Hot melt glue sticks replacement FAQ

Sounds about right. V_squared / R

(240/110)*(240/110)*15 = 71.4

That doesnt give you the power

And you can't use 240/110 there either

And R isnt 15 either

I have a glue gun, don't know what make. It has a slide switch which alters the power. The low power setting is for when it's between jobs and you don't want it to leak hot fluid everywhere.

Some of the glue guns have a PTC heating element: the power goes down as the temperature goes up. This makes it heat with more power when it is cold, or actively pumping out hot glue, and less when it's resting. So: it draws 15 Watts resting, 70 when heating?

Try the sticks and see?

Thomas Prufer

(also), check the diameter. Some are 11mm, some are ... 12, or 10mm I think.

Not my equation, but the 15 is the 15W power on the lower voltage; so on the higher voltage it would dissipate (Vhi/Vlo)^2 * 15W = 71.4W, exactly as he said.

Ie P = V^2/R so for constant R: (Vhi/Vlo)^2 = (Phi/Plo).

Or in long hand, 15W = 110*110/R so R = 807 ohms. Then 240*240/807 = 71.4W.

nib

Not worth explaining to Rod Speed, he is trolling

And you have changed the / to *

But you f***ed up the numbers you used and changed the / to *

But is nothing like fhe value of R

The reality in this case is 2*2/R which is nothing like 71.4

Wrong again

Thats nothing like the original

I don't have any switches at all.

Do you buy particular glue sticks or just go for the cheapest?

Right, I've now located the now discontinued item:

But the side of the box states: Voltage: 110 - 240v 50Hz Power: 15W (70W)

Some glue sticks I've seen on Ebay say 40W required

Others are half the price or even better than Loctite.

So do you buy a particular brand or just what is available?

Buy the cheapest, provided the diameter is correct.

I bought a glue gun from Lidl which eventually died - but I had lots of their spare glue sticks.

I'v now got a Bosch gun which uses the same size of stick, and the Lidl sticks work much better with it than the sample stick provided by Bosch.

I need some for the Aldi gun I've got, and was going to go for:

I would think most sticks will work with most guns, performance probably varies a little, such as how long it takes for the glue to start running, how long until it sets etc. Tensile strength probably varies, but that's not what you use a hot melt glue for anyway.

There are also 'cool' melt guns, which run a little cooler than the others and presumably require a different stick. I think they will mostly use 7mm sticks, for crafting work.

There are slightly different diameters. I measured the diameter of the sticks that came with the glue gun and just bought the cheapest of that size after that. They all seem to work equally well.

While on hot-melt glue guns. Who else here is guilty of pushing the sticks into the barrel , rather than use the trigger, to get higher outflow of molten glue? I thought so. So technically not a design flaw with my favorite one a 25W/500W Parkside, presumably 2 heaters and thermal switch inside. Heats up quickly and high output. But manually pushing sticks into the barrel means the pressure inside is higher and gets forced backwards,unseen, out the stick inlet port as well as the nozzle. It gets into the low part of the trigger sliding section . You switch off and the glue sets gluing the stick, trigger section and this back flow into a solid lump. A right work up to break up and hook out all the mess, using the heater is no help as the heat doesn't get to the problem area. Solution an Ali plate cut with a slot to allow the stick passage. Placed to abut the "seal" grommet and compress it when the Ali is wedged in . Allowing the slide of the trigger to pass under. Kept in place by 2 pieces of dowel either side of the slideway slot , braced against rear section of the body.

snipped-for-privacy@please.invalid (AnthonyL) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

As you will have a nominal 230V supply (240 in real life) you will be getting 70W output so the 40W ones will work fine as long as the diameter is the same. In practice the sealing boot at the rear should cope with a fair bit of variation in stick size. The ones I have here are nominally

In terms of which ones to buy you can choose from both colour and flexibiliy once set.

I have white that are pretty rigid, clear that are fairly flexible and translucent that are in-between. Plus a rainbow box I just got to have in.

Clear and flexible may work better for craft applications hard for something more solid, your choice. Either way you're not going to break the bank if you buy more than one type and try them out.

Some I probably got from Toolstation, the rest from Lidl/Aldi when they have DIY offers.

I wouldn't pay extra for branded.

Trigger? Luxury! Why when I were now't but a lad we had to melt the sticks in the coal fire and be grateful we still had a job to go to.

Seriously, my ancient glue gun doesn't have a trigger. You push the stick into its rear end (ooh err, missus) and the hot glue is extruded from the nozzle under thumb pressure applied to the cold end of the stick.

Nick