A hot glue gun is a crucial tool for hobbyists and professionals alike. It permits you to apply melted glue that can bind to virtually any material. Its adhesive works on plastic, wood, paper, metal, cloth, stone, you name it! While glue weapons were initially used for bonding shoe soles, their versatility has made them a popular tool for DIY projects, residence improvement, upholstery work and arts & crafts.

In this article I will train you easy methods to get the most effective outcomes from your hot glue gun, and clarify how you can use it safely. I will additionally show which glue sticks are best to use, in an effort to create long lasting bonds on virtually any objects and materials.

What’s a glue gun?

A hot glue gun is a handheld system that lets you melt and apply hot melt adhesive. This adhesive comes within the form of solid sticks and can also be merely known as hot glue. The sticks are fed in by the back of the glue gun, whereas the melted glue comes out by way of the nozzle within the front.

The advantage of hot glue guns is that they are simple to make use of and that they allow you to create robust bonds between many different materials, particularly when used with the fitting type of glue stick.

There are a number of necessary steps and safety measures it’s a must to keep in mind however. This article will explain them to you.

What’s hot glue?

Hot glue is the adhesive that gets melted in a glue gun. Additionally it is referred to as hot melt adhesive or thermoplastic adhesive. When it comes out of the nozzle it has a tacky, slightly sticky feel to it. After it cools down, it solidifies.

Probably the most commonly used form of hot glue (for us DIY folk at the least) is glue sticks. However hot melt adhesives additionally are available in other forms, like ones you can apply by spraying or dipping. Dipping in a hot glue dipping pot is a method that’s steadily used for flower arrangements and other floristry.

Benefits of hot glue

Hot glue has several benefits compared to different adhesives. For instance, it dries fast. This enables you to keep working on your projects without having to wait a very long time for glue to dry. Consequently, using a glue gun could be very time efficient.

Hot glue also has a high viscosity. In consequence, it does an ideal job filling gaps and bonding tough surfaces together.

One other big advantage of hot glue is that it has a protracted shelf life. I’m sure you’re familiar with tubes of glue drying out by themselves. With hot glue sticks, this shouldn’t be an issue.

If you happen to store glue sticks in a clean, dry place, at room temperature and outside of sunlight, you can basically store them indefinitely.

Additional advantages of hot glue are:

There isn’t any loss of thickness when it cures.

Hot glue weapons are affordable because they’re such easy devices.

It works well with coloration additives. You can even use colored glue sticks. These are great for crafting or for matching the color of the glue to the colour of the thing that you just apply it to.

There is little to no waste.

It doesn’t include unstable natural compounds (VOCs) which might be dangerous to your health.

It may possibly typically be disposed of without having to take additional environmental precautions.