A glue gun is a very useful tool. Fast, strong and waterproof. and more importantly for us they work very well with foam board.
BUT a big issue with glue guns for me is they leak. I have tried all sorts of solutions, hanging the glue gun upside down just lets glue dribble down the handle, using the built in stand results in a pile of set glue on the bench.
So I decided to make a glue gun stand to stopper the open end of the glue gun. I didn't expect to stop the leak totally but to at least slow it down and reduce the waste glue I usually get.
The stand is made from scrap foam board - of course. The plug is a short masonary nail although any suitably short nail that is too wide to fit into the glue gun will do - you just want the nose to rest on the nail to stop or reduce the flow.
The base and sloping stand are cut in 1 piece - the base is 100mm x 200mm the sloping part is 100mm x 150 mm.
The verticle part has a slot cut out to suite your glue gun, 60mm x 40mm for mine. The nail is pressed through the upper layer of the end stop with the second layed glued on behind to keep it in place.
If you just hot glue the nail in, when the glue gun is on the stand the nail will get hot and melt the glue holding it in place.
Once you have the stand glued together - measure the distance for the end plate with the nail so that the glue gun tip just rests on the tip of the nail.
If you find the glue still leaks out excessivly you may need to file the nail tip round so it makes a better seal.
You can of course alter the dimentions to suit your needs.
Ed
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If you are going to go the foam core route, some form of additional weight will probably be even more important. You could also try the "nonslip hot glue trick" :
Squeeze a dollop of hot glue onto a piece of scrap foam and smear it across the surface. You want a thin, even coat. High temp glue helps here.
I use this trick on my planes with rubber band wing attachments. If you coat both the wing and the fuselage, it is *amazing* how little slippage there is!
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I like the nail idea though.
Thanks!!
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Oddly like many things Glue sticks are relatively expensive in the UK around $4 for 6 short ones in the DIY stores. Cheaper on line but the store is handy.
I just had to make a mess and to waste anything I don't have to waste when using up some of my scrap and an old nail could fix the problem.
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