Eagle PCB free won't show ground plane

[Leolabs]

After save the board file,and open again,the plane is gone.

What only left is the polygon,and have to 'ratsnest' again to make the plane visible.

Wonder is it the limitation of Eagle PCB free version

 

[Lazybutt]

I guess this is normal as it is the same with me.... just refresh with "rastnest" and it comes back.

What is the problem (appart from having to click once) ?

I personnaly find it very useful at it shows all polygons in "virgin" state so you can make a lot of checks on polygons shape, and edit other traces without bothering with the ground plane covering evrything

 

[pinkmouse]

It's a feature, not a bug.

 

[Leolabs]

Thanks for replies.

Just wondering if I send the board file to the PCB manufacturer(who support Eagle file),do they know that it's a plane??

 

[Nisbeth]

Shouldn't matter as they most likely convert the eagle files to Gerbers for the actual manufacturing.

/U.

 

[Rescue Toaster]

When you (or the boardhouse) generates gerbers, the ground planes will be filled in, even if you have not yet done a ratsnest since loading the file.

As others said, it is a feature so that you can ripup a plane if you want to see something more clearly.

 

[digits]

Yes, you need to get in the habit of clicking ratsnest regularly if you use planes.
It takes a bit of getting used to, to see the outline of a plane, use the ripup tool somewhere in the centre of the plane, to remove a plane, use delete tool on borders.

Use the rank command on planes to assign diffirent ranks, when you have planes next to each other, tho lower rank plane will yield to the higher and isolate itself according to the distance set under isolate. Use thermals off until everything is nice and connected, its sometimes tricky getting going with thermals on. If you place vias in a plane, rename the via to the same name as the plane, similar to how you renamed the plaane to the trace.

And thats about all you need to know about planes in eagle.