Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Marc St Louis on January 02, 2009, 09:47:06 am
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I found out something over the last few weeks and that is that not all heat guns are created equal. My old heat gun that I bought many years ago to make heat treating easier finally gave up on me a few weeks ago. Naturally I went out and bought another. This one only used 1275 watts as compared to the 1500 watts my old one used. What a difference. I couldn't do anything with it so I brought it back. I went back to where I had bought my old one but all they stocked was a B&D that used 1375 watts. That was better but still not as good as I was used to and made the job much slower. So I took my old one apart and had a look at it. The heating coil had burnt through so I twisted it back together and I'm now back in business.
The moral of this story is you need at least 1500 watts out of your heat gun to do the job properly. Of course a good hardwood fire does as good a job but when there's 2' of snow out and temps are -20 C it doesn't make heat treating a bow very interesting
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Thanks for sharing that info. I had noticed that it took much longer than the article in tbb stated to do the job. I think I'll take a look at my heat gun maybe I can speed thing up a little.
Thanks Ronnie
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glad you mentioned that, I was thinking of getting one soon.
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Sorry to hear that, I have a Toasting job to do soo. I checked my heat gun and it is 1200 watts. Kenneth
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Well I guess I will just use mine to dry the Dogs from Now On.....since it's only an 1100 Watt Black and Decker
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Well I guess I will just use mine to dry the Dogs from Now On.....since it's only an 1100 Watt Black and Decker
1100 Watts? That's a hair dryer, not a heat gun!
I must be old, cause I remember when Black and Decker made real tools... :P
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Well I guess I will just use mine to dry the Dogs from Now On.....since it's only an 1100 Watt Black and Decker
1100 Watts? That's a hair dryer, not a heat gun!
I must be old, cause I remember when Black and Decker made real tools... :P
Ooops.....thats 1100 degrees!!! Not Watts............Glad I looked before I dried the Basanji's with it ....eh!!!!
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I noticed that mine is considerable slower also. I guess I will keep using it since I don't know better.
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I,ve had good luck with the cheepo heat guns from Harber Freight - Prices start at $10.00
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Mine is an old B&D and is 1200w. I guess ignorance is bliss because it works fine for me. Pat
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it looks like everyone owns a heat gun but me, I'm definately gonna have to get one now so I dont feel left out
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A hot wood fire or the electric burner on the kitchen stove works better than any heat gun I've tried.
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I have gone through 2 heat guns from Harbor freight. It seems that if I have it on for >10 min something in the switch gives out. The gun will work great till I turn it off, than it will never turn on again. These were the orange ones from harbor for $9.99. I have looked at other guns but the cheapest I could find was one at wally world for $70. So I went and got a propane torch for $12, I will see how that works.
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I have a $20 gun from Lowe's, I've used it for several years, toasted and bent a bunch of wood, and straightened hundreds of arrow shafts with it. Still going strong so far.
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The original gun that I got was a walmart special direct from China and blue in color. It cost me $20 and has lasted 5 or 6 years now. Before that I used a hotplate and it worked well but it was a pain to reflex properly. Could be that the B&D is not really putting out 1375 watts, just because they say so doesn't mean it does.
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The gun I have is a 1200 watt Wagner from Wal-Mart. Found it in the paint department for about $24.00. I have found that at the 4" distance mentioned in TBB4 it does take a long time to temper the belly. But, by decreasing the distance to about 2"-3" it does go faster, and I think it still gives the wood a good heat soak because the back of the bow still gets plenty warm by the time the belly turns a nice dark brown color.
Dale
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hum I thinkin that if you twisted it back together that would shorten the circuit or lessen the resistance and make it hotter. LOL! I may be wrong since a few screw drivers are in the computer.. LOL!
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Mine is a Wagner from Ace Hardware. Has two settings with the maximum @ 1200 watts. Works great.
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I've got a german model "Steinel". The cheapest version costs $20 and has 1600W. It's for industrial use - the better ones are with thermal regulation, up to $80.
http://www.steinel.de/en/thermo_fuer_heimwerker/heissluftgeblaese (http://http: // www .steinel.de/en/thermo_fuer_heimwerker/heissluftgeblaese)
Greetz
Cord
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Your thinking is right on CutNShoot but the increase is not noticeable.
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A heat gun is a bit more convenient than a fire or burner because you can always keep a closer watch on your progress. Tempering over a stove will have you needing to take a peak more frequently. Not that that is a big deal.
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It takes about half as long to do it over a fire or the burner though.....it does such a large area at once.
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I've done a few over a hardwood fire and it is nice and fast plus it's much more fun than sitting in a shop monitoring a heat gun. The heat gun does a nicer job though
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The Biltema tunable heat gun is good.
