What Is A Heat Gun Used For?
If you have seen this little tool in the supermarket or hardware, at one time you have asked yourself: What is a heat gun used for? Fortunately, this article takes you into various uses of a heat gun. It can be used both at home and in the processing or manufacturing plants.
If you want to see the best heat gun models, you can read our in-depth review and choose your favorite models. Here are some of the uses:
Removing old bumper stickers and labels.
Am sure you buy things every day. It is that new vase, drinking glass or electronic. But what do you find in these things? Labels and stickers those are frustrating to remove. Worst of all they can make you damage the item, if you want to manually remove it. The worst case scenario is that removing stickers from let say glass manually. Will make it look ugly. The solution.
Simply pass the heat from a heat gun on the sticker at low temperature setting. Then wait for it to soften, then you can pull the stickers or label off. If you have bumper stickers from window frames or vehicles, a heat gun can take care this job easily.
Removing old layers of paint.
Have you ever seen a house that has been painted 10 times? If you used solvent paint to remove the old paints, it can take your time, sometimes days. And the worst part is that, you will still have some little paint on the surface. The paint won't come out 100%. But with a heat gun, you cut the days and get rid of this old layer of paint in minutes.
All you need is to take a heat gun, direct the heat on the paint and wait for it to bubble. Then, with a scrapper or a heat resistant tool, you can get rid of this old layer of paint with ease.
Bending PVC or copper pipes.
You get the agony you will be going through if you tried to bend a PVC pipe with your bare hands. It will take you more time, energy and you will be frustrated. You don't want to sweat, doing a handy little job like this. All you need is to buy heat gun and the project becomes simple like eating a banana.
Shrink wrapping
Gift baskets and industrial items, needs packaging. With heat gun, all you need is to pass the heat gun and shrink wrap the item.
Defrosting frozen pipes.
Pipes are not the only thing that you can use a heat gun to defrost. There are a lot of things. But I picked what you can relate to best. During winter, pipes become blocked by ice. And it can be painful getting rid of the ice. So the solution is to pass the heat gun over a frozen pipe, and the heat will melt the ice.
You need to be careful so that you don't direct too much heat that can get the pipes to burst.
Heat gun for crafts.
You probably didn't know about this. But you can use a heat gun for crafting purposes. For example, you can use it to make decorative candles or silverware. It makes the items look attractive
To soften soft and liquid substance.
Let say that you have a super glue and you accidentally place it in the wrong place. You understand that when the glue gets onto the surface, it hardens pretty fast. And getting it out can be impossible. With a heat gun, you can soften it and scrap it off. You can also use a heat gun to get rid of candle wax that has dropped on the surface.
Heat gun safety tips for safe operation
It is fun to use a tool like this to make most of your work simple. But a tool like this comes with warnings that you need to adhere to so that you it wisely. Am sure you don't want to find yourself in the confines of a hospital because of an accident that you could have avoided 100%. Here are the tips.
Know how to use it.
I want you to do yourself a favor today. Even if you have done it twice. Go back and read the manufacturer's instructions. Most buyers forget this too often. One of the tip is: You need to hold the heat gun at an appropriate angle, 45 degree angle is recommended.
Second, never place the heat gun in one position for too long. You only need a few seconds, then change position.
Otherwise, it will lead to scorching and it may damage the item or even melt it. This is common especially when you are getting stickers on the plastic vase or glass. At one time, my brand new glass cracked when I was getting rid of its label.
Wear safety gears
You will need 3 things at most.
- Hand gloves-Buy gloves that are resistant to chemicals.
- Respiratory musk- With a heat gun, it is so easy to inhale toxic fumes which can cause respiratory infections.
Men, with long-sleeved shirt, you need to make sure that they are buttoned or cuffed. You must avoid loose clothes, because they can catch fire easily.
Location
If you have a workstation that you carry out your project, you need to make sure that it is well-ventilated. That means the doors and windows opened to allow fresh air to get it. The best place so far to work with a heat gun is always outside, because you can lower the chances of inhaling the toxic fumes.
General safety rules
- You need to have a fire extinguisher in case of fire.
- Never use a heat gun to scrap of old paint, because it can be dangerous.
- Be careful when you are using the heat gun for soldering. It can melt the solder. Or it can lower the strength of the pipe.
- Keep children away during operation, because they may inhale the fumes.
Now what is remaining is for you to try out this little tool and see what happens. I hope you have learned more about “what is a heat gun used for" article. Hey before you click away, can you tell me in the comment below on how you use a heat gun?
