Glue gun frustration. Advice please!

[jalkin]

Folks, I have had a hot-melt glue gun for some time, but it's no good for model making because it melts polysyrene, so I looked on Ebay and found a reasonably priced cool-melt gun. I bought foam board and cut out my parts, but I find that my cool-melt gun seems to be too cool - I put the glue on and apply the part immediately (within 3 secs), and the glue is already too hard to allow for sliding the part to spread the glue, and when I look down the joint, I see that the two parts are not touching, but are separated by little blobs of already cooled glue. With this equipment, I wouldn't stand the ghost of a chance of gluing all the way down a long seam, as they do in the FT videos.

I have looked on Ebay again (ebay.co.uk - I live in N. Wales), but there's very little in the way of cool-melt guns, and those that are there mostly use the mini glue sticks. I have seen scratch-build videos by Josh that recommend a certain glue gun, but I can't find them now. The vid on building the Storch recommends a certain type of glue stick - Aztec, relatively clear - but I don't see it on the UK market. Most of those sold are by a company called "Stick-it", but I don't know their characteristics. Bostic do a cool-melt gun and also glue sticks, but they're pretty pricey, so before I splurge, I'd like the benefit of your experience. I'm sure they're just great for many things, but are they suitable for foam board?

 

[RAM]

If you can't get it figured out you might want to use the hot/cold glue for tacking things in place and use a slower/liquid glue for joining parts.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

I've seen several videos and web sites providing instructions on making a temperature controller for a glue gun using a dimmer switch and an outlet (plus a bit of extra hardware) all from the local Home Depot or other hardware store.

Using the dimmer, you control the voltage going into the glue gun, allowing you to dial down the temp on your hi-temp gun to the point where it will still be usable, but not cool before you can get things in place. Experiment with settings and glue stick types, and I'm sure you'll find some combination that works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYSDw825MR0

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-hot-glue-gun-cooler/

 

[dgrigor02]

Like RAM mentions,

I heard them talking about using white gorrila glue and just hot glue for tacking on a pod cast. Saves weight and coming apart in warmer climates is not an issue.

I have been wanting to give that method a try.

Only trouble with cool-melt your tacking would probably have to be on the inside. Which would be fine for most pieces except those that slide into each other. So might just have to get a mini glue gun for the tacking purposes use white gorilla glue for everything else.

 

[jalkin]

Thanks for the ideas. I have had limited experience (very limited) with gluing polystyrene - and it hasn't been good. I suppose there are glues that don't melt it, but I haven't found one. To be fair, I haven't tried very hard either.
In the scratch-build videos by Flite-test Josh, he doesn't seem to have any difficulty. He lays the glue down, and sometimes takes 6-8 seconds to get the joints together. Peter says (in the Storch video) that the glue can sometimes melt in the sunshine, but I don't think that's going to be a big problem, even in mid-Summer. Maybe if I leave it in a hot car, but otherwise, I don't anticipate trouble. Like I said, I live in N Wales! :-(
The idea of cooling down my hot-melt gun had not occurred to me, but I definitely think it's worth a go. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll build a triac mains controller.

 

[Bricks]

Folks, I have had a hot-melt glue gun for some time, but it's no good for model making because it melts polysyrene, ?

Is the glue melting the foam or the tip of the Hot Melt gun coming into contact with the foam?

 

[HilldaFlyer]

EPS foam does melt with the hot glue. It is really a tricky deal, because if the hot glue flows, it is hot enough to melt the EPS. One thing that can help is to control the temp of your hot glue gun.

When I use EPS in builds, I have migrated to using Gorilla glue or epoxy resin or epoxy glue. It is not as quick, but it doesn't melt and holds really good.

 

[Flyingninja]

White Gorilla glue does the trick! I've used it on epp models.