FERM GGM1003 Cordless Glue Gun

Hot glue is how you join two things in ten seconds when a proper joint is not worth making. It holds plastic, wood, cardboard, fabric and wires; it holds nothing that gets warm or carries real load.

This gun is cordless, and in a workshop that is a noticeable difference: no cable dragging across the bench, knocking small parts over and stopping you from reaching the work from the side you want. It is ready in fifteen seconds, so you pick it up for exactly the half minute you need it. A charge lasts about forty-five minutes of work and takes an hour to put back.

What it is good for

• Strain relief on cables: a blob where the wire leaves a case or a board, so it does not break at the solder joint
• Holding parts temporarily while something else is glued, soldered or drilled
• Building enclosures out of sheet plastic and cardboard, where speed matters more than strength
• Filling and insulating: covering contacts, potting an untidy corner
• Tacking wires and small parts in place while prototyping

What it is not good for

• Anything that gets warm. Hot melt softens well below the temperature a power supply or an LED driver considers normal. In a car in summer it simply runs.
• Load-bearing joints. Under constant load the glue creeps and one day lets go.
• Smooth polyethylene and polypropylene — it barely sticks to either.
• Anything you will later have to take apart neatly.

Safety

A hot glue burn is the most common workshop injury after the soldering iron, and it is worse than one: the blob does not bounce off, it sticks to the skin and keeps heating it.

• Do not touch a blob with a finger to “adjust” it. There is a wooden stick for that.
• Do not point the nozzle at yourself and do not test it with a finger.
• Clamp the work rather than holding it exactly where the glue is going.
• If you do get burnt, cold water, and do not pull the glue off until it has cooled.
• Do not feed the gun sticks of the wrong diameter, or old ends full of grit and swarf.

How to use

1. Take the gun out of the container on the shelf. If the battery is flat, the charger is in there too.
2. Push a 7 mm stick in from the back and let the gun heat up — the LED on the stand shows its state.
3. Wipe the surfaces free of dust and grease, or the glue will come away with the layer of dirt.
4. Lay the glue down and bring the parts together while it is liquid: you have about ten seconds.
5. Hold until it sets, then leave it alone for another half minute.
6. Strings and blobs come off after cooling; do not smear them while hot.
7. Stand the gun on its base, let it cool and put it back in the container with the sticks and the charger.

Renting it

This one goes home with you. Glue sticks are consumable, so take a few from the container; the charger travels with the gun. The daily rate and the term are in the rental block on this page.

Access

The gun is in a container on the shelf in the hackspace room, so a plan that includes hackspace access is required. No induction is needed.