Making a glue gun with your own hands - video tutorial. Hot glue gun. Overview and purpose How to make a gun without hot melt

Not so long ago appeared on the shelves construction stores, hot melt 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 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 colours and fantasy, 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 paint on acrylic base 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. Versatile, suitable for most various 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-shrink and adhesive properties of the material are used in sealing window frames and in the insulation of current-carrying parts of electrical appliances.

White opaque rods are used specifically for bonding metal and glass, except, of course, universal adhesives, painted in White color 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 technical properties glue, 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 hand tool. 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 instruments not best quality, and heat guns are no exception. They usually break at the most inopportune moment, and you may need to reliable device to use the remaining 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 job craftsmen are more likely to be inspired by the idea of \u200b\u200bmaking a hot 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, whatever heating device we didn't 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 wooden board, it is likely that current power control 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 desired temperature. The next step is to make a comfortable handle so that you don’t burn yourself on a heated device. Most available material for the handle - 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 out tin can tube and funnel, 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 put off the orphaned instrument until the purchase of suitable Supplies and turn our attention to another, no less versatile heating device 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.

Everyone knows plastic bottles, which filled 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's better to cut off the plate right size at the point of gluing.

Both options are unstable at high temperatures, but are suitable for most jobs where the use of conventional 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 it uses chemical reactions, 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 materials for gluing, 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.

Unpredictable behavior heating element in a Chinese glue gun has become a byword. The service life, according to information from Internet users, varies from a few seconds after switching on to five years of proper operation. About the power of the heating element, there were statements from “practically does not heat at all” to “heats quite satisfactorily”. This was the reason for the curiosity that arose, which prompted me to buy an inexpensive Chinese glue gun on the subject of "dismantle - see." That is, to get acquainted with the design of the device in detail, and only. I didn’t take glue sticks, I probably won’t need them.

Glue gun diagram

And now the melting chamber with a heating element installed on it appeared to the eye. It looks like a small jet turbine.

Clamp and thrust pad removed. Here is the heating element. I note that it lay flat on the installation site, in the center and directly contacted the body of the melting chamber with only one of its planes.

I unfold a rather careless package - an insulator. Inside, there is just a miniature ceramic heating element and two contacts for connecting 220 volts to it.

I looked at the heater more closely, rang the multimeter between the sides. They call, but not everywhere. The darkening visible in the photo in the lower part is present on all sides and completely covers the adjacent end side. It doesn't ring. This is a ceramic coating on top of the heating element. Designed for direct contact with the body of the heating chamber and transfer of heat generated by the heater, without placing a dielectric gasket between them. This sputtering is a dielectric gasket. It became clear that the heater was installed incorrectly by the manufacturer. He lay on his side, and even three times wrapped in an insulator. By existing sizes heaters at the installation site will fit 4 pieces.

Guided by common sense (as far as God has given), I set about correcting the “jambs” of the manufacturer. I brought the dimensions of the contacts in line with the dimensions of the ceramic heater. Exactly in length, and 1 mm less in height.

I made a millimeter bend along the length at a right angle to prevent the contact from slipping down onto the body of the heating chamber.

This is how the contacts assembled with the heater began to look (top view).

The resistance of the assembly (located inside the clothespin) turned out to be 6 kilo-ohms. It immediately became clear that the 20W declared by the manufacturer would not be close to being confirmed.

Exactly according to the size of the ceramic heater, I cut out two copper plates 2 mm thick. It is necessary to somehow fill the void at the installation site and take heat from the sides of the heater.

The cut is made for the possibility of preloading the sides. This will add security in holding the heater in place and is intended to improve heat transfer.

Sectional diagram of the installation. In the figure there are gaps between the individual components, in a real assembly they should not be.

Assembly done. The heater without a gasket stands on a plane (end) intended for this purpose, covered with a dielectric coating, current-carrying contacts on the sides, then with three parties four layers of mica (taken from an old burnt soldering iron), copper plates on the sides. Consolidation - an insulator on the right from asbestos. I had a piece at hand, it seemed that it would be more reliable.

Here you can see that the sides are already pressed against the copper plates and hold the entire assembly, the ceramic heater is directly in contact with the heating chamber wall, and the el. contacts are far away.

The clamp is put in place last. The junction of the wires with the contacts must be insulated with ceramic insulators or something that fully replaces them.

After assembly, the first thing I measured was the current consumption. When turned on, within a few seconds, there is a gradual current surge of 80 - 120 - 210 mA, then a sharp jump down - 20 mA. Mains voltage 225 - 230 volts x 0.02 A = maximum 4.6 watts. And on the front panel of the gun, in plain sight, there is a nameplate, which indicates the power of 20 watts. The glue gun will really have the declared power if you install 4 heating elements. However, let's not dream, but rather look at the video of the heating dynamics of a correctly assembled and installed (in my opinion) heating element.

Video

The bonding temperature is indicated by the manufacturer at 120 degrees, it was reached in 2 minutes. Yes, it is also necessary to heat the glue stick, but the remaining 3 minutes (the control heating time before starting work is 5 minutes) I think is enough for this. Especially for "" - Babay iz Barnaula.

No matter how naivety the topic of the glue gun meets the reader, the repeated description of recommendations for its acquisition and its further operation, I will still share my improvement of this tool.

