What’s a good brand of hot melt glue gun?

[iXod]

I’ve had several different makes of HMGGs. They all fail (or can use improvement) in the area of the glue stick feed mechanism.

The worst of these just moves the “gripper” back and forth on the glue stick. I end up fist-gripping the back end of the gun and pressing on the stick with my thumb. The best of these guns still needs “encouragement”, usually finding some sweet-spot on the trigger that seems to feed (using that word broadly) better.

Presently the gun is Arrow TR550. Sticks are Stanley “Dual-Melt” GS25DT (rated high on tests by the Project Farm channel on YouTube).

What combination have you found to work well?

Thanks.

[bob91343]

While I have found similar issues with my old Craftsman gun, I am used to the thumb push procedure and don't find it too annoying.  The worst part is that the glue is thermoplastic and thus does not set up into a heat resistant mode.  Further, there are some things to which it doesn't adhere well.  And the gratuitous drip of hot glue can get messy.

Having said all that, I live with what I have and it's not so bad.

[John B]

I've been using a Dewalt unit for a while now and the trigger/gripper mechanism hasn't failed yet.

If there was a unit made with metal pieces for the mechanism I think it would just about last forever. I've had lots of plastic ones snap right off.

[artag]

I like the Bosch ones.
The mains-powered PKP18E hasn't failed to grip yet.
The battery glue-pen is not so good, but the battery power is very useful indeed so I forgive it.

I find the glue mainly fails to stick to cold, hard surfaces - it freezes before it can spread properly. Warming the surface beforehand, or post-melting with a hot air gun helps.

[TimNJ]

During an internship (was on the assembly line for part of it), we used a few 3M Scotch-Weld TC guns, and of course, 3M glue sticks. This is for high-temperature melt glue, not the low-temperature type used for craft applications and the like. 3M glue is a little expensive, but they have lots of options. We used 3M #3779 glue. It's strong and is good up to about 150C.

After that experience, I also bought a TC gun (used). It works, though I feel mine has too long of a delay between glue entering the heater/chamber and it coming out the nozzle. Also bubbles quite a bit. Not sure what's up with that.

[mcinque]

TEC by Power Adhesives Limited UK. Great products.

[thm_w]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/good-hot-melt-glue-gun/

[mazurov]

I use AdTech Pro 200. It works well, don't remember any feeding issues.

[SteveyG]

Steinel or TEC are the go-to brands usually.

[tooki]

The worst part is that the glue is thermoplastic and thus does not set up into a heat resistant mode.  Further, there are some things to which it doesn't adhere well.

So, like every single adhesive in existence, it has characteristics and limitations? Shocking… 

Of course it’s thermoplastic. If it were thermoset, the glue gun would be single-use (if that). Being thermoplastic is neither a feature nor a bug: depending on the application, this can be a desirable quality or not.

And there is no glue in the world — none — that adheres to everything. That’s why they make thousands of different kinds of adhesive systems. (I say “systems” because many high-performance adhesives involve using pre-treatments, primers, accelerants, etc., and come in many forms: liquids, gels, pastes, putties, as tapes, sprays, etc)

You have to choose the right adhesive system for your application. If you need heat resistance, then hot melt is obviously the wrong kind, and you’d likely end up with a silicone or epoxy.

[David Hess]

All of the guns now use triggers but I prefer the older style with thicker glue sticks which only uses a thumb.

[aix]

I use Ryobi R18GLU-0 and find that it works quite well for my needs.

I use it with a Bosch battery adapter since the rest of my 18V tools are Bosch and it's convenient to only have to deal with one battery system.

[Siwastaja]

Rapid seems quite acceptable.

[geggi1]

Steinel!
Got a 25 year old Steinel that I used working as an electrician. Its  high power unit 100 or 150W that I used for gluing electrical heating cables before the floor where poured.
The unit is still working perfectly.
I think the main reason for problem with hot glue guns are that most hobby units are low power and dont melt the glue properly and because of this is overloading the feeding mechanism.