Precision hot glue gun

Step 6 The pen-type version: making the barrel

For my pen version, I wanted a barrel, both to hold the glue stick and also to make the product easier to hold when using it. The ballpoint pen from which I'd taken the nib surround also had a barrel which looked to be the right diameter to fit the glue sticks; in fact it needed a little bit of further drilling out due to the slight taper (reaming bits would be handy here) but was a good snug fit inside the orange rubber sheath and the glue sticks slid in and out easily. (Note in the photo here I hadn't yet attached the nib surround as the new nozzle, or removed the superfluous indicator light).