RogueRose
International Hazard
Posts: 1585
Registered: 16-6-2014
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Lab grade heat gun - one of the best investments! NO MORE HarbFr crap!
So I have a Master Appliance VT-750C which has a temp adjustment from room temp to 1000F (I think it gets hotter though)
https://www.grainger.com/product/MASTER-APPLIANCE-Electric-H...
Retail is $100-$160 but they can be found fro $25-60 on ebay and other auction sites.
I don't use heat guns a lot so I had settled for harbor freight and other ~$20 units. I'd be able to use them for what seemed like about 8 total
hours before something on it broke. Had 5-6 units, and 3 units went from working fine to the motor spinning 20-30x faster (and arcing a lot) the next
time I turned it on. temp fuses would blow and even bypassing them seemed to not work (how it didn't I have no idea). Well, many issues and about
$100 spent on these shit units.
The Master Appliance is fully made of metal, has a VERY solid and beefy motor (like 6x the size of the HF models), has a cool mode - no heat (instead
of 1/2 heat which cheap models have) and best of all a FULLY adjustable temp controller which can be very accurate in fine tuning the temp to within a
few degrees of intended temp - and it maintains this temp.
The one thing that a user needs to know if they get one of these is that they MUST switch the device to "cool" for a minimum of 30 seconds after using
it (2 mins is better) so that it will properly cool the heating coils which can extend the life of the unit by 10's of thousands of hours vs an
immediate shutdown.
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Dr.Bob
International Hazard
Posts: 2656
Registered: 26-1-2011
Location: USA - NC
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Mood: No Mood
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I think I have one or two of those somewhere in my pile of stuff, they are great for heating reactions gently (starting Grignards), developing TLC
stains, thawing frozen stuff (like pipes in winter), drying your hair, and "non-flame" drying glassware. You can heat stuff to nearly red hot with
them, I have one at work which I use often. I'm happy to sell whatever I can find, if anyone is interested, for about $50, depending on the
condition.
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Geocachmaster
Hazard to Others
Posts: 146
Registered: 5-3-2016
Location: Maine, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Corroded, just like my spatulas
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Personally I use a Milwaukee #1220 heat gun, like this one on eBay: Milwaukee heat gun. It works fine and gets plenty hot enough. I do like the power control of the one you listed though, mine only has high and low
power. Mine was $3 at a yard sale so I'm not complaining.
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zed
International Hazard
Posts: 2277
Registered: 6-9-2008
Location: Great State of Jefferson, City of Portland
Member Is Offline
Mood: Semi-repentant Sith Lord
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To be fair, not all Harbor Freight stuff is complete junk. Some of it, is really pretty good.
The stuff that IS junk, however......is REALLY junk. I read the product reviews. It's helpful in determining what stuff would be a good idea, to
avoid purchasing.
If the other guys give some product a serious "thumbs down", they are usually right.
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