By the way, I say piss / fuck / shit / damn / hell / christ / goddammit a lot, and occasionally even cunt (a word I don't even like) - I mean... a lot, a lot. I blame Uncle Sam and the USAF. Don't say you weren't warned*.
But this post isn't about my potty mouth...
--=O=--
I have this love-hate relationship with hot glue guns. And one of the many offenses listed under the "hate" column is the bloody cheap dispensers.
I have owned maybe three or four glue guns in my life. Oh, when I think about the haunted house operations -- okay, maybe six or eight. Each one was a bit of an upgrade over the previous, and a bit more expensive.
The latest (#3? #8?) just went in the trash can not ten minutes ago. It took me no more than that to come in to my office, pull up videos about hot glue guns on YouTube, find an 'Adam Savage's Tested' video about them, and discover that there is an excellent 3M product (shock, surprise, nobody knows adhesives better than 3M - nobody) which ought to be perfect for me, and will probably last me the rest of my life - it's an industrial tool not even aimed at craftsmen but aimed at people who put together custom cardboard packages or furniture - things like that - and do it all day long.
There was just one fly in the ointment: those things were completely out of my price range. 3M makes good stuff, but their stuff also fetches premium prices, and those production-grade tools were out of my league, at least new... or so I thought...
Seeing those 3M tools merely prompted me to see what was available on eBay, both new and used.
Long story short, I just spent $40 on my fourth (ninth??) and I fervently hope, last hot glue dispenser, a 3M model AE-II, which normally retails for $100 or more. But I found one new-in-the-box, open box, on eBay for $40 + $10 shipping from a reputable seller. Half off, and still 2X what I paid for the last piece of consumer-grade junk from Arrow. To be honest, $50 total was rather more than I was looking to spend, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.
If you're dying for more details, 3M's datasheet for it is >here<.
I will absolutely let you all know what I think of it when it arrives and I've had a chance to use it. That's because I'm making a fume hood out of... cardboard! It's an interesting niche project for the winter, and it will let me try out my polyurethane-and-paper composite trick on a scale much larger than anything I have attempted before. My intent and expectation is that once it's painted, it won't be easy to tell it isn't steel. And it doesn't need to be steel! (it doesn't need to be much of anything, really - just something that collects air flow in a broad funnel shape, and will stand up to minor handle and occasional bumps while hanging from the shop ceiling.)
Since I also just ran out of glue sticks as well, I ordered 5 lbs (about 90ea 10" sticks) of Fixsy Premium high-strength (dark amber color instead of translucent white/clear) sticks which should hopefully last me the rest of my life. I'll be sure to report on my opinion of those as well, but I bought them based on extensive user reports from people in crafting, modeling, and costuming forums so I'm not worried about the quantity purchase. Also I bought them through Amazon Prime so I can return them if there is anything unworthy about them.
From the moment I stormed out of my shop in anger, through searching for what to buy, finding the Tested video, and buying the replacement glue gun on eBay, took a grand total of 15, maybe 20 minutes tops.
Man, being a good little consumer is easy in the modern first world!
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*seriously tho, I don't want to hear about it. More than one old lady during my childhood washed my
mouth out with soap, and if that didn't change my mind, nothing you tell me will. Save your breath, goddammit.
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