Technical Heat gun recommendations??

We have seven or eight Milwaukee corded guns that work great. We just got two Milwaukee battery guns to experiment with. Battery heat guns are attractive if you are working underneath something and don't want the hassle of a cord in the way OR if you need to do a quickie one or two heatshrinks. The battery gun heats fairly quickly but we have not counted how long the battery lasts.

 

HF are cheap enough, buy two and when the first one burns out you have another. My first one lasted 6 or 7 years.

 

HF heat gun works just fine.
But most often I use my cordless BIC lighter.
No bulk, no heat up time, no cool down time, fits in my pocket and many compact spaces.

 

Jeez, I use a lighter on shrink tube, even though I own a heat gun, never occurred to me.

 

This $5 garage sale find has served me well for several years.

 

These are what I use the most.
The butane Weller is extremely useful. It has a tiny heat gun attachment. Perfect for working in confined spaces.


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I always used the wife's hair drier but when I decided to rewire the Olds I bought one of those HF heat guns. It worked good until it was out of warranty, then it burned up! I went back to using her hair drier...

 

40 year old Craftsman. Still working

 

with the little torches, is it difficult to keep the wire insulation (and shrink tubing!) from bubbling or burning? Or is it pretty forgiving?

 

Next time you have one fail...... buy a cheap hot-air plastic welder.
https://www.amazon.com/Ridgeyard-Professional-Plastic-Welder-Welding/dp/B01N7P477H

These have temp settings and a zero temp to cool them off.
If you follow the cool down procedure it will last for years.

Plus you can learn to plastic weld like I did

The biggest use for my Leister is removing "rubber marbles" off racing slicks with hot air and a scraper.

Be careful though........You can start a fire with these

 

Have used both heat gun and micro-torch. Each kind of has its place. Really like the click on, click off of the micro-torch though.

 

The Weller butane torch is very forgiving.
With the heat gun attachment. It won’t melt the tubing or insulation unless you hold it in one spot too long. There is no flame coming out. Just the heat from the diffused flame inside the tip.


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I race radio controlled cars and the Weller is a perfect tool for work at the track, particularly if you don’t have electricity.


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Thank you I might try one of these for working in tight spaces under the dash.

 

Thanks for all the responses! Those battery powered ones are intriguing.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

I've had a Milwaukee heat gun for ages, still works great. You can also use them for stripping paint (and thawing frozen pipes in the house), so they're not just for heat shrink tubing.