I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto battery.
I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of reasons, I'd rather
not do that. thanks, Rich

In article , "richg99" wrote:
I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto battery.
I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of reasons, I'd rather
not do that. thanks, Rich


They do sell battery glue guns.

greg

"richg99" wrote in message
...
I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane repair
in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a standard $5.00
or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto battery. I know I can put a
converter on, but , for a variety of reasons, I'd rather not do that. thanks,
Rich

You would have to remove the 110V heating element and replace it with a 12V
heating element. Don't know where you'd get such an animal, but I suppose you
could fashion one from the heating element from a 12V appliance such as a
soldering iron, cooking appliances for camping, etc. You might be able to use
the resistance wire from a wire-wound power resistor.
I've never had one of these glue guns apart, so I can't say how easy or hard it
would be to do.

--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just substitute the appropriate characters in the
address)

Experience: What you get when you don't get what you want

Probably just a dumb question..but..if the 110 v unit has a coil of
resistance heating wire..and the aforementioned 12 v unit has a coil of
resistance wire...can I calculate how much of the 110 v wire I would need to
make it heat on 12 v d.c.? i.e. can I cut it shorter..or ....add .....more
of the same wire??

There must be a number and gauge in there someplace?? ...

or...can I put a resistor into the 12 v circuit to make it "look like" the
110 v voltage coming in.. or is that going the wrong way around?

thanks sorry for the dumb questions...but you guys know this stuff..I
don't. Rich

p.s. the 110v gun that I have here is a 40 watt gun...with two choices..low
temp ( which is what I need and use ) and high temp. The glue they sell will
melt at either temperature..

In article ,
"richg99" wrote:

Probably just a dumb question..but..if the 110 v unit has a coil of
resistance heating wire..and the aforementioned 12 v unit has a coil of
resistance wire...can I calculate how much of the 110 v wire I would need to
make it heat on 12 v d.c.? i.e. can I cut it shorter..or ....add .....more
of the same wire??

Rich-

If you only cut the wire shorter, you might get the same power on 12
volts. But with ten times the current you would burn out the wire.

Just for discussion, suppose you cut the resistance wire into 10 equal
pieces, reconnected them in parallel and applied 12 volts. The
resulting combination would draw ten times the current at one tenth the
voltage, which equals the original power. In theory it would work, but
in practice, you would need to wind the parallel wires into the original
space without any of the coils touching.

I think your best bet would be to look in the hobby shops for a battery
powered glue gun. If you can't find one, a 50 or 100 watt DC-to-AC
inverter would be fairly small, and they are readily available. The
smaller ones may be built with an integral lighter plug, so an
automotive lighter socket would be needed to use them.

Fred

"richg99" wrote in
:

Probably just a dumb question..but..if the 110 v unit has a coil of
resistance heating wire..and the aforementioned 12 v unit has a coil
of resistance wire...can I calculate how much of the 110 v wire I
would need to make it heat on 12 v d.c.? i.e. can I cut it
shorter..or ....add .....more of the same wire??

There must be a number and gauge in there someplace?? ...

or...can I put a resistor into the 12 v circuit to make it "look like"
the 110 v voltage coming in.. or is that going the wrong way around?

thanks sorry for the dumb questions...but you guys know this stuff..I
don't. Rich

p.s. the 110v gun that I have here is a 40 watt gun...with two
choices..low temp ( which is what I need and use ) and high temp. The
glue they sell will melt at either temperature..



why not just buy the RIGHT TOOL for the job,a 12v glue gun?
Or buy an inverter,and then you will have it for other tools,other
purposes.

(chances are,the 110v heating element is not accessible to be modified.
Besides,if you just take off some of the wire,you lose heating power.A 12V
heating element of the same heating power will draw a much higher
current,and use a heavier gauge wire.)

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

"richg99" wrote in message
...
I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto battery.
I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of reasons, I'd rather
not do that. thanks, Rich

Just get 9 more car batteries and wire them in series.

When I was in Bartell's drug store (a Seattle chain) two weeks ago, they had
a rechargeable glue gun on sale for $9 or so. This was one of those
"Advertised on TV" products.

Perhaps a store in your area has a similar product.

