PCB enclosure from a photo

Board outline, mounting holes and port positions, without callipers.

Designing a case around a board you did not design means measuring it first: overall outline, mounting hole positions, connector heights and where every port lands on the edge. It is an hour of calliper work before any actual design starts, and a single transposed number means a case that does not close.

There is a dedicated mode for this. Tick "This is a PCB" and the pipeline reconstructs the board outline as a proper rectangle with real corner radii rather than a wobbly traced approximation, and finds mounting holes as true circles. You get geometry you can build an enclosure around, at the scale you set.

Who this is for

  • Hardware startups enclosing off-the-shelf boards

    A Pi, a dev board or a bought-in module needs a case, and its drawing either does not exist or does not match the revision you hold.

  • Anyone designing around a board they did not make

    The board in your hand is the authoritative drawing of itself.

  • Makers building instrument and project cases

    Port cutouts have to line up, and a photo places them faster than callipers do.

Try it on your own image

Converting is free and unlimited, no account needed, and no charge for retuning until the result is right. You only pay when you download.

Output format

What are you converting?

Redraws rather than measures, so detail can shift. Check the preview.

Drop an image here or click to browse

PNG, JPG, or WebP · Max 10 MB

How to do it

  1. 1

    Photograph the board square-on

    Directly overhead on a contrasting background, evenly lit. Boards are shiny and often dark, so diffuse light and avoid glare across the silkscreen.

  2. 2

    Tick the PCB option

    This switches on board-outline reconstruction. The outline comes back as a true rectangle with real corner radii, and mounting holes as real circles you can dimension.

  3. 3

    Calibrate on the longest board edge

    Measure the board's long edge with callipers and use that. Mounting hole positions inherit the scale, so calibrating on the longest available dimension keeps positional error smallest where it matters.

  4. 4

    Build the enclosure around it in CAD

    Import the DXF as a sketch and use it as the reference for standoffs, port cutouts and clearances. Add your own clearance around the outline. A case cut to the exact board dimension does not fit a real board.

Which format to take

DXF, since this is headed for CAD. The board outline and holes come through as real rectangles and circles, which is what makes them constrainable when you build the enclosure around them.

Image to DXFImage to SVG

What to check before you rely on it

  • A photo sees the top face. Component heights, connector depths and anything underneath are not in it, measure those.
  • Port positions come from the board edge as photographed; verify cutout sizes against the actual connectors before cutting anything.
  • Add clearance yourself. Board outline plus zero is not an enclosure that a real board goes into.
  • Shiny or very dark boards with glare are the hardest case for background removal, diffuse the light.
  • This gives you the reference geometry, not a finished enclosure. Standoffs, snap fits, draft and wall thickness remain design work.

Common questions

Does it find mounting holes automatically?
In PCB mode it detects circular features and exports them as true CIRCLE entities, so you can dimension and pattern from them. Check them against the board before committing. Glare and silkscreen can both confuse detection.
Will it design the enclosure for me?
No. It gives you accurate reference geometry, outline, holes, port positions, which is the measuring work. Walls, standoffs, clearances, draft and snap fits are design decisions that belong to you.
How much clearance should I add?
That depends on your process and tolerances rather than on anything in the photo, so the tool deliberately does not guess. Start from your manufacturing tolerance plus the board's own dimensional tolerance, and verify with a printed test piece.

Read next

Board outline, mounting holes and port positions, without callipers.

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