Shrink tubing question????

[zenpeace69]

I bought some shrink tubing from rat shack and I have used a hair dryer to shrink it up, but it doesn't shrink up too much.  I thought it would get super tight.  Am I just using tubing that is too wide to begin with?  Is a hairdryer the proper way to heat this stuff up?  

thanks

[aron]

You can use a match or lighter, but you are right. Some of that stuff doesn't work as well as others.

[Peter Snowberg]

Heat-shrink contacts to about 1/2 of the original diameter when heated so don't expect it to keep getting smaller forever.

I use a micro torch with a blue flame and I keep it moving very quickly to heat up a whole area at one time. For larger applications I use a regular propane torch with the flame on super low.

A hair dryer may work, but a heat gun (like for stripping paint) will work much better.

Take care,
-Peter

[puretube]

those shrink "tubes" come either in shrinking ratios of 2:1, or 3:1.
Hairdryer is on the low side of "hotness".
Tip of solder-iron, or cigarette (very close - but don`t touch) is nice.
Candle flame works also.
Be sure to move the device you want to isolate not only from left to right, but rotate it evenly around its axe above whichever heating source.

be sure not to overheat whatever is inside the hose (e.g.: LED & LDR).

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I can't find my paint strip gun, so i bought a cheap drier at a garage sale, but alas it just doesn't do it. Unless a heat gun is hot enough to burn your ear off, it isn't hot enough, unfortunately.
Note: don't use a soldering iron, you will get gunk on your tip & regret uit :oops:

[AL]

A lighter will work but be quick and don't let the flame get too close to the tubing. Heat guns have worked great for me in the past but they're pricey. If the tubing isn't shrinking up small enough you may also need to get smaller tubing and/or get better quality tubing. I will refrain from my Radio Shack rant. Now if you'll excuse I need to go mumble obscenities in the corner of my office.

AL

[Nasse]

You can buy heat shrink tubing that has some kind of glue inside, good for reinforcing cables and joints, kind of hot melt glue. That needs even more heating than regular one.

I bought new electric hot air blower, I think it is 1500 watts or more, but my wife lent it for a friend :roll:

[Rich G.]

I've used the tip of my soldering iron with success.  The tubing I typically use doesn't gum up on the iron-- but I have used some other tubing that does melt to theiron which made a mess.  The good tubing was flat in color while the bad was shiny.

I haven't tried it-- but I hear a hot air popcorn popper will work.  They get hotter than a hair dryer.

[aron]

The good tubing was flat in color while the bad was shiny.

Yes, that's it. Mine were like this too. The flat colored ones shrank a lot better.

[smoguzbenjamin]

I just use a lighter for my shrink tubes. and it works fine for me, just don't let the tubing catch fire, you'll have a hell of a time putting that out  :evil:  It happened to me when I was isolating the DC jack contacts and I ended up throwing water over it. It put the fire out but then I had to wait 2 days for all the water to evaporate so I could fire up my circuit :evil:

[puretube]

the "flat" colored also remains more flexible/soft,
while the shiny stuff gets stiff...


(no pun intended...)

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

A butane powered one (has automatic catalytic ignition)
http://www.altronics.com.au/cat.asp?cat=5&grp=327&id=T2480

[The Tone God]

I can see hair dryers not working very well for this application. Buy a paint stripper gun. One can be had for cheap and its pretty much the same as the general purpose named "heat guns". You won't burn the tubing as easily and if the tubing is in a confined area, say the corner of  a box/chassis, you can get at it unlike with a direct flame. You can also control the heat as most guns have heat settings.

There are heat guns sold as "heat shrink tubing guns" at a much higher price but I fail to see whats so special about them verse a paint gun. Don't waste your money on them.

I have one of those cheapo piezo torches that run off of standard lighters in one of my protable tool kits that work great in a pinch to shrink tubing. Sometimes they are sold in kitchen stores for torching creme brules and the like.

Andrew

[stm]

I second the idea of gas lighter.  I do it that way. Is cheap and effective.  Just keep an appropriate distance and move the flame all over the tubing and you will be done.  Matches work also, but they tend o leave some black pigmetation which is undesirable. Good luck.

[Mark Hammer]

Unless it's a hair dryer for a horse-tail, hair-dryer temperatures will likely not be enough to make the tubing shrink very much.  You will note that the sorts of things others have suggested generate much more intense heat.

Heat guns work great but of course the difficulty is that they are intended to cover a large area.  If you were trying to shrink a piece of tubing over a phone jack to provide strain relief for a guitar cable, a heat gun would be terrific, but I think we all realize that heat shrink is often used in much tighter quarters than that.  For instance, I find that even small (16mm) pots can need to be oriented in boxes in such a way that there is a risk of the lugs shorting out against the case when you tighten the nuts from the outside.  To prevent that I stick a small piece of heat shrink over the lugs.

I generally use either the side of my soldering iron (if space permits) and the tip (if no other choice is available in the space allotted).  As others have noted though, you want to be careful when using the tip to shrink the tubing because it CAN get gummed up.  I frequently have to re-tin my soldering tip after shrinking tubing in this way.

[brett]

I generally use the side of my soldering iron

Me too.  Never had any problems.  I use the "flat" finish tube (3:1).  If the rest of life were this simple....

[zenpeace69]

Wow! Two pages on shrink tubing.  I think we all need to get a real hobby.  :oops:

Thanks for the thoughts.  Mine was that shiny crap from rat shack.  I tried the lighter and it worked ok, but I will likely get one of those cheapo paint remover burners.