Heat shrink

[PDubya]

I don't know if much has changed with heat shrink, but I know back in the day we had to use a special heat gun to make the tubing actually shrink. Do you still have to have the heat gun to use heat shrink? Any other tips?

 

[rigdoctor99]

For industry standerd heat shrink you still need the hot air gun of days gone by LOL........ But some companies make low temp heat-shrink that you can use a domestic hiar drier, or pocket lighter (for cigerets, not pockets) on....

 

[zevon8]

I have found those little self-igniting butane torches are very handy for this type of thing. The ones you can refill from a regular lighter butane can are the ones I am talking about. Very small, like an overgrown lighter with a nozzle. Make a small curved metal heat shield so you don't set fire to the surroundings and you are good to go. I mostly use one of the big ungar hot air guns at work, but sometimes space is limited and the mini torch is great.

 

[justDIY]

I use a mini torch too ... no heat-up time like the electric gun

similar to this:
https://www.kitchen-universe.com/detail.aspx?s=shopping&ID=698

I don't recommend it for cheap-o PVC shrink wrap ... I only use irradiated polyolefin now... the pvc stuff burns way too easy and also looks all nasty when it shrinks.

 

[zevon8]

This is almost identical to mine: https://www.autobarn.net/aupiighegun.html

And I agree, buy good heatshrink, in 4' lengths it's really cheap to grab a good assortment.

 

[justDIY]

the other thing it works good for is heat-shrinking the wings of flys ... for some reason, my lab attracts big nasty black flies ... and they like to buzz around the fluorescent lights ... a quick zap with a 1300F butane flame takes 'em out of the air.

 

[moody07747]

I use a mini torch too ... no heat-up time like the electric gun

similar to this:
http://www.kitchen-universe.com/detail.aspx?s=shopping&ID=698

I don't recommend it for cheap-o PVC shrink wrap ... I only use irradiated polyolefin now... the pvc stuff burns way too easy and also looks all nasty when it shrinks.

Those are really useful and I also have one
**broken link removed**

But the #1 torch I use all the time would be this one from the shack.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...3&cp=&origkw=torch&kw=torch&parentPage=search

I do 90% of my soldering with it