Heat Guns - Heating Your Repairs
Heat guns have got to be one the most used tools in my business. I use them for heating my repairs on a daily basis, whether it be a vinyl repair, a leather repair, melting plastic when needed, or just heating up a piece prior to repair. Having the correct heat gun to do these repairs is crucial to your success.
If a heat gun breaks down while your doing a repair it can cost you time and money in the long run. So buying a cheap heat gun and thinking your saving money is a bad move believe me. I went through that phase of thinking buying a cheap gun just to get me by would work, well after running back and forth to the hardware store every other week or even sooner I figured it was not saving me anything, all it was doing was causing me frustration and more money each time I was down. So I figured it was time to break down and get with the big boys and buy the right equipment for the right job.
There are so many options out there to choose from. I’m going to try to give you a few pointers in the use of your heat guns and give you some choices to choose from.
First and foremost there is something that I’ve learned that will save your heat gun and make your heating element last ten times longer, now this is a feature that is not available on most of the less expensive models, its what is called the “cool down” time. The cool down time is crucial in cooling the element gradually so not to burn it out. What this is is when you turn the heat off on the gun, you can switch it to where cool air blows through cooling the element slowly. This little trick will make your heat gun last a lot longer, believe me. In fact I won’t buy a gun unless it can be switched to cool air. I used to go through elements like crazy and then being the man I was didn’t think to look at the manual, but one day in the shop going through some paper work I happen to read a little about the heat gun I was using and came across a part that talked about the cool down stage and how when you get done with the unit to let it sit and run on the cool air cycle for about a minute before it’s to be shut down. They gave no real reason for this, you know most instruction manuals, anyways it made since. You know how if things that are really hot and don’t get a chance to cool down right, then they sometimes take on a different shape, form or even molecular structure. So I tried it and it really worked, really it was kinda a “duh” thing but just one more thing to help from having down time. No more buying elements on a regular basis.
Depending on the heat gun you use and really this can go for all the guns is to be careful not to drop it. On the inside if you haven’t ever seen the heating element, is a coil of wire wrapped around a ceramic piece and this stuff is kinda delicate. If you break the ceramic too bad then the gun will burn itself up. It has to do with the heat transfer or something like that, but they will break if you drop them to many times. We all get in a hurry sometimes and tools get to fly’n but this one is just a little more delicate then most so you gotta be a little more delicate with this one.
Laying your heat gun down while doing a repair can be a challenge, because you can’t really keep turning your heat gun off and on just to lay it down for a second to get more compound on the repair or shoot a little dye on the repair area. So finding a gun that either stands up on it’s own or finding something to lay the gun on without burning something else and creating another repair. I do a lot of new limo’s and when I’m inside there’s no room for error, and if my gun falls over onto a seat or burns a spot in the carpet then I’m….well let’s just not go there. I use a piece of cardboard to set my gun on and really pay attention to where the blast is going. I’ll even hold the gun between my legs so I don’t have to set it down if needed. Just anything to keep a very bad thing happening.
I’ve used both types of heat guns that either stand up on there own or not. The ones that have the stand, well they’re handy but I see why they have the stands because they’re so big and heavy. One thing to keep in mind is the weight of a gun too, it’s kinda hard holding a heavy heat gun up to doing a repair. But I like my big gun the elements are easy to change and I like the way I can set it down easily. It heats well and does have a cool down mode. But like I said it is heavy and a lot of times I will use my lighter weight heat gun. It’s easier to handle and the one I have has a digital read out so I know what temp I’m at for each job.
The digital read out is nice, I have total control of temperature. There’s a couple of heat guns I would recommend if your looking for control with your heat. One is the Steinel IntelliTemp and the other is the Wagner Digital heat guns. Both are great guns, the Steinel is of course a more commercial grade type of gun, made to last in extreme work environments. The Wagner I’d say is more lower end commercial model but probably won’t last as long. I’m using the Wagner right now, I’m still kinda in that cheap a@# mode but the gun works pretty good. I bought it in a pinch when my big gun went down and I couldn’t get a part right away and happen to find it on the damaged shelf, the only thing wrong with it was the spout had a dent in it, yes I know I’m a cheap a@#. The read out isn’t exactly a LCD read out but you do have control over your temperature range. The Steinel will probably be my next purchase due to the durability and the LCD read out is nice, but so far so good the Wagners doin the trick.
Now one other little device you do need to go along from with your heat gun for doing a vinyl repair and even leather repairs is a reducer tip. What this will do will concentrate the heat to a smaller area giving you more control in your smaller repairs and reducing the “halo effect”. That is one thing that I didn’t like with the Wagner is that it did not come with a reducer tip. Luckily I had one made for my other gun. It’s a long 1/4″ tube welded to a piece that slides down over the end of the heat gun. But I will tell you if you use one of these make sure it is on there before you start your repair, if it falls off in the car when it’s hot it will burn the car and You when you go to grab it in a frantic, been there, it hurts.
One last little tip when using your heat gun. If your dyeing an entire seat don’t use your heat gun to dry the dye. Buy a hairdryer! This will save time and your gun too. When your dyeing a lot of over spray is floating around and gets recirculated back through the gun. It will clog the gun up and ruin it. Using a hairdryer will save your gun from this and they blow harder anyway which dries the dyes quicker. You don’t run the risk of melting or bubbling your dyes like with a heat gun.
So the biggest things to look for when purchasing your next heat gun is variable heat settings, a cool down mode, accessibility to parts like elements, and really in my opinion is weight, the lighter guns are just a little easier to use. Don’t forget your reducer tip too, it will come in handy.
Hope this helps in your repairs with the few tips on the use of your heat gun and heating your repairs.
Heres you a few choices for heat guns and accessories:
Tags: heat gun, leather repair, purchase new heat gun, saving money, vinyl repair, vinyl repair tips
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