EagelCAD copper fill

EagleCAD manual : page 149

Defining a Copper Plane with POLYGON

EAGLE can fill regions of a board with copper. Simply draw the borders of the

area with the POLYGON command. The polygon is displayed as a dotted line

in the outline mode. You give the polygon a signal name, using NAME

followed by a click onto the border of the polygon. Then all the objects that

carry this signal are connected to the polygon. Both pads and, optionally, vias

(as specified in the Design Rules) are joined to the copper plane through

Thermal symbols. Elements not carrying this signal are kept at a specified

distance.

RATSNEST calculates and displays the surface area of all polygons in the

layout. If you call RATSNEST with a signalname, for example

RATSNEST GND ;

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6 From Schematic to Finished Board

only the GND polygon(s) will be calculated. All other polygons in the layout

will remain unchanged in the outline mode.

RIPUP, followed by a click on the polygon border, makes the content invisible

again. If there are several polygons in your layout, and you want to have

them displayed in the outline mode again, type in the command line:

RIPUP @ ;

To have all polygons of a particular signal switched to outline mode, specify

the signal name, like

RIPUP @ GND ;

More information about the syntax can be found in the help about RIPUP.

The content of the polygon is not saved in the board file. When you first load

the file, you will only see the dotted outline of the polygon. It is only

calculated and displayed again by RATSNEST.

Various options can be changed via the parameter toolbar, either as the

polygon is being drawn or, with CHANGE, at a later stage..