In article ,
richg99 wrote:
I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto
battery. I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of
reasons, I'd rather not do that. thanks, Rich

Very few of these things can be stripped to the point where you could
replace the heater element, as the low price means they're disposable. And
even if you could where would you get the correct part? I suppose you
could make the correct element - but buying the materials may prove
difficult and costly.
I've seen rechargeable ones on sale. They would prove a better basis to
run off 12 volts via a regulator.

--
*Constipated People Don't Give A Crap*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Jul 29, 5:41*am, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
In article ,
* *richg99 wrote:

I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto
battery. I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of
reasons, I'd rather not do that. *thanks, Rich

Very few of these things can be stripped to the point where you could
replace the heater element, as the low price means they're disposable. And
even if you could where would you get the correct part? I suppose you
could make the correct element - but buying the materials may prove
difficult and costly.
*I've seen rechargeable ones on sale. They would prove a better basis to
run off 12 volts via a regulator.

--
*Constipated People Don't Give A Crap*

* * Dave Plowman * * * * * * * * London SW
* * * * * * * * * To e-mail, change noise into sound.

How much power does it use?
That is how many watts?
Since it is glue gun it is almost 100% likley to be resistive load. So
no motors or fans etc. Soldering irons are similar.
Therfore one of those addapters used in cars to run small household
appliances from the car battery 'might' do the job?

For example our smallest glue gun uses IIRC around 24 watt.
So plugged into the 120 volt wall outlrt at home, at home it use 120
volts at 0.2 amps = 24 watts. (120 x 0.2 = 24).
So you would need an auto inverter that will supply 24 watts at 120
volts with input from a car battery at 12 volts.
Just for the record it will draw a little more than 24 watts from the
car battery because of the slight inefficiency of any device.
Even if that is say 30 watts, no matter. That's less than 3 amps drain
on the car battery; probably about the same as leaving on the parking
lamps! (12 x 2.5 = 30 watts).
Have seen small inverters in auto parts and big box stores. To run a
glue gun inverter does not have to be anything elaborate.
Don't try to plug in anything too big to a very small inverter though.
Someone here tried plugging in a toaster oven; probably around 1000
watts, into their auto to 110 volt inverter for their low power lap-
top that hardly gets very warm (nothing close to 1000 watts!) and then
wondered why it would not work!!!!!!!!
Good luck.

On Jul 28, 9:57*am, "richg99" wrote:
I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto battery.
I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of reasons, I'd rather
not do that. *thanks, Rich

that just ain't gonna happen. sorry.

In article , "richg99" wrote:
I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto battery.
I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of reasons, I'd rather
not do that. thanks, Rich


As if this isn't cheap enough.....

http://www.fitsmybudget.com/product.php?productid=16985

I could recommend a more expensive butane shrink wrap tool,
but you could also pull out a BIC and flick the stick.

greg

(GregS) wrote in
:

In article , "richg99"
wrote:
I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto
battery. I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of
reasons, I'd rather not do that. thanks, Rich


As if this isn't cheap enough.....

http://www.fitsmybudget.com/product.php?productid=16985

I could recommend a more expensive butane shrink wrap tool,
but you could also pull out a BIC and flick the stick.

greg


I think I'd rather use cyanoacrylate instead of hot glue for in-field model
repairs.

of course,if you're using a 12VDC-110VAC converter,then you can also use
your Dremel,charge NiCd packs,etc.
it would also be available for emergency use elsewhere.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Jim Yanik Inscribed thus:

(chances are,the 110v heating element is not accessible to be
modified.

I would go with Jim ! My glue gun heater just contains a tube of what
looks like carbon with the connecting wires embedded in it. One at each
end. I suspect that its just a big carbon resistor with a hole through
it.

--
Best Reagrds:
Baron.

richg99 wrote in message
...
I have need of a portable, low-temperature glue gun for model airplane
repair in the field. Any ideas about how I would go about converting a
standard $5.00 or so ( cheap) glue gun to use with my 12 volt auto
battery.
I know I can put a converter on, but , for a variety of reasons, I'd
rather
not do that. thanks, Rich



I would recomment making hot melt string.
Use an ordinary gun to extrude continuously onto a large clean sheet of
metal. Then take some and a 12V soldering iron to use the string like
soldering , some aluminium expanded metal from car repair shop for
reinforcement and some cable ties.


--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/