Eagle questions

[mah62]

Hi everyone,

first posted this in Jacob's Eagle tutorial post and got passed over so here we go again:-P :


I thought I'd thanked Jacob for the amazing Eagle videos but I can't see my post anywhere - early onset of senile dementia I think! Thanks Buddy, anyway. I'm really getting stuck into Eagle now; had my first board (Maxon 808) manufactured by iTead only to find out I'd fucked up on the schematic in three places! What a prick!

Anyway, I have some Eagle related questions: Firstly, I am trying to create a library package of four adjacent pads, one for "in", one for "out" and one each for ground and power. While I am able to place this at ,say, the bottom centre of the board, the accompanying symbol has four inseparable pins. For obvious reasons these need to be dotted around the schematic. Put simply: how do I do this while keeping all the right net assignments? Hope that makes sense. Also, any advice on creating a package for components with two different lead spacing would be appreciated, too. Two of the pads, at least, need to be connected; is this done by adding a wire between them on the package or what?

Finally, (I know I'm pushing the boat out here)!  I noticed on Brian's schematics he uses nice chunky traces for the power. Is there any reason why it it wouldn't be easier to do a copper pour on the top copper instead? Would this induce any unwanted noise or artefact to the signal if I did it this way?

Many thanks, Mark