I'm using Eagle for a PCB project. Referring to the image below , you can see that Eagle insists on placing thermal reliefs on IC pins that have been grounded. The problem with this is that the they will actually allow for more thermal dissipation by having added these 'spokes'.
Is there any method for editing these thermal reliefs such that adjacent pins are not directly connected to one another? Essentially, how do I remove the thermal relief 'spokes' such that there is only one that is grounded.
How do I edit the thermal reliefs around pins?
Best Answer
It's not the thermal relief causing those connections, it's your ground plane. Just keep it away from areas where you don't want it.
You can either draw the ground plane polygon(s) to avoid the area, or put a rectangle over it in the 'Restrict' layer.
ETA: Eagle version 6.0 and above has the option of using a polygon with 'cutout' pour instead, which avoids potential DRC errors in the restricted area. Thanks to Tom Carpenter for pointing this out.