Glue gun has become popular recently because of its wide capabilities, but for some reason some characteristics of many models want to be better.

A set of glue sticks with a diameter of 3.4mm to 43mm with different composition and with different melting points - that's good. Convenient loading of the rod into the heat chamber, convenient supply of glue to the surface to be glued, low weight of the tool, additional switch, power indicator and detachable power cord. Things are good!. But there is one significant detail indicated in the passport data of a glue gun used in everyday life - the magnitude of the supplied voltage and the electric power of the heater.

As a rule, in each model of the hot melt gun, a semiconductor is used as a heating element, or rather, it will be said - a semiconductor resistor. He is a posistor (semiconductor ceramics).

Again, what is there to look for and discuss? Simple, convenient! But not reliable. Why? I'll tell you more.

Hot glue guns are very popular among designers, fashion designers, decorators, in TV and radio workshops and even in workshops for ritual services. They use hot glue for spot bonding or gluing small parts together. In everyday life, a glue gun is not often used. This is true. It's not every day that we glue something. But in some cases, the use of hot melt adhesive remains the only option that is not feasible due to the failure of the heating element, which bursts from overheating, and sometimes breaks a little.

In my practice, several glue guns were purchased in a couple of months, moreover, different models. V technical passport of each, the supplied (connected) voltage and electrical (thermal) power were indicated, which in no way corresponded to the actual one. At the specified 40wt, the gun could not cross the threshold of 8wt. At 65wt, the heater did not consume even 20wt. Yes. The glue melted, but only on the basis of ethylene vinyl acetate.

Some people were happy with that, but I wasn't. It was necessary to glue long products (skirting boards, baguettes, corners), which were covered with hot glue in 7-12 minutes. The glue at one end was already solidified when, for example, it was just applied to the opposite end of the baguette hot glue. Not only that, several samples of glue guns 'showed fireworks in my hands' from the burnout of the heater just at the moments when it was glued ceiling tiles, because professional and classic glue guns are heated up to a maximum temperature of 220°C. The melting points of polystyrene foam and polystyrene are 240°C, vinyl plastic is 230°C-250°C. failed to fulfill its purpose.

Converting a glue gun from 220 volts to 12 volts.

What has changed in the device of the glue gun.

Determined the length of the workpiece piece of nichrome wire. The wire diameter did not matter. The calculation was made according to standard formulas (Ohm's Laws for a chain section).

The starting point was the desired electric power of the glue gun. I settled on (≈)34-36Wt. It follows from this: 36(wt) : 12(v) ≈ 3.3(a). Determine the average current consumption.
Now from I \u003d U / R we determine the resistance of the conductor, that is, the resistance of a piece of nichrome wire: R \u003d U / I. 12(v) : 3.3(a) ≈ 3.6(Ω).
Using an ohmmeter (tester, multimeter), I determined a piece of wire. The probes of the device were located remotely from each other on the wire, so that the device (ohmmeter, multimeter, tester) would show on the scale a resistance close to the calculated one - 3.6Ω.

Further, everything was simpler and the time I spent on the reconstruction of the glue gun did not take more than 35 minutes.

Removed the old heating element from the camera and the power cord.
Turned around the body of the heating chamber.
I wound several turns of nichrome wire through a layer of asbestos paper.
I installed a switch in the circuit of the new heater, which I mounted on the handle of the gun.

The voltage at the battery terminals is 10.5v;
heating element resistance - 3.6 Ω;
the current consumption of the glue gun heater is about 3A.

The temperature in the melting chamber of the rod - 172°C after 1 minute;
- 197°C after 2 minutes;
- 222°C after 4 minutes;
- 262°C after 7 minutes;
- 268°C after 8 minutes;
- 280°C after 9 minutes.

Here it is for me! Why wait 7 minutes for a regular hot glue gun to heat up when this one melts in seconds? You can glue in the field, in the basement, in a boat, in a car. The consumption of glue is not 20ml per minute (never exceeded the consumption of 12ml-16ml), but 40ml-50ml.

Glue gun heater temperature control.

The electrical circuit of the device is simple. At that time, there was no thermostat installed. The melting temperature of the glue was controlled by turning the heater on and off via a switch. It was experimented to connect in series to the circuit of a car potentiometer (brightness control of the instrument panel backlight), an adjustable charger for car batteries. Also convenient. Tried connecting the glue gun to a 6v battery. The glue did not melt as vigorously, but still the heater brought the tool into operation in a couple of minutes. The polystyrene ceiling tiles were installed step by step without delay.

Later, in parallel with the switch, a self-made customizable glue gun temperature controller, turning off the chamber heater when it reaches the set temperature. That is, when the switch was on, the element heated the melting chamber for hot melt freely to the maximum temperature, when the switch was off, the gun worked with low-temperature material (within 175°C-190°C), depending on the setting of the regulator mode.

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 on the front side under the thumb right hand. Thus, it turned out handy tool, which 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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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 has glue different colors. 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 to simple tasks, for example, with a candlestick decoration. 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 have a bad effect on 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. Do large drawing snowflakes, you can ask the child himself to make a stencil. Then, using carbon paper, transfer the design 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.