Making a heating element for a glue gun. Let's figure out which glue gun for needlework is better

Nowadays, hot glue has become quite popular. It has a lot of advantages: it is harmless, easy to use (you can melt it even with an ordinary lighter), quite reliable, resistant to moisture, quickly heats up and cools down. This hot melt adhesive is usually sold in the form of oblong rods, has several standard diameters, colors. To work with it, you need a special hot-melt gun, which gradually melts the hot-melt adhesive rod, squeezing it in the right portions onto the surface to be glued.

You can buy a thermal gun, this is a fairly common product (and relatively inexpensive). Although you can assemble a hot glue gun with your own hands. It is not necessary to make a thermal gun in the form of a gun. The heating element burned out on my purchased thermal gun, after which I decided to redo it a little. As a result, instead of a thermal gun, a thermal syringe turned out. Moreover, it even became more convenient for me to glue them than it was with a gun. Although it may not look so attractive, well, a homemade product is a homemade product.

Who does not know - the working temperature of hot melt adhesive (ordinary sticks with a diameter of 7 and 11 mm) is 120-150 ° C. The most important part is the temperature adhesive melter. I just took this part from a broken heat gun. I first wrapped the metal part of the melter with mica, after which I wound a nichrome wire with a diameter of 0.2 mm around it. Wire resistance 25 Ohm. Well, from here its length is how it will turn out. This new heater was powered by an adjustable step-voltage power supply. The operating voltage for the thermosyringe was from 12 to 28 volts. We can say that my thermogun, a thermosyringe made by myself, is powered by alternating 16 volts.

My home-made hot glue gun in the form of a syringe also, in addition to the metal heater itself, has another important part, this is a rubber tip (made of heat-resistant rubber), into which a hot glue rod is inserted. It should match the diameter of the glue stick itself, as it prevents the melted hot melt from escaping from the side where it enters. This rubber tip was also taken from an old heat gun. When the nichrome was wound, I wound several layers of fiberglass tape over it, which served as electrical and thermal insulation. And already on the fiberglass I attached a finger holder made of ordinary copper wire of the appropriate diameter.

It would not be superfluous to say that when it comes to winding heaters from nichrome wire (on a soldering iron, on a heater, on a thermal gun, etc.), then the following should be taken into account - the output ends of nichrome should be made with a larger diameter. That is, we measured the length of the working wire of nichrome, and the ends themselves, about 10 centimeters long, were made from several veins of the same nichrome, twisting them together. This is necessary so that the main part of the nichrome is heated, and these ends remain cold (have minimal heating), so that over time the power cord connected to them does not lose contact.

Since the heating of the entire thermal gun, the thermosyringe is large enough, the place where you need to take it with your fingers must be well enough insulated with a fiberglass tape, applying a sufficient number of turns. In general, my hot glue gun, thermosyringe turned out well. It is compact, easy to work with, heats up quite quickly (the main heat remains inside the heater, which provides thermal insulation made of fiberglass). Although at first it may seem that it is not very convenient to feed the hot glue stick, it is quite convenient during operation. So if there is a broken hot glue gun, try to convert it into a working thermal syringe.

P.S. Sometimes things, handmade tools seem much more convenient and better than purchased ones. If we compare the thermal gun that I had at the beginning with the thermal syringe that I got after the alteration, I like working with the latter more!

How to make a glue gun on your own? Today we will consider an option that involves the use of .

With my real experience in this matter, on the pages of an industry publication 3D Today, shared by a portal user under a pseudonym TanyaAkinora. We present to you her story. Punctuation and spelling of the author are traditionally preserved.

As a maker, I use a variety of tools in my work, including glue gun. For miniature work, there is a small gun with a 7 mm rod. But in any case, you have to press the trigger with some effort. And it's not always convenient.

So the idea to make my own instrument was born. in this regard, an indispensable assistant.

The experience of using a 3D pen suggested a variant of the case. The result was a device that I named GlueDart. This is a glue gun in the form of a handle with an electric for 7 mm rods.

The feed button is located on the front side under the thumb of the right hand. Thus, we have a handy tool that makes the gluing process more accurate and accurate.

All plastic parts are 3D printed. During use, the case practically does not heat up.

