Heat Gun

[MRTelec]

Can you all recommend me a good cheap heat gun for heat shrinking?  I'm looking at some on eBay but don't know what to go with.  Will a $20 gun work well enough?

[Mike Burgundy]

Yes. Take care not to heat up too much around it though (plastic parts, fingers...) Heat guns are not too focused as far as the blast of hot air is concerned, no matter what their price is. You want to keep anything not to be heated several inches out of the way ( I work with one of these for larger heat-shrink *bags* at work). If regular stompbox shrinking is your thing, you may want to rethink tools.
I usually just carefully use a gas lighter, and that works just fine for me.

[MRTelec]

I will most often use it to go over the plugs on guitar cables.  Should I look for one with a wrap-around attachment?  Thanks.

[Ansil]

I JUST LIGHTLY TOUch the soldering iron to it  . just brush it up against it long enough to lightly brush it.

[MRTelec]

Hmm...Doesn't it scar it at all?  Maybe I should get some tubing to experiment with.  What size would be good for doing 1/4" plugs?  1/2"?  Thanks for the help.

[ExpAnonColin]

Would a hairdryer work?

-Colin

[ErikMiller]

The best price I've seen for a real heat gun is for Ace Hardware's house brand.

They put it on sale a few times a year, so check your Ace fliers.

[MRTelec]

The best price I've seen for a real heat gun is for Ace Hardware's house brand.

They put it on sale a few times a year, so check your Ace fliers.

Is this it?  http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1310859&cp=&searchId=5308043855&keywords=heat+gun&y=0&x=0&parentPage=search

[sfr]

Yes. Take care not to heat up too much around it though (plastic parts, fingers...) Heat guns are not too focused as far as the blast of hot air is concerned, no matter what their price is.

what about the ones with different nozzles to direct the air flow?

[ErikMiller]

The best price I've seen for a real heat gun is for Ace Hardware's house brand.

They put it on sale a few times a year, so check your Ace fliers.

Is this it?  http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1310859&cp=&searchId=5308043855&keywords=heat+gun&y=0&x=0&parentPage=search

That's the one I have. Looks like they have it on sale right now....

Harbor Freight might be another source for an inexpensive one.

I can tell you that the Ace is a decent one, though.

[Mike Burgundy]

what about the ones with different nozzles to direct the air flow?

Never seen those, but that might work.
MrTelecaster:
heatshrink tubing shrinks to about half it's diameter, you usually choose a diameter that loosely fits over whatever you want to shrink over, but less than twice the diameter so you get a good tight fit. You want the cable to be held in there as well, so I'd go as small as you can fit over the jack.
A soldering iron set at low temp won't scar the (shrink)material, but it may leave some flux/tin residue that looks bad.
Whatever method you use, take care of the edges: don't scar or melt anything beyond the heatshrink (such as cables)
hih

[Peter Snowberg]

I use a butane torch lighter. Just move it around quickly and it works great.

Take care,
-Peter

[Bill_F]

I use a butane torch lighter. Just move it around quickly and it works great.

Take care,
-Peter

That's what I use. Like Peter said, just keep it moving.

[MRTelec]

I'll try the torch idea, but I'll probably end up getting one of those Ace heat guns.  They're only $20.  Thanks for the help.

[Mark Hammer]

Heat guns are wonderful things.  Their biggest shortcoming is their size, and the difficulty of focussing heat on a small area surrounded by lots of heat-sensitive things you DON'T want to heat up.

I discovered a great use for mine this past weekend: warming etching boards.  I drill little holes in the corners of the board, cut toothpicks in half and jam them into the corners to suspend the board above the etchant floor like an ocean oil-derrick platform, and use the heat gun on low setting to warm the board and the etchant immediately adjacent to it.  The small breeze stirs it around too.  Speeds up etching considerably.

I paid about $20 for mine from Home DEpot or somewhere similar.

[acromarty]

Would a hairdryer work?

-Colin

No, it won't get hot enough.
A heat shrink gun gets very hot, enough to melt plastic or strip paint.

[Ansil]

it will also melt solder off of the old gutted tv and computer monitor boards. :twisted: