How to heat shrink?

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freecableguy

Gawd
Joined
May 24, 2002
Messages
797
How do I shrink heat-shrink tubing without burning/melting it. My wife's hair drier is not powerful enough and a lighter melts it and burns it too easily leaving black behind. Is there a special tool for this?
 
Hair dryers aren't hot enough....you can buy heat guns that work great. Only problem is that they are kinda proud of 'em and unless this is something you plan on doing more than once, it's kinda expensive.

The lighter trick will work in a pinch, but the trick is to not get the lighter too close to the heat shrink. It's "heat" shrink, not "flame" shrink.....:)

Good Luck - B.B.S.
 
when i have to heat shrink something and i can do it anywhere, not necessarily inside a computer case or car or something, i just hold it over a burner on my stove.
 
I use matches.. I usually hold it 5-6 inches under the shrinktube... Works great. You have to be a little careful about getting it too close though. (Mmm...burned plastic...)
 
Most electronic stores (real ones not RS) sell heat shrink guns for $30-50. Get one of the $30 kind if you don't do it a lot. Talk to the guys behind ther counter and make sure you get the right accessory ($5-10) so it works faster.

Happy Heat Shrinking!
 
Well you've obviously never smoked crack have ya? You'd be one of them dudes to burn too close an blaze up my rock! I'd have ta beat ya down! Oh wait, I dont use drugs anymore...

At any rate... it's a matter of practice... the seasoned professional can cook up his whole rock without wasting so much as a fume while the noobs gonna blaze it into a little $40 hit that no one gets!
 
Buy one off of ebay, thats what I'm doing. Then puti t in your hoby closet and someday when you need to use it again it will be there.
 
I just use matches or a lighter

A lighter works well since it doesn't go out like matches, just becareful afterwards because if you use it long enough the metal gets crazy hot.

I have also used my sodering iron as well, not the tip of it but the metal shaft it's not as hot but works well
 
I use a little micro-torch for the heat shrink. Some heat shrink is just plain crap and is a bitch to use, it burns/bubbles too easily.
 
Hair dryers are a pain - a heat gun as others have said. ebay, Harborfreight, or the inexpensive one at the local electronics shop are all good choices for the occasional use ones.
 
A real good hair dryer will work. Personally, I use a heat gun that has two temp settings. Low is 500ºF and high is 1050ºF. I use the low setting. It works great to assist in removing labels off boxes so I can reuse them to ship stuff.:)
 
I will be getting this heat gun from HomeDepot. Cheap. Easy to pick up. 750-1000F. Hopefully this will do nicely. Thanks for all the help guys.
 
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