The only part that has moved from the standard glue gun is the nozzle. As a heater, I used a regular ceramic heater from a 3D printer, which does an excellent job. With a supply voltage of 5 V, its power is 7.2 W.

The extruder uses a reciprocating mechanism and a small motor with a gearbox. An attempt to make an extruder similar to a 3D printer was unsuccessful, since the glue rod is much softer than the filament rod.

Thus, it turned out to be a convenient and lightweight tool with a safe 5V power supply. A blue LED is used as an indicator of the on state.

A variant with speed control was created, but this option turned out to be superfluous.

All modeling was done in Autodesk 123D Design, and some details (axial cam) and partly video in Fusion 360.

I wish all makers creative success.

We print a glue gun on a 3d printer - video

Equipment: Anet A8 3d printer

When implementing this case, a 3D printer was used Anet A8. This is an updated version of the previous Chinese printer model - Anet A6.

The print area is 220x220x240 millimeters. The printer is equipped with a heated table, a display and can print materials such as ABS, PLA, HIPS and some others.

In this way, you can create many useful things and tools in everyday life. If you have your own experience in this matter, let us know and your story will appear on the pages of our section.

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Not so long ago, having appeared on the shelves of hardware stores, hot glue quickly gained popularity among needlewomen and home craftsmen. Due to the speed of gluing and the breadth of application, glue and heat gun are unmatched in convenience and affordability. Of course, the strength of the joints in this way is not the highest and the scope is limited by temperature limits. But with the daily tasks of making various crafts with your own hands, hot glue copes with ease and speed, which satisfies most requests.

Safety

To begin with, it is worth mentioning the safety measures when working using hot melt adhesive. With their own hands, many housewives felt the danger of high temperatures in the kitchen and at home, so you need to remember about safety.

Glue, sticking to the skin, releases a significant part of the heat not only during cooling, but also during hardening. Therefore, it can cause burns much deeper than a hot frying pan or tile, from which you can pull your hand away in time, receiving minimal damage. Additionally, you should carefully read the instructions for the device and follow the recommendations specified by the manufacturer.

Wax instead of glue

It's time to try the device in action. Of course, they can be glued, but it is much more interesting to find an original use for it. The principle of operation of the gun is to heat the material and melt it to a liquid state. This means that any material with a suitable melting point can be used in the gun. So, when heated in this way, they become not just a gel-like mass, like glue tubes, but a liquid, like drinking yogurt.

Using different colors and imagination, you can get colorful drops on cardboard or thick paper, and if you drip from a height of half a meter, you get blots. The gun, of course, can get dirty, and in order to clean it after artistic activities, you should skip some factory glue, which will wash off the wax from the inside. Recall that wax is a rather oily material, and not all surfaces in a row will be able to hold it for a long time. The porous structure of wood or cardboard is able to provide sufficient adhesion.

Vintage wax seals

In the same way, wax can be heated for making seals and impressions, for example, to seal a letter of congratulations or a personal message. Using coins or other embossed metal objects, you can even achieve resemblance to obsolete items.

A letter with such a seal will not only please the addressee with its originality, but will also bring some intimacy and mystery to the correspondence. Oh yes, wax is quite fragile, unlike sealing wax, so do not trust these letters to the mail, present them personally.

Glue decoration

Do-it-yourself transparent or colored hot-melt adhesive can be turned not only into a fastener, but also into a decoration element. Simple and nondescript glass vases, treated on the outside with a hot-melt adhesive pattern, will sparkle with new colors and impress your guests as an original work of your hands.

In the same way, you can draw three-dimensional figures and whole pictures on any household containers, boxes, and simply on cardboard under a frame on the wall. Not any paint is suitable for coloring colorless glue - watercolor or gouache will quickly be erased from the surface. It is best to use acrylic-based paints or, in extreme cases, nail polish.

Do-it-yourself hot melt adhesive crafts are a great pastime with children, training accuracy, responsibility and artistic flair in them. The main thing - do not leave children alone with the device turned on or just warmed up.

