Heat Guns?

[chim]

About a year ago a bud gave me a corded DeWalt kit when he ended up with an extra one. Used it a few times and really like the settable heat. Cordless is OK for smallish stuff, but for real heat or longer duration it needs to be on a leash

 

[TexTrctr]

Echo the corded Harbor Freight gun. I got one many years ago, don't remember what I paid, but it always worked for what I needed it for. Very basic, only high and low, but it does fine.
I'm a big proponent of battery powered power tools in general, but I too would be afraid of how long the battery would last with a cordless gun. If they didnt last long under use, I would be concerned about reducing the battery life with too many cycles...and that would be a problem for other tools.

 

[Williy]

HF heat guns: https://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/heat-guns-seamers/heat-guns.html

willy

 

[TexTrctr]

Thx Willy,
Mine looks like the current Warrior model, I'd have to check if that's the name on mine.
For the OP, IMO, looking at the prices vs performance rating, and what mine can do, I would not see the need to buy the more expensive Bauer or Hercules models.

 

[ultrarunner]

One of the Docs asked if he could borrow a heat gun and I said I will bring it tomorrow.

I had a new $8 in box Harbor Freight and wrapped it in Christmas wrap and gave it to him…

He was deeply touched… more so than I would have expected…

He still thanks me every time he uses it.

 

[bmaverick]

10-inches of snow over night. Got out to the tractor. Darn the key hole froze. Took the HF heat gun, heated the key, put it in the hole. Melted the moisture, did it a second time, now the key turns. Took 5mins and was out plowing once again.

 

[chim]

Useful information for comparison purposes isn't as straight forward as it should be. I took a few minutes to compare the DeWalt corded heat gun (D26960) and the 20V Max cordless (DCE530). Found some basics.

While the cordless gun will develop temperatures of 990° (vs. 1,100° for the corded), it only has an air flow of 6.7CFM (vs. 17.7CFM for the corded gun). So even though there's roughly 10% difference in the heat produced, the corded model has ability to do considerably more "heating". Sort of like dripping boiling water onto an ice cube compared with dropping an ice cube into a container of boiling water.

The literature for the corded model indicates that soldering copper pipe is a possibility. I did a search on Youtube and found a guy who used a similar heat gun to heat an already-soldered 90° elbow enough to pull the copper pipe out of it. He said he'll stick with a torch in the future It could be useful for small diameter copper in a tight place?

The DeWalt description says the cordless gun can have as much as 42 minutes of run time. That statement is followed with three asterisks. I wasn't able to find a reference for the asterisks, so there may be some wacky qualifier. Low heat setting? Big Flexvolt battery? The run time on the corded model is from the time you turn it on till you turn it off

 

[yanmars]

I got one recently from Ace. Works well for what I need. Corded

 

[Captain Dirty]

Before I bought mine I used wife's hair dryer but got yelled at for using it in the garage.

Give your lovely bride a new hair dryer for Valentine's Day and keep the old one in the garage.

Aside: Geezers like myself used open flame (typically propane with a flame spreader) to heat pine tar into wooden ski bottoms, used a special tip to iron (melt) hard wax into the ski base. Open flames require care and attentiveness, but the skills (ski prep or sweating fixtures) are readily acquired. Electric heat guns can cause fires, too.

 

[RayIN]

I'm going to get some Maple wood. Use some Ferric Nitrate on it (some kind of liquid with suspended iron dust as I think I read) and see if I can re-create this. To get the reaction in the wood, I understand it has to be heat treated, hence the gun.

My hope is to make a wooden box out of this. Seems it interacts with the tannens that are in the maple wood. Otherwise, I have no clue. Got the Ferric Nitrate on way, need method to heat to experiment.

I really like that finish.

View attachment 2676383

You must begin with curly maple, then saw it correctly; the oil enhances the unusual grain pattern.
I have an old Kentucky long rifle with the stock made from curly maple. Linseed oil raised the grain.