Power plane questions

On 2008/May/01 12:49 PM, in article fvcsc1$tn1$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de, "KR"

<k.rusnok@maccor.com> wrote:

For

now, if it does show up when not needed, exiting & restarting EAGLE

hides the  fill.

Hello KR,

If you want to "hide" the fill of a polygon then you need to use the ripup

command.  This actually removes the copper pour and just leaves the outline.

There is no way to hide just polygons (I have made this suggestion before,

maybe in the next version).

Further to this, there is an option to process polygons with the ratsnest.

If you turn this off then the polygons won't be poured when you run the

ratsnest.  Of course, they won't be connected either so the remaining

airwires will be counted incorrectly.  But this is handy in some situations.

Cheers,

James.

--

James Morrison

http://www.eagletoolkit.com

Online EAGLE Dealer for US and Canada

EAGLE Design Expert

EAGLE Enterprise Toolkit

KR wrote:

Question 1:

There are now a few rectangular areas inside those polygons where I'd

like have neither plane plated-- "voids" in those areas as it were. How is

that done?  Not sure where that kind of editing is covered in

the manual, or where to find an example.

There was a recent question about this same topic, by someone who wanted a

single void area in the middle of a polygon.  I suggested that two

overlapping polygons can be used to leave a void area between them (think

two U-shaped polygons with the legs facing and overlapping each other).

Someone else suggested a single polygon could be drawn, although it seems to

be tricky to do without getting DRC complaints.

--

Bert Menkveld

James,

Thanks for your feedback.

I understand what you are saying with ripup & ratsnest commands.  Before

putting in the full power planes, I tried some small, non overlapping,

test power plane polygons. Individually, the ripup & ratsnest commands

worked correctly.  The code apparently gets confused with overlapping

polygons.  Exiting and restarting EAGLE is the only way I found to

remove BOTH fills.  As previously mentioned, while a little

inconvenient, it's not a big deal, as I don't need to clear the fills

very often.

Right now, creating voids inside the existing polygons and not being

able to verify the thermal connections are the greater concerns.

Ken

James Morrison wrote:

On 2008/May/01 12:49 PM, in article fvcsc1$tn1$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de, "KR"

<k.rusnok@maccor.com> wrote:

 

For

now, if it does show up when not needed, exiting & restarting EAGLE

hides the  fill.

 

Hello KR,

 

If you want to "hide" the fill of a polygon then you need to use the ripup

command.  This actually removes the copper pour and just leaves the outline.

There is no way to hide just polygons (I have made this suggestion before,

maybe in the next version).

 

Further to this, there is an option to process polygons with the ratsnest.

If you turn this off then the polygons won't be poured when you run the

ratsnest.  Of course, they won't be connected either so the remaining

airwires will be counted incorrectly.  But this is handy in some situations.

 

Cheers,

 

James.

 

Bert,

Thanks for your comments.

Drawing new polygons around the void area:

That's sort of what I thought would be a good workaround.  Yes, it's

more work and not as intuitive, but the bottom line for all of us is

getting the layout DONE!

Perhaps on a future release, polygons will have a "fill or void" option.

Ken

Bert Menkveld wrote:

KR wrote:

Question 1:

There are now a few rectangular areas inside those polygons where I'd

like have neither plane plated-- "voids" in those areas as it were. How is

that done?  Not sure where that kind of editing is covered in

the manual, or where to find an example.

 

There was a recent question about this same topic, by someone who wanted a

single void area in the middle of a polygon.  I suggested that two

overlapping polygons can be used to leave a void area between them (think

two U-shaped polygons with the legs facing and overlapping each other).

Someone else suggested a single polygon could be drawn, although it seems to

be tricky to do without getting DRC complaints.

 

--

Bert Menkveld

 

 

It is quite easy to create a void in a polygon, I do it often

Use the SPLIT command to change the polygon outline, drive it to the

void area you want, use it to draw the perimeter of the void, nearly

until you close it (one grid pitch before).Then make it go back to the

edge of the board. After that change to a smaller grid and move one edge

of the remaining void channel so that it nearly overlaps the other, and

it's done. Don't overlap exactly the segments, the polygon would be illegal.

With the same method you can create any kind of void in a polygon, a

wire-like void allows power / signal ground separation with only a small

bridge for connection

Christian Magne

KR wrote:

Bert,

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

Drawing new polygons around the void area:

That's sort of what I thought would be a good workaround.  Yes, it's

more work and not as intuitive, but the bottom line for all of us is

getting the layout DONE!

 

Perhaps on a future release, polygons will have a "fill or void" option.

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

Bert Menkveld wrote:

KR wrote:

Question 1:

There are now a few rectangular areas inside those polygons where I'd

like have neither plane plated-- "voids" in those areas as it were.

How is that done?  Not sure where that kind of editing is covered in

the manual, or where to find an example.

 

There was a recent question about this same topic, by someone who

wanted a single void area in the middle of a polygon.  I suggested

that two overlapping polygons can be used to leave a void area between

them (think two U-shaped polygons with the legs facing and overlapping

each other). Someone else suggested a single polygon could be drawn,

although it seems to be tricky to do without getting DRC complaints.

 

--

Bert Menkveld