When soldering headers, usually single and double pins, I flip the board over so the pin rests on the surface and then solder them. They never come out straight. It would be great if someone has figured out how to do this correctly?
Soldering – How to Solder Headers to Stand Straight
pcb-assemblysoldering
Related Solutions
Flux!
Solder bridges mean you need more/better/fresh flux.
(Either iron or hot air will work fine. Heat is heat. I prefer iron for clearing shorted pins: wipe iron on sponge, apply to pins, repeat. The excess solder will stick to the tip.)
While I have to agree with the previous answers - you are indeed a lot better off in the long run if you route manually, I feel your question has not really been properly answered.
A quick-and-dirty workaround for you might be
- copy the component(s) to a library of your own
- add a new package, in which you put a GND rectangle around the entire component on the top layer only
- in the circuit, replace the original component with your tampered component
- let the autorouting commence
- go back to your circuit, and swap the component back to its original package.
Now, before the rotten-egg-throwing sets in, a few extra words why you should not do that.
While Eagle takes quite a bit of effort to get the hang of, it is definitely worth practicing these things on simple designs. As you advance, you will get to the point where you have to route manually, because some signals must be laid out in certain ways. There might still be workarounds for each specific problem, but you will never have practiced to place the components in a way that it is possible to route with minimal effort and losses.
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Best Answer
Solder ONE PIN. Reheat the solder while pushing down to make sure the element is flat. When convinced, solder the rest of the pins. As a last step, reheat the original joint just to make sure it wasn't moving as it cooled, which is a bad thing for a solder joint. This technique works equally well for through holes and SMT.
I've used a PCB cradle with a foam cushioned arm that works pretty well. You can hold down elements and then rotate the board.