HF Smokes Again?

[Casper]

Has anyone else purchased and used the Harbor Freight heat gun?

I purchased one on sale and immediately upon use it starting spewing
smoke from inside. I returned it and, after profuse apologies and a
refund, bought the better unit. Using this gun, for less than 60
seconds, it too spews smoke. Is this common with heat guns or HF?

The only other electrical took I have from HF is an air compressor
which works fine, no smoke. Since this is a glorified blow dryer, I
would think it shouldn't smoke and am concerned about safety.

[G. Ross]

Have had mine for several years. Used intermittenntly but has never
smoked.

--
GW Ross

Conclusion: the place where you got
tired of thinking.

[Electric Comet]

On Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:15:06 -0500
Casper <cas...@ghostmail.cc> wrote:

> Has anyone else purchased and used the Harbor Freight heat gun?

i have not got one from them

> I purchased one on sale and immediately upon use it starting spewing
> smoke from inside. I returned it and, after profuse apologies and a
> refund, bought the better unit. Using this gun, for less than 60
> seconds, it too spews smoke. Is this common with heat guns or HF?

i would leave it on for a while on a concrete floor away from
combustibles and see what happens

be ready to pull the plug

to cut costs they do the bare minimum

that would include removing any oil from parts so it is possible
that they decided not to bother removing the oil and leave that to
you

but if the smoke continues and the gun melts than my theory may be
wrong

[John Grossbohlin]

"Casper" wrote in message
news:i6fb6bll29qirdocm...@4ax.com...

This stuff runs on smoke. If the smoke leaks out it doesn't run...

[Larry Blanchard]

On Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:19:20 -0500, G. Ross wrote:

> Have had mine for several years. Used intermittenntly but has never
> smoked.

Same here.

[a...@wizardanswers.com]

Mine is several years old and just works. (On the other hand, I may
have just jinxed it ;-)

[Keith Nuttle]

I agree with the theory that the Smoke may be just the newness of the
unit burning off. This is common on new heating units or heating units
that have been stored for a long period. Each fall the first time we
turn the heat in the house on we get this smell for 5 to 10 minutes.

When you say Smoke how much smoke. A barely discernible amount coming
from the unit with a slight burning smell. (The newness burning off)

OR

Clouds of black smoke and the casing melting.

It makes a big difference.

[Electric Comet]

On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 12:46:50 -0500
"John Grossbohlin" <nospam....@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote:

> This stuff runs on smoke. If the smoke leaks out it doesn't run...

i think you are talking about the magic smoke that gets emitted from
electronic devices once


it could be that but it sounds like the heat gun continues to run
maybe HF has cornered the magic smoke market so that it can be emitted
more than once

[Electric Comet]

On Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:15:06 -0500
Casper <cas...@ghostmail.cc> wrote:

> Has anyone else purchased and used the Harbor Freight heat gun?

how can i use my heat gun in my woodwork

maybe delaminating something or weathering something

i cannot think of any other woodwork uses

i got mine for shrink tube

[FrozenNorth]

One use is paint stripping, they work pretty well on a lot of paints
along with the judicious use of a paint scrapper.

--
Froz...

Quando omni flunkus, moritati

[krw]

On Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:15:06 -0500, Casper <cas...@ghostmail.cc>
wrote:

Cosmoline? I think the whole store is dipped in it.

[Bob La Londe]

"Casper" <cas...@ghostmail.cc> wrote in message
news:i6fb6bll29qirdocm...@4ax.com...

Never had an HF heat gun, but I bought one not that long ago for shrink tube
from the same outfit I got my tube from and its done a lot of work without
leaking out all the magic smoke. It wasn't all that expensive either.

[Bob La Londe]

<a...@wizardanswers.com> wrote in message
news:fhlb6b5h816h77dam...@4ax.com...

> On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 18:00:47 +0000 (UTC), Larry Blanchard
> <lbl...@fastmail.fm> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:19:20 -0500, G. Ross wrote:
>>
>>> Have had mine for several years. Used intermittenntly but has never
>>> smoked.

Good thing. Smoking shortens its life. It should live a long time if it
never smokes, eats right, and exercises.

[Mike Marlow]

I actually do have a HF heat gun and it's the cheapest one they sold at the
time. Didn't really care how good it was when I bought it. Well - it's
worked surprisingly well for probably 10 years now, despite how horribly
cheap it feels in your hand. I've put mine to a fair amount of use, fixing
bumper covers on cars, removing decals/pinstriping, heating things up that a
heat gun was never really intended to do... you know - basically using a
tool. I almost wish it would die so I could justify going out to buy one
that feels better in my hand.

--

-Mike-
mmarlo...@windstream.net

[Mike Marlow]

You forgot - and gets sex on a regular basis...