Adhesive color classification

Let's deal with these colored sticks. It can't be that manufacturers just randomly added dyes. Indeed, there is a recommended international marking and here are the main types of rods for a thermal gun:

Simple translucent cylindrical sticks are the most popular type of glue. Universal, used for a wide variety of surfaces and materials, suitable for almost any hidden and open fasteners.

Colored opaque rods differ from universal ones only in color. It makes sense to buy them for those who are engaged in crafts, children and florists. They allow you to mask the place of gluing under the overall color of the product without the use of additional coloring.

Black and gray stickers are designed for waterproofing areas, and are also used as electrical insulation. The non-shrinking and adhesive properties of the material are used in sealing window frames and insulating current-carrying parts of electrical appliances.

White opaque rods are used specifically for gluing metal and glass, except, of course, for universal adhesives painted white, pay attention to the packaging.

Yellow or candle, wood-colored translucent sticks have better adhesion to the porous structure of wood or cardboard.

In any case, not all manufacturers have yet come to common standards and it is necessary to check the technical properties of the adhesive by referring to the packaging. There you can also find out the melting point of the material and the approximate temperature range of its use.

In electrical appliances, materials are often required that can withstand prolonged heating, in other cases, a non-rigid plastic fixation, such as silicone, may be required, for example, in the manufacture of hand tools. You also need to take into account the capabilities of your device for working with glue, so that the thermal gun has enough power to melt the material during operation.

Do-it-yourself pistol

The market is now flooded with not the best quality tools, and heat guns are no exception. They usually break at the most inopportune moment, and you may need a reliable device to use the leftover hot melt adhesive.

You can quickly build a heater to work from an old iron or use a soldering iron, but here you can run into the problem of overheating the material. For permanent work, craftsmen are more likely to be inspired by the idea of \u200b\u200bmaking a hot-melt glue gun with their own hands.

The current power regulator will help control the temperature

First of all, we need to make a current power regulator, no matter what heating device we use. Overheating of the adhesive material will inevitably lead to its strong liquefaction (as a result, spontaneous leakage from the gun) or even burnout.

A regulator is made by sequentially connecting a dimmer to a circuit break, like a switch, where it will perform the named functions and adjust the power of the supplied current. It will be convenient to make a separate outlet with a regulator on a piece of wooden board, it is likely that control over the current power will be needed for other devices.

based on a boiler

Now we can be sure that the boiler will not burn without water, but will only heat up to the desired temperature. The next step is to make a comfortable handle so that you don’t burn yourself on a heated device. The most affordable material for a handle is wood, but it is also afraid of high temperatures and you can use Teflon tape used in cooking to protect it.

As a working container, you need to make a tube and a funnel out of a tin, connecting them together so that the edges of the funnel cover the tube. The diameter of the working crucible should be such that the funnel is tightly clamped by the coils of the boiler. We additionally strengthen the structure with copper wire and test the device on a suitable piece of glue stick. This design compensates for the lack of a feed lever with an incredible “omnivorousness”, that is, the tool is suitable for any type of hot melt adhesive, regardless of its melting temperature.

If you run out of glue

Consider the situation on the contrary, there is a useless thermal gun without suitable stickers, and something needs to be glued “here and now”. We postpone the orphaned tool until the purchase of suitable consumables for it and turn our attention to another heating device that is no less versatile in use - a hair dryer.

Of course, hair models will be out of place here, meaning a professional one that gives out high air temperature. Here they can heat up the glue right at the junction. By the way, the glue itself is literally lying underfoot.

We offer 2 of the most common options for how to make hot melt glue with your own hands:

Foamed polypropylene or polyethylene can occasionally be found as a packaging material, but most often it is found in construction and finishing works as heat and sound insulation. The connection is not so much strong as plastic, not afraid of shock and vibration.

The well-known plastic bottles that fill the landfills of the whole Earth are also suitable as an adhesive material. Heat the whole bottle with a hair dryer for quite a long time, so it is better to cut off the plate of the desired size at the place of gluing.

Both options are unstable at high temperatures, but will work for most jobs where a regular hot melt adhesive is sufficient. Thus, you dispose of the garbage and get an almost inexhaustible supply of glue.

