Homebrew PCBs

I'm not sure how you got "hung up" out of my comments.  Maybe you got
confused - I'm not the OP. 

However, I wouldn't focus on using fat traces for avoiding copper
removal.  I think that would be the hard way to do it.  I much prefer
to create a ground polygon that encompasses the entire board and then
let the layout software figure out the actual shape.  In eagle, I put
a ground poly on both the top and bottom with isolate set to 24 mil. 
Then I route the board.  The only places eagle will take copper is for
isolation and "orphaned" copper areas (not connected to ground).
Look at http://www.geocities.com/pcbs4less/boardtop.gif for an example
of this. Red and green are copper areas/traces.  As you can see, this
design keeps much more copper than one using just fat traces.  It
seems much cleaner and makes for a quieter board, noise-wise, because
of the extensive ground areas.

Besides, thin traces just look more professional to me  :)

Phil

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Mycroft2152 <mycroft2152@y...>
wrote:
> Hi Phil,
> 
> Don't be hung up on very thin traces. Having wide
> traces means less copper to etch away. Only use the
> thinnest to get the circuit laid out.
> 
> You my want to post a photo of the pcb or else the
> layout for comments.
> 
> Myc