--

-Mike-
mmarlo...@windstream.net

[Bill]

No smoke from mine on a 90+ degree day. Now the "Dremel-Like" tool I
got from HF--the first two of those smoked (which, I learned, meant
imminent death). The first of those at least lasted several hours over
2 days, the second didn't last 10 minutes.

>
>
>

[Unknown]

Casper <cas...@ghostmail.cc> wrote in
news:i6fb6bll29qirdocm...@4ax.com:

What's it smell like? How much smoke are you getting?

If it smells like burning oil, it probably is and there's nothing to
worry about. It'll burn off after a few minutes. If it's got an
"electrical" smell, then it could be a serious problem.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

[Martin Eastburn]

The issue is - no Asbestos coated wire allowed in them anymore.
The best is Glass fiber material that coats the wire.

They likely just used a high temp plastic that melted and fumed out.

Martin

[Larry Blanchard]

On Mon, 07 Dec 2015 11:27:40 -0800, Electric Comet wrote:

> how can i use my heat gun in my woodwork
>
> maybe delaminating something or weathering something
>
> i cannot think of any other woodwork uses
>
> i got mine for shrink tube

Heating wood before applying hot hide glue and veneer.

Or after to fix bubbles.

Warming Tried and True finish so it'll flow easier.

Drying wood that was steamed to fit around a form.

I'm sure others can come up with other uses - most of us have even come
up with uses for capital letters and punctuation :-).

[Dr. Deb]

The same results as G. Ross.

[Leon]

Mike! In my old automotive days paint was still being used for pin
stripes. My Tundra has the tape stripes and have about had it. I was
thinking about replacing myself. You mentioned heat gun to remove the
old tape stripes, is that the trick???
Do you think a hair dryer would be hot enough?

[Casper]

This is the model heat gun I purchased from HF...
http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-watt-dual-temperature-heat-gun-572-1112-96289.html

I mainly bought it to strip paint off an antique dresser. The paint on
it is coming off easily w/o heat but there are some stubborn areas.

The dresser is 100+ years old and solid mahogany, I want to go as
easily on it as possible to remove the white paint some id10t covered
it with years ago. I believe it is Federal style and, if the wood is
in good shape, will look great when restored.

I have a much smaller torch tool that I use for heat shrink tubing. It
is far more effective than such a large heat gun.

While I didn't expect a real long life for such a cheap heat gun, I
did not expect multiples to smoke.

White smoke with a bad smell but not certain if electrical. Smoke
continues for several minutes after you turn it off. No black smoke,
melting or appearce of flames anywhere.

[John Grossbohlin]

"Leon" wrote in message
news:47udneZCzc4Sc_vL...@giganews.com...

>Mike! In my old automotive days paint was still being used for pin
>stripes. My Tundra has the tape stripes and have about had it. I was
>thinking about replacing myself. You mentioned heat gun to remove the old
>tape stripes, is that the trick???
>Do you think a hair dryer would be hot enough?

Back in my younger days the detailers where I worked used a hair dryer to
remove bumper stickers, parking stickers, tape stripes, etc. I still do...
The heat gun is too much in my experience (read scorching problems).

[Mike Marlow]

Leon wrote:

>
> Mike! In my old automotive days paint was still being used for pin
> stripes. My Tundra has the tape stripes and have about had it. I was
> thinking about replacing myself. You mentioned heat gun to remove the
> old tape stripes, is that the trick???
> Do you think a hair dryer would be hot enough?

Yes. Before I purchased a heat gun, I just used whatever hair drier my wife
had in the bathroom. With any type of heat gun, it's a mattter of watching
the work and carefully judging the rate of heat application. There is no
suggestion or formula that can be magically applied - as I'm sure you
understand. But - a simple hair drier will indeed work. Apply it, gently
try to pull and remove the stripes, and adjust your rate as necessary. I
know that sounds ambiguous, but I know you'll get that Leon. You really
have to "feel" it as you go. If I could say it in a more precise way, I'd
do so, but it's really a feel sort of thing. You will most certainly feel
the stripes kind of stretching as they release from the body. What you want
to do, in order to get them off an minimize any paint damage is to keep the
heat only at the point where you can feel that happening. Does that make
sense? Always fail to the point of not applying enough heat - kind of
logical, right?

Call me if this convoluted response does not make sense, and I'll try to
make it more meaningful.

--

-Mike-
mmarlo...@windstream.net

[Mike Marlow]

A heat gun can be - it's all a matter of touch. Heat goes a long way and it
really needs to applied gently and in steps.

--

-Mike-
mmarlo...@windstream.net

[krw]

They smoke after. ...or is that only the screwdrivers?

[Leon]

Thanks Mike, I am aware that heat can quickly damage paint and that was
the primary reason to steer towards the hair dryer.