John,
Yes you can. EAGLE will allow you to do layouts without a schematic.
It is a little more involved when you don't have a schematic, but easy
anyway. ( shame on you, you should have a schematic and EAGLE will check
the board for you and dozens of ways... ! )
( I just did my first board without and schematic and it works fine )
Anyway, you must NAME each pad that needs to be connected to GND with
the same name GND (for example)
As you name them you should notice a thin ratsnest wire appear between
each pad that has the same name. These are called air-wires. You can
use them to manually route the connection or auto-route. Anyway, all
these pads that have the same name will be connected to the polygon, and
EAGLE make thermals for you. When you are finished with the layout,
place a polygon (not rectangle) on over the entire board and the ( I
forgot the most important things ! ) press the RATSNEST and it will fill
the entire polygon. Then NAME the POLYGON with the NAME command and
enter the NET name for Ground (normally GND) and it will ask if you want
to connect it to GND click OK and it will connect all Grounds to the
polygon ...
Hans W
crankorgan wrote:
> Hi Hans,
> Can I put the ground plan in after I do all the other
> traces, or should I do a section at a time? I am drawing the
> board direct. It is not coming from a diagram made with
> Eagle.
>
> John
>
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@y..., Hans Wedemeyer <hans@c...> wrote:
> > John,
> > With EAGLE I add a polygon and it fills all available space. The
> next
> > step is to give the polygon a NET name, and naming it GND will
> connect
> > it to Ground... ( I assume your are using GND as the ground net of
> > course)
> > This is what the end result looks like http://hans-w.com/rpm_pcb.jpg
>
> > Hans W
> >
> > crankorgan wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Gang,
> > > I was wondering if any of you have done a ground plane
> > > on a board. When I mill boards I can use the surrounding copper
> > > as a ground. With Eagle and other programs I can't find a way to
> > > keep the extra copper around the traces. I know I can use the
> other
> > > side of the board for a ground. I really wanted to stick with a
> > > single sided boards.
> > > Regards
> > >
> > > John
> > >
> > >
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