Hot Glue Reflow

[rgsparber]

Hot Glue is fine for sticking many materials together but it is great for potting wires and connectors. The challenge is to get the glue into tight spaces and to have a decent looking finish on the outside. The trick I use involves a hot air gun.

If you are interested, please see

http://rick.sparber.org/HGRL.pdf


Your comments are welcome. All of us are smarter than any one of us.


Thanks,

Rick

[Masterjuggler]

That's a neat trick, I'll have to put that into practice. I could imagine also wrapping some masking tape around it as a mold to allow for longer heating and lower viscosity.

[bob1275]

I've been thinking about buying a glue gun but have not had a use for it until recently. I've never used one before and will see what happens when I get it.
Thanks for the hot air gun idea for reflow, but just to add a point that it may be a good idea to mask around any locking tabs on electrical connectors beforehand.

[rgsparber]

I have used blue painter’s tape to form molds but not tried to reflow them. Interesting idea.

[olderdan]

I have only had a hot glue gun for a few months but I find I am using it increasingly for many things. Your re flow idea is great, not only supportive for wiring but insulating and weather proofing also. The sort of things I get up to means I will be trying that method.
Thanks for the posting.

[rgsparber]

Using hot glue is great but does have its limitations. Here in the Phoenix it routinely gets above 115 degrees in the shade. Metal left in the sun can reach 160 degrees. Low temperature hot glue becomes a puddle.

Rick

[hemmjo]

Be aware that most hot glue it not a 100% insulator. Back in the 80's I used to have students build a simple electronic device. If students got hot glue "shorting" certain terminals in the circuit, it would not function properly. It was a very sensitive circuit, it did not take much current leakage to cause the malfunction. Be sure you test it for your application.

[DIYer]

Thanks Rick! We've added your Electrical Potting Method to our Electrical category, as well as to your builder page: Rick's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Electrical Potting Method by Rick Sparber

tags: glue gun, electrical

[ranald]

Hot Glue is fine for sticking many materials together but it is great for potting wires and connectors. The challenge is to get the glue into tight spaces and to have a decent looking finish on the outside. The trick I use involves a hot air gun.

If you are interested, please see

http://rick.sparber.org/HGRL.pdf


Your comments are welcome. All of us are smarter than any one of us.


Thanks,

Rick

Thanks Rick.
I've had a gun for over 40 years & never thought of using it that way.
Cheers, Ranald

[nova_robotics]

That's great. Hot glue is one of the best go-tos for PCBs and electronics.

Beware though, some hot glues (medium heat glue, no idea which) will react badly with some wire insulation (also no idea which). 98% of the time it works great, but there is some insulation material that reacts badly. I've hot-glued stress reliefs for wires and had the insulation turn brittle and fall apart 1/2" away from the hot glue. It only took a few weeks too. The adhesion was perfect, but the exposed insulation beyond the hot glue just fell apart. It was so strange I couldn't believe it. It got hard and brittle and cracked right off the wire. The rest of the insulation was perfect (and is still perfect to this day, I'm still using that particular wire).

But other than weird negative reactions most of the time hot glue works just great.