Copper Pours + GND?

[DerekG]

Yes, it is always best to lay down all the other nets before the copper ground (or any other) pour.

To do this, you deselect the ground net before running the auto-router. All the ground rats lines will now disappear.

Once all the other nets have been routed (by the auto-router then cleaned up manually by yourself), re-active the ground net (FILE, RENEW DESIGN FROM SCHEMATIC).

All the ground rats lines will now reappear.

Now lay down your polygon plane & choose to connect it to the ground net.

Once you pour it, all the ground rats lines should disappear (as long as the ground pour is able to be connected within your design rules).

I have found this to be the fastest method that produces good results.

I used to lay down my power & earth nets first, but not anymore.

ADDED: Using the above method means that you don't have to worry about any other tracks cutting up your earth plane during auto-routing. You have in effect "reversed the procedure".

[Simon]

Derek, your missing my point, I need the copper pours to carry large currents, they need to be there and they need to be where i want them not where diptrace has room for them later. If I need large supply traces etc it is far easier to do it as a net connected copper pour than to have to manually do the pour with thick traces and the headache that becomes. I just draw the specific shape I need to cover the area I need and include the component pads i need to. Copper pours are not just for decoration, they can be part of the layout.

[DerekG]

No worries.

Also remember you can open up the solder mask so that when the board is wave soldered, the solder will add to the thickness of the tracks, thereby adding to the current carrying capabilities.

On the top side of the board, you can also open up the solder mask & the paste stencil (in a grid pattern) to lay down extra solder paste over the tracks / copper pours. I often do this to add current carrying capabilities & for extra heat dissipation. An example (generated in DipTrace) is attached. The red layer shows the exposed copper (no solder mask) & the yellow/gold shows the solder paste "squares" that will be laid down on the top layer.

2oz & 3oz copper is also the go for extra current capabilities.

If you feel that you would like to try another CAD package, take a look at Proteus - the developers are in the UK just like you

I like & use it a lot.

I also use Altium, but it comes in 3rd as far as ease of use. I also dislike Altium the Company as I'm sure you have also read in some of my other posts.