Who makes a good heat gun?

[cturner]

Hey Folks:

i gotta lotta paint to strip off me ol' boat so I'm 'bout to invest in a heat gun. Any recommendations on what to buy or even to avoid?

Thanks for yer help.

Chris Turner
St. Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia.

[Wild Wassa]

Hi Chris, The heat gun is a real time saver, if the background material can take the heat.

I use a Breville, Super Power 1600, hair dryer, for lower temperatures, when softening the paint, is all that's needed.

The second is a Ryobi 2000W gun. The Ryobi is the paint stripper. The temperature and speed can be varied. The Ryobi on 'full' is extremely hot and dangerous. The set includes, stripping tools (with screw-in long handles) and different nozzles, to direct the stream.

Finally, a tool recomended on WBF, one of the best for tricky jobs and areas that can't afford heat shock, a soldering iron. This tool is excellent.

Warren

[ 03-25-2002, 04:33 AM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[B. Darrah Thomas]

I own an MHT model 750, 1600W unit. Plenty of heat. If I remember it was about $50. Probably a bit "Joe Home Owner" but a fair tool anyway.

[Scott Rosen]

I have a Milwaukee Variable Temp hot air gun.

It works great. I has a nice safety feature. There's a fold-out stand on the handle so you can put it down while it's hot, without worrying about burning your boats to the waterline.

[Bob Cleek]

I used to have a great old heavy metal behemouth that was sold for heating shrink wrap packaging in warehouses. It wore out and I couldn't find another. I now see where the same model is being sold by Bosch. It had a flat plate on the handle which permitted it to be set on a benchtop and run standing alone. That was handy for working on things that required two hands... which wasn't that often.

Now I have a Milwaukee two speed, like Scott's. It works fine and it's greatest advantage is that it has a plastic body and is remarkably lightweight. That makes a big difference when you are working on big jobs. I'd go with the Milwaukee. Most of the "homeowner" models are really not powerful enough to get the paint off. Keep in mind that heat guns, particularly when used with scrapers, on lead based paints (read: anything older than 1978, and probably just about every boat built before yesterday...) release a lot of lead fumes and dust. Wear a mask and make sure you have some good ventilation... like a big fan blowing it away from you.

[K Wilson]

I'm another fan of the Milwaukee (which BTW has nothing to do with the company that makes those really nice drills). I have two which I haven't been able to kill yet despite determined efforts; Home Despot sells them for around $30. Remember that heat output is roughly proportional to Watts, limited to about 1500 on a std 15A 110VAC circuit. Paying more money doesn't necessarily get you any more heat. I'd also heartily recommend the "Pro-Prep" scraper, sold by the Wooden Boat store, among others.

[Dave Carnell]

I bought Harbor Freight's $20 gun along with a spare to strip 30 years of paint accumulation from a Simmons Sea-Skiff 20. I used the gun with a 2" wide heavy wood chisel and took off all the paint in one pass. The peelings look like rock strata with all the colors visible. The original gun is still going fine, and I sold the intended spare to a friend.

[J. Dillon]

This topic ran before and there was a lot of good advice on what to get. This old fool redface.gif said what the heck I'll get a cheep one even if it don't last a long time it'll last long enough to do the small amount I need it for. So I opted for Harbor freight 14.95 special. The advise given here talked of practicing to get the technique down so to the work shop I went determined to gain the skill needed. Well the cheepo model lasted 15 minutes and died in a shower of sparks, :eek: foul smells you name it. :( On the up side I mailed it back and was given credit for it. smile.gif But lost out on the shipping costs. :mad:

I don't know if Dave was just lucky :cool: with his or I was un lucky and got the one lemmon in the bunch. :(

For me lesson learned "buy quality" and listen to some of the advice posted here. ;)

JD