Thin lines VS Blocky lines in PCB bord construction..

[Mojo69]

Hi I'm a newbie, and I plan on etching my own CBs.
I'm taking circuit designs from Tone pad and the like. And I've noticed that most of the time the connection lines are nice and thin but occasionally they've got thick blocks attached to them.

What is the purpose of these blocks?

*Is it to safe guard against the enchant going too far?

*In the case of " CB ground", dose it help draw current quicker?

Will thick and blocky circuit lines draw more current and use up batteries more quickly?

Any help? Ideas?
Thanks a bunch!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

You sometimes see large areas used to conduct heat away from a chip, if it used as a power amplifier.
Otherwise, there isn't usually anything to gain from large chunks of copper (apart from saving etchant).
Things are different at radio frequencies, though.
And those fat lines won't use up your battery, never fear!

[Mojo69]

So I guess what your saying is its better to have the thick blocky bits than not to... As there's no REAL disadvantage to having them... I was altering the circuit board designs in Photo shop to make them neater...

But I guess there's not point yeah?

[Torchy]

A lot of these "blocks" are just to help etching.

If you have a lot of fine traces and empty space, the board has to stay in the etchant a longer time to get rid of the unwanted copper. This can over-etch the traces and give problems. The less copper you need to etch, the less etvchant exposure and the sharper the traces.

You also want to average out the trace density across the board - again, not letting already etched traces sitting in etchant too long.

[Mojo69]

Ok that makes sense... Thanks a lot guys!...

If anyone cares to elaborate please feel free.. I'm finding this all very interesting..

[Pushtone]

I've had thin traces lift from the board when re-soldering/moding a board.
A lifted pad is bad enough.

With home-made PCB the thicker the better IMHO.
More surface area for the copper to stick to.

[jimbob]

I intentionally make mine a little thicker around the round places where you drill the holes as it gives me a little more room for a variety of drill bits. It also helps to keep me from accidentally drilling away part of that area that Ill need when its soldering time. One example is the Great cheddar board. The damned holes areas are too small for me. I mess those up.