In a previous iteration of a PCB layout, I added a ground plane fill as recommended by many tutorials online (eg Sparkfun). By default Eagle creates thermals to ease soldering to the ground plane, but in practice I still struggled to get good (timely) heating on all my ground-plane pads.
Thus I'm wondering, in the next iteration, either to avoid adding the ground plane (my design doesn't really need one, mostly very low speed signalling), or if I can increase the thermal spacing (or other settings?) in Eagle so I don't create another soldering headache.
(I'm hand soldering the PCBs, no fancy reflow or similar. A preheat of the boards did help ease the soldering issues but still a chore for every ground-plane pad. And my iron is decent enough, although not a premium one)
Best Answer
For the clearence between the pad and the ground plane, go to Design Rules -> Supply -> Thermal Isolation.
To change the thickness of the connection between the pad and the plane, change the thickness of the polygon outline.