If you set the track size to a larger value the pours take less time. Also make the trace larger than the grid and pour vertical (or horizontal) hatch only. i.e. 24mil track width 20mil grid size This is faster since the polygon does not have to generate horizontal and vertical.
If the outer layers literally have no signal traces, then use a ground plane layer ( make sure unconnected pads mid layer pads box is checked in gerber layer setup). Years ago, (pre 99SE) I merged a ground plane and top layer for an RF board. I had to manually place clearances (tracks) on the plane layer for any tracks on the top layer. Then I made notes for the board house to do the merging when they generated the artwork. You might be able to do it yourself with Camtastic (just guessing) or some other Gerber editor. Duane -----Original Message----- From: Michael Reagan (EDSI) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 4:33 PM To: Protel EDA Forum Subject: [PEDA] Copper pours on outer layers Question to smartest of smartest designers out there: Here is the delima, we have a board appox 24 x 30 ( a very large backplane) , many thousands of connections, every layer controlled impedance. The boards are used for high speed tele comminications switching and data monitoring. ( No the the tele com industry is not dead). The designs are as many as 28 layers, some approching .250 inch in thickness, a very expensive baord to design and manufacture. On the outer layers we avoid placing traces, since we embed the entire design, The outer layer are copper pours tied to gnd to reduce EMI and to maintain controlled Z on the next inner layer. The copper is poured on both the top and bottom layers. Copper pours of this size are poured last because they are time consuming. The pours can take 4 hours, and even longer if they are not right the first time. Question to any of the best out there.....can we avoid a copper pour and merge a gnd layer to the top? Does anyone have a method or suggestion to merge copper to flood the top layer. Is there a quicker method? We are using 99SE on aa 1 gig cpu with 512 meg. Mike Reagan EDSI ************************************************************************ * Tracking #: C05FC4455FDD074E8E0D19C321C392CAC217810D * ************************************************************************ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
