How to make a fast heat glue gun?

Irving

Joined Jan 30, 2016
3,845
You can't easily.... the glue has a certain latent heat capacity which governs how much heat you need to convert from solid to liquid, and you need to focus that heat into a very small area... which is hard to do and still make the gun small enough to be useful and without melting the whole glue stick, gun and your hand.... Its the same problem as to why you generally can't get superfast 3D-printers that use common plastic filament...
 

LowQCab

Joined Nov 6, 2012
4,029
If you have the chops to create a custom Tip for your Heat-Gun,
with an embedded Thermocouple to sense the Temperature,
and a roughly 10-X higher Wattage Heating-Element,
and some custom designed Temp-Regulation-Circuitry,
you might have something with pretty fast response-time,
maybe ~10 to ~15 Seconds, a little faster with repeated usage,
But is it worth it ???

My second thought is much simpler,
but wouldn't speed-up the time to first usage.

Get a Project-Box and install a Switch in it.
Put a Diode across the Switch.
Get a cheap "Triple-Tap" Extension-Cord, and cut it in half.
( actually you only need to cut the "Ribbed-Wire", which is the Hot-Wire )
Assemble as per the picture below.

When the Switch is "Off", the Glue-Gun will operate at half power, keeping
everything fairly hot, but probably not hot enough to melt the Glue.

Then when you turn the Switch "On",
You will have full normal Heat in about ~15 to ~20 Seconds.
The Heat-Gun can be left "Idling" at half-power all day long,
with no problems or over-heating.
The initial warm-up time at the start of the day
will be the same as normal when the switch is on full-power,
and will take around 4-times as long to warm-up on half-power.
.
.
.
Half-Power Box FLAT .png
 
Last edited:

Irving

Joined Jan 30, 2016
3,845
Bondic or V45 are the brands I've seen recently advertised. Just ordered some Bondic on a 3 for 2 special offer...

Its cheaper than the specialist industrial Loctite i've used recently
 

Irving

Joined Jan 30, 2016
3,845
My second thought is much simpler,
but wouldn't speed-up the time to first usage.

Get a Project-Box and install a Switch in it.
Put a Diode across the Switch.
Get a cheap "Triple-Tap" Extension-Cord, and cut it in half.
( actually you only need to cut the "Ribbed-Wire", which is the Hot-Wire )
Assemble as per the picture below.
Mines got this built-in already...
 

Externet

Joined Nov 29, 2005
2,202
Touch the glue bar with your soldering iron tip; will melt fast. If you find a particular glue bar brand that also cleans the soldering tip, it is not intended for that for but works very, very well.;)
 

Thread Starter

LAOADAM

Joined Nov 21, 2018
862
If you have the chops to create a custom Tip for your Heat-Gun,
with an embedded Thermocouple to sense the Temperature,
and a roughly 10-X higher Wattage Heating-Element,
and some custom designed Temp-Regulation-Circuitry,
you might have something with pretty fast response-time,
maybe ~10 to ~15 Seconds, a little faster with repeated usage,
But is it worth it ???

My second thought is much simpler,
but wouldn't speed-up the time to first usage.

Get a Project-Box and install a Switch in it.
Put a Diode across the Switch.
Get a cheap "Triple-Tap" Extension-Cord, and cut it in half.
( actually you only need to cut the "Ribbed-Wire", which is the Hot-Wire )
Assemble as per the picture below.

When the Switch is "Off", the Glue-Gun will operate at half power, keeping
everything fairly hot, but probably not hot enough to melt the Glue.

Then when you turn the Switch "On",
You will have full normal Heat in about ~15 to ~20 Seconds.
The Heat-Gun can be left "Idling" at half-power all day long,
with no problems or over-heating.
The initial warm-up time at the start of the day
will be the same as normal when the switch is on full-power,
and will take around 4-times as long to warm-up on half-power.
.
.
.
View attachment 241418
Thanks.
I will use your switch circuit.
I am planning to use the heat solution from this link:
and use one of my old glue gun's other parts.
I'll make a machining AL. tube inside with a exchangeable nozzle.
 

MrSalts

Joined Apr 2, 2020
2,767
If you have the motivation and know how to think you can build a hot glue gun, then you have the intelligence and ability to plug the glue gun in as the first step when you need the glue gun. It's not like hot glue requirements suddenly pop up in the middle of an afternoon and you need it immediately. Every hot glue gun I've ever seen (except one my wife bought at a dollar store) was able to heat up in about 5 to 10 minutes - or the time it takes to drink one pint.
 

Thread Starter

LAOADAM

Joined Nov 21, 2018
862
If you have the motivation and know how to think you can build a hot glue gun, then you have the intelligence and ability to plug the glue gun in as the first step when you need the glue gun. It's not like hot glue requirements suddenly pop up in the middle of an afternoon and you need it immediately. Every hot glue gun I've ever seen (except one my wife bought at a dollar store) was able to heat up in about 5 to 10 minutes - or the time it takes to drink one pint.
Thanks.
I'll try the #13 idea to do a glue gun. and idea how to calculate the length of the Resistance wire?
I'll use 12Vdc.
 
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