I've almost talked myself into buying a hot-melt gun. I really don't like to buy cheap tools, but I'm not going to spend a couple hundred on an industrial grade gun. Anyone have any experience with any particular guns? Brands to avoid? Brands that are good?
I'm sorta thinking in the short term, maybe the Arrow TR550, though I can't find any specs on the wattage. It appears to be only a high-temp gun (380F), so it's less versatile. Looks kind of tippy.
In a dual-temp gun, there's the Stanley GR25 and GR100, or a Surebonder DT280, or an Arrow TR400DT.
Ad-Tech looks nice, but they're more expensive, especially for a dual-temp (that's not a mini).
The gun you need probably depends on what you intend to do. For my small tinkering I use a small $2.50 craft low temp gun. I've also got a big craftsman high temp gun for use when a lot of glue is needed. Be advised that the high temp guns can he hazardous if you get the hot glue on you.
Good to know the Arrow works well. As far as knowing what I'm going to use it for, that's part of why I'm thinking a dual-temp model might be a better choice, as it gives me more versatility.
The mini low temp craft ones are pretty nice as they don't burn so easily. I have a cheap mini one at home and it works fine. Full size glue guns are better if you're going to use quite a lot of glue though and the glue sticks work out cheaper for them too.
I would suggest you consider just having two guns: one for low-temp and one for high-temp. Then you don't have to mess with changing glues and both can be available at once. You can pick up a functional low-temp gun at a crafts store for just a couple of bucks. (I like the low-temp for applying a "conformal coating" to the bottom of point-to-point perfboard.)
davidhbrown:
I would suggest you consider just having two guns: one for low-temp and one for high-temp. Then you don't have to mess with changing glues and both can be available at once.
I'm pretty close to doing just that. At least partially because I can get instant gratification by getting the TR550 at the local Home Depot. Well, I assume they have low-temp guns there too. Were it not pouring down rain, I would likely have done so on the way home from work. (Yeah, I know, that doesn't completely make sense. :~ )
FWIW, I ended up getting the el-cheapo mini gun. Mainly because it included 3 sticks. The TR550 didn't come with any, and the only sticks on the shelf were bags of a dozen 10". Even if they're cheap, I don't like buying something I'm not likely to use, and I've seen plenty examples of 4" 7/16 glue sticks.
FWIW, I ended up getting the el-cheapo mini gun. Mainly because it included 3 sticks. The TR550 didn't come with any, and the only sticks on the shelf were bags of a dozen 10". Even if they're cheap, I don't like buying something I'm not likely to use, and I've seen plenty examples of 4" 7/16 glue sticks.
FWIW, I ended up getting the el-cheapo mini gun. Mainly because it included 3 sticks. The TR550 didn't come with any, and the only sticks on the shelf were bags of a dozen 10". Even if they're cheap, I don't like buying something I'm not likely to use, and I've seen plenty examples of 4" 7/16 glue sticks.
Anybody in Colorado interested in a group buy?
wow...
Yeah, well, in the moment, it wasn't what I was expecting. And no, it doesn't matter whether my expectations were valid. And if you could see the inside of my apartment, you'd be asking, "Where does he think he's going to put those?"
Walmart has 30 mini gun glue sticks for $2.50 so they should not wreck the savings account , and you probably can store them outside if you don't have room inside.
And if you could see the inside of my apartment, you'd be asking, "Where does he think he's going to put those?"