(http://www.biltema.fi/osteri/data/webpics_all/Web%20images%20Sorted/17/large/17-008_l.jpg)
I have also seen pictures about aluminium foil and blowtorch used.
http://www..biltema.fi/osteri/osteri.cgi?tuote=17008&sivu=17008.htm&ryhmaid=154&SID=814727783110353853924
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Most of us can probably get by with a lesser heat gun than Marc. I have 60 degrees on him before I even turn my heat gun on. 8^). keith
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i went to harbor frieght on sunday to go get a heat gun... they were all out and i'm going to have to go to another location to pick one up i will probably do that this week end... the one im going to try and get is on sale right now for 9.99 but regular price is 19.99 and it is a 1500 watt dual temperature heat gun... it is orange though i think its a chicago electric power tools brand... i hope this one will be ok... for what im planning to use it for im not going to be useing as much as some of the guys on this board use theres but i think im going to go with this ones just becuae of harbor frieghts no hasal waranty plan... i like dealing withthem and they praticaly know me there sooo i would rather deal with them anyway... i almost bought one from o'rally's auto parts jsut cause i saw one there for about 24.99 or 29.99 and it looked pretty descent but then i thought why spend 30 bucks and then if it went out on me i wouldnt be able to take it back like at harbor frieght... plus i have had really good luck with tools from harbor freight and hell its hard to beat that price... ;)
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Shooter G22,
Keep the warranty, I have gone thru 2 of those Chicago heat guns as described in my post above. Works great while it lasts though.
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I went through 4 harbor freight one's in less than a year....then I bought a good one (I believe its a Wagner) thats lasted me three years and counting. You get what you pay for..... ::) In my opinion the harbor freight ones aren't worth the aggravation.
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I also have a Wagner, 2 speed fan and I believe 4 heat settings cost about$25 and going strong
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Could be the sub zero temps here are affecting the heat output of the heat gun :).
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i think im going to go for the 10 dollor crap shoot... :D if it goes out on me right off the back then i might return it and get a better one but if it last me a year for the little small jobs of striaghting shafts and on occasion maybe heating up a belly or two.. then i'd say i got my moneys worth... if i find myself making more and more bows and get to useing the heat gun more and more and i find that the harbor frieght cheapy is not going to cut it then i will invest in a better quality heat gun....
Funny thing is that today i was at work and finishing up the Quick Trip gas station or "QT" we built in uless tx... and i was on the roof installing the cast stones on the top corners of the roof... and by concident there was a guy up there that was putting this rubber sheet of seal around the pipe they got sticking up through the roof and he was useing this fascinating high grade industrial heat gun... this thing melted the rubber sheeting that goes around the tubes in seconds and he had a rollor that he rolled over the sheet to make it seal... and i go over to talk to the guy for a minute and i was asking him about his heat gun... i figured the rubber sheet he was heating up had some kind of glue or adhesive that he was heating up and he explained to me that it didnt that the gun would just melt the rubber sheet instantly but it wouldnt burn it... so i ask him wow that must be a high class heat gun if you use it all day... he said yea its a good one i asked it spensive??? he replied about $800.oo bucks.... i was like wooo :o but didnt get the name of it... he was finishing up and as he told me that, my fork lift driver beeped at me and was ready to lift up the stone so i had to go and direct him up and where to bring it up... when i got done the guy had already climbed down and i didnt get to ask him what kind of gun it was... but it was a straight hold gun... kind of like a big fat flashlight type body and it was straight not pistol grip like a hair drier... i think it was a dark blue in color.... and it had a front attachment that bought the air through a round tube that flatend at the end maybe about 6-7 inches long tube to a flat maybe 2" wide tip with the open end maybe a 1/4" thick...
but i thought that was pretty cool... how heat gun was on my mind and then bam there goes one that is probably top of the line... and i probably seen those guys use them things befor and never paid no mind to it... since our company has all the contract fo all the qiuck trips going up in the dfw area... and i'm always working on them here and there... i'm sure those guys been around but never noticed there heat gun till today and because im in the market for one...lol...
jsut thought id share... ;)
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Shooter, did it look like this? I only paid $550 for mine. It is a little on the larger side. 1600watt adjustable from 68F (20C) to 1292F (700C). Air flow adjusts between 50 to 230 liters/minute. Might be a little overkill for bows.
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l253/justinsnyder_2006/triac.jpg)
If that one isn't big enough for you I have this one. 230 Volts 4600 Watts. Just dont engage the drive motor while doing bows. Oh yea and this one was $6500 dollars. You better plan to heat a lot of bows. ;)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l253/justinsnyder_2006/lst-varimatlarge.jpg)
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We have one of the Last ones you have Pictured at work....We use it to Weld Seams in Plastic Lined Ponds
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Basically what I use it for, welding TPO or PVC membrane. Except after I weld the plastic seams it is on a roof and I prefer no ponding. :o The small one is for details like corners, pipes and drains.
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yea Justin,
as a matter of fact i think that might have been the exact one now that i think of it was green and not blue...
but yea that is what he was useing... wow... i guess you get it cheaper than he does unless he was just exadrerating...
wow them things are top of the line huh... ;)
way more than what i would ever need.... i think i'll stick to trying to get a 10 dollar deal... :D
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I use a $15 heat gun I bought a couple years ago from Home Depot on my bows. ;D