Name confusion: electrical circuit adhesive

For people associated with circuitry, the words have the same meaning as "hot glue for heatsinks." It is very difficult to make such material with your own hands, since chemical reactions are used here, and not a change in the state of aggregation of a substance under the influence of temperature.

It is impossible to compare hot melt adhesive for a gun and hot melt adhesive for LEDs, which are different in composition and purpose. With your own hands, it is possible to make the so-called glycerin cement from lead litharge and glycerin as a heat-conducting layer and an adhesive at the same time.

There are also proven industrial options for heat-resistant bonding materials, which, of course, are better to have available than to prepare hot-melt adhesive with your own hands. "Alsil-5" and "Radial" are the most famous brands among specialists. In addition, several types of heat-conducting rubber are produced. And how exactly heat-resistant glue is used, you should read in the instructions.

To create crafts and decorations for the interior, a wide variety of materials and techniques are used. Sometimes completely unexpected materials are used for this purpose, such as hot glue. Photos of hot glue crafts arouse genuine interest and a desire to try to create something similar with your own hands.

What is hot glue?

Hot glue has a second name - thermoplastic glue. The material itself consists of polymers, which, when heated, acquire adhesive properties. Usually hot glue is used for sealing joints and gluing products.

Hot glue is available at most hardware stores. It is produced in the form of solid glue sticks, which differ in their color, size and composition.

Also available in different colors of glue. To effectively and accurately melt and dispense glue, there are special glue guns into which rods are inserted.

Work technique

Instructions on how to make glue crafts are very simple - buy a glue gun, suitable rods for it and turn on your imagination.

The main thing when working with the material is to be extremely careful and attentive, because the melted glue is heated to a temperature of 200˚ C.

What crafts can be made from hot glue at home? Hot melt glue can be used to decorate vases, photo frames and other interior elements or to create independent decorations.

Candlesticks

The best way to get started with hot glue is with simple tasks, like decorating a candlestick. You can create an imitation of wax drips on its surface or create a unique pattern. For this purpose, it is better to use colored glue or sprinkle it with colored sparkles or glue beads on it.

For decoration, you need to choose wide, thick-walled candlesticks. This choice is due to the fact that exposure to the burning temperature of a candle can adversely affect the glue - the pattern can simply blur.

Before applying hot melt adhesive, it is necessary to thoroughly degrease the surface of the candlestick for better adhesion.

Beautiful hot glue craft ideas can be found on the Internet or you can create your own original pattern.

vase

From hot melt adhesive, you can create a hand-made vase for sweets. Step-by-step manufacturing with a description for beginners will help you easily create such a craft.

In order to make a vase for sweets yourself, stock up on hot melt adhesive, a glass bowl that will serve as a stencil and fat cream. If you want your vase to be colored, use a glue stick with the desired color, or buy paint of the desired shade in a can.

Apply cream to the outside of the bowl - it will prevent the glue from attaching to the glass when applied. Heat up your glue gun and start applying glue to the bottom of the bowl. Try to evenly distribute the glue - this will help form a flat, stable bottom of your vase.

After applying the adhesive, it is necessary to wait for its complete polymerization. You can begin to separate the glue from the bowl only after it has completely solidified, otherwise the craft may be irreparably damaged. After separating the basket from hot glue, you can paint it from a spray can.

rolling pin

For lovers of working with polymer or ceramic clay, the idea of making rolling pins with patterns will be very useful. To do this, you need to take a new, clean rolling pin of the right size, degrease it well and draw the necessary pattern on it with a pencil or marker.

Then, using a glue gun, apply glue to the lines of the pattern and wait for it to dry completely. You can also treat the rolling pin with cream or oil before applying the glue - this will allow you to remove the glue after using the desired pattern and apply a new one to it.

New Year decoration

For your baby, you can conduct a master class on crafts from hot glue. Make a large drawing of a snowflake, you can ask the child himself to make a stencil. Then, using carbon paper, transfer the pattern to parchment paper for baking.

Apply hot glue along the outline of the drawn snowflake to make a three-dimensional copy of it. Carefully monitor the actions of the child at this stage - he can get burned from hot polymer.

Wait for the polymer to harden completely and separate it from the paper. After the snowflakes have dried, they can be painted with ordinary nail polish or spray-painted.