12 Awesome Hot Glue Hacks

Intro: 12 Awesome Hot Glue Hacks

The hot glue gun is a really cool tool to have in any workshop. No matter whether you need instant holding power, insulation, or the properties of soft plastic, the hot glue gun is one practical tool to have at your disposal. Let's take a look at a couple of different interesting ways to use the hot glue gun!

STEP 1: 12 Ways to Use Hot Glue

1. Super Fast DIY Frame

With hot glue you don't need to do any nailing! Simply cut up wood to fit your picture, then butt joint the pieces together, securing with hot glue. Using thin pieces, glue a frame on top which will function as a lip for your picture to attach to. Secure your picture to the lip with hot glue!

2. Create a Seal

Whether you need an air tight or a water tight seal, using hot glue works really well. Here I make a seal on a DIY paint can with a soap dispenser pump attached to make my own pump can for finishing products.

3. Assembling Small Models

When you need instant holding power, such as when building small models, nothing beats hot glue. It's fast, it sets up really quickly, and it's surprisingly strong.

4. Attaching Under Cabinet Lighting

If you're looking to attach LED lighting underneath your cabinets, then using hot glue is a great idea!

5. Decorative Copper Pipe Connection

When you want to attach copper pipes together, however you don't want to do any soldering, then using hot glue is a great option, especially if you're doing a decorative project.

6. Attach Decorative Knobs (Faux Drawers)

If you're looking to attach knobs to faux drawers, or some other project, where you're not actually going to use the knobs, then use hot glue!

7. Holding Wood Together for Template Cutting

When you're looking to cut a template on several pieces of wood at the same time, attach several pieces of wood together with a small amount of hot glue. Then do your cuts, and after that you can separate the wood and all the pieces are the same!

8. Setting Wires on Wood

Sometimes it can be useful to attach wires to wood when doing a project. Using hot glue secures wires very well, and it will keep everything neat and organized.

9. Attaching Fabric To Wood

One of the easiest ways to attach fabric to wood is using your hot glue gun!

10. Setting Magnets in Wood

When you want to set magnets in wood and you don't want to mess around with epoxy or anything else that smells bad and takes a long time to dry, then hot glue is a great way to go. It sets up quickly, doesn't smell bad, isn't toxic and is surprisingly strong!

11. Making Soft Painting Pyramids Take advantage of how soft hot glue is and make molds out of it. Here I used an ice cube mold which I filled with hot glue. Once dried, I removed the glue, cut a few in half, and then hot glued the triangle on top of the square to make a stable pyramid. This is great to use when finishing a wood project, as it enables both sides to dry without scratching the wood or the finish.

12. Waterproofing LED Lights

When you connect LED lights with wires and you want to make it waterproof, one excellent way to go is to encase the wiring with hot glue. As soon as the hot glue hardens, you can put it in water!

STEP 2: Conclusion - Watch the Video

To see all of these useful hot glue hacks, take a look at the video for a more in depth look. Perhaps you'll pick up a few new tips you hadn't thought about!

Comments

[EllyE4]

Is hot glue flexible??

[Frofina]

yes

[ericsnis]

I sometimes use it for making temporary wood joints like when setting up jigs or trying out a fit. The joint is easily broken with some 90% iso or denatured alcohol which I keep in a syringe with a 18 gauge needle which I blunted on a diamond plate. A bit of alcohol causes any residual glue chunks to peel right off.

[JustinK162]

Depending on what type of magnet you use, hot glue typically does not work on most magnets. It will however work on ceramic magnets. The reason hot glue does not work on a lot of magnet is because the heat actually can demagnetize the magnet. That's why it usually is suggested that you use epoxy and other more toxic chemicals.

[schabanow]

D'you know how to DISassemble the objects being assembled with a hot glue? Any surfaces, any kind of hot glue. In a minute. Any damages. Fall apart, details and used hot glue, side by side. Furthermore, LOVELY, precise stamps out of coins (or sth similar reliefed small things) are easy achievable as well... ))

[SoLongSidekick]

Acetone makes hot glue lose it's grip instantly.

[schabanow]

Acetone is a poison. Ethylene does the same.

[JulianP4]

Acetone is naturally produced in the human body. It is only high exposure that is toxic. Acetone has been studied extensively and is generally recognized to have low acute and chronic toxicity if ingested and/or inhaled

Acetone evaporates rapidly, even from water and soil. Once in the atmosphere, it has a 22-day half-life and is degraded by UV light via photolysis

[DavidB594]

Julian: I'm a physician and you are absolutely correct. So tired of reading posts that equate acetone to cyanide or saran gas.

[SoLongSidekick]

...so? Exactly what knowledge does being a physician bring to the table in a discussion about a chemical that I guarantee was never brought up once in med school.

[DavidB594]

You demonstrate your ignorance, moron, I mean SoLongSidekick. Acetone is a "ketone body" and normally present in both serum and urine. It occurs as a result of normal metabolism. It can rise to very high levels in uncontrolled diabetes in insulin dependent diabetics develop high glucose levels and due to a relative insulin-resistance begin to metabolize other substances such as protein and fatty acids instead of glucose.This condition is known as diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal condition. Moron.

[SoLongSidekick]

HAHAHA you just outed yourself. "Physician". Sure.

[DavidB594]

Please inform me what part of what I posted is inaccurate. You obviously are a physiology and biochemistry savant. Enlighten us, oh wise one!

[SoLongSidekick]

I can't, as I stopped reading after "You demonstrate your ignorance, moron, I mean SoLongSidekick"; which no one has heard since middle school. Are you the first teenage physician in the world?!?!

[SoLongSidekick]

...and? Rubbing alcohol is more abundant and used more often, and is equally effective.

[schabanow]

What does it mean 'rubbing'? The stuff you rub your chest / foots when you got bad cold or caugh? I guess that stuff is more like to vodka then pure ethylene... ???

[Fly4aWhiteGuy]

Rubbing alcohol is not going to affect hot melt glue.
I sort of doubt acetone would work well, but it would work eventually.
I use a heat gun to disassemble hot melt glued assemblies.

[SoLongSidekick]

... it works instantly. As in within three seconds the bond falls apart.

[JulianP4]

..just mean acetone isn't as bad as is often thought..

[schabanow]

Got it, thanks. Well, all in all, acetone's to be quite expensive here (twice or even trice more the pure alcohol) and prohibited as a precursor. The word is to be used here to name a stuff that can be used in opiates excretion process, as well as potassium permanganate (for instance) which you can by in a drugstore in a tiny amount otherwise you will be asked for permit papers... So I can buy acetone in a special stores only and it's a pity that kind of stores isn't achievable for me.