a double-sided board takes
Turnaround follows the deliverable, not the layer count. The table below is a realistic shape of the work for two-layer boards; the exact schedule comes back with your quote once we’ve seen photos.
| Deliverable | What you get | Relative lead time |
|---|---|---|
| Gerber + drill only | Copper-accurate 2-layer artwork, drill file, board outline, silkscreen | Shortest — a small, light board is typically a few working days |
| Gerber + BOM | Above, plus designator-keyed parts list with measured values | Adds bench measurement time; grows with parts count |
| Full package with schematic | Above, plus readable schematic and netlist, editable CAD project | Meaningfully longer — schematic drafting is the hour-heavy step |
| Files + verified prototypes | Above, plus fabricated, assembled, powered and tested boards | Files timeline plus fab, part sourcing, and assembly |
Two things stretch a schedule more than anything else: obsolete parts that have to be sourced or substituted, and a sample that arrives damaged. If the board is burned, cracked, or missing components, budget extra for the detective work.
What to send us for a quote
You do not need to ship anything to get a feasibility answer and a price. Send this and you’ll get a real quote instead of “please contact us”:
- Clear photos of both sides, laid on a dark, non-reflective background, whole board in frame, shot square-on rather than at an angle. Diffuse light, no flash glare on the solder mask.
- Board dimensions in mm, plus thickness if you can measure it, and finished copper weight if you know it.
- Close-ups of the main chip markings — the MCU, any custom or house-numbered part, and anything with a sanded top.
- One line on deliverables: Gerber only, or Gerber plus schematic plus BOM, or you want working boards at the end.
Working on a board like this?
Send the chip marking or two photos. You get feasibility, lead time and price within 24 hours, and the check costs nothing.
Get a free quote