Heatshrinking tubes with BlowDryer?

[jiggavo]

Is this enough heat or would I really need to spend more money in get'n the one made for heat shrinking?

 

[Neuroanatomist]

A blowdryer will sort of work (75-80%). It depends on the quality of the heatshrink tubing.

I've had best results with a heat gun.. but have also used open flame from match/lighter.

 

[RagManX]

A soldering iron also works. That's how a friend did it on some wiring I helped him with. Just let it heat up and then rub the side of the tip along the heatwrap.

RagManX

 

[gplanet]

putting a soldering iron directly onto the plastic doesn't melt it?

 

[ChefJoe]

I've heated over a soldering iron's fatter end, but had better results with a $0.99 mini bic lighter from a liquor store.

 

[farmercal]

Look - it's easy - just use a cheap lighter. Hold it under the heatshrink you want to shrink and move it back and forth with a smooth motion. Never leave it in one position for more than a second. The heat from the the lighter will shrink that stuff right before your eyes. I've been doing this procedure for over 15 years now and never had a problem. I also have used a soldering iron when I didn't have a lighter. You use the soldering the same way by moving it along the wrap and the stuff will shrivel pretty as you please. It's not magic - just heatshrink. Just do it!

 

[MustISO]

Can you get this stuff at Home D'Pot or do you need to order it from an online store?

I see that PCMods carries it in 1/8" and 1/16". Which size would I need for hard drive power cables and will it slip over the 4 pin molex connector?

 

[ChefJoe]

Radioshack is a fair source of the stuff.... I've also bought from hardware stores (sears hardware).

 

[Mday]

the radioshack store heatshrink tubes are the rigid variety which is not very useful. rigid means it's not flexible ;-)
I generally order a whole bunch of them online, most have them in 4' lengths or they cut it from a spool. wide ones will cost you...
Home depot has the non-rigid kind in precut packages (in ~6" lengths of multiple widths).

shrinking them with a blow dryer is fine, set it to the high or something. I did that before i got a heatgun =). make sure you use a high setting, i did some with it set to "regular" and the shrinking was not "maximized." becareful about using a soldering iron or an open flame (lighter etc), some tubing will melt, and some will burn. there are "flame retardent" tubings though.

heatshink tubing is usually 2:1, that is, it shrinks to 1/2 it's diameter. there is a variety that shrinks 3:1, 1/3 it's original diameter. There is also a variety that has adhesive on the inside.

heatshrink tubing should not be mistaken for insulation (covering bare wires), though some are intended for insulation.

--

as for the molex connector, that's quite foolish, i would recommend getting a pin extractor to take out the pins from the connector, and using a flexible tubing (non-heatshink, just regular tubing). tubing wide enough to fit the molex connectors through is about 1" or so, which is quite expensive (relatively speaking).

 

[Jeff7]

I got one of those cheapo butane lighters off of eBay. They sell for like a penny plus shipping in the Other category. It works just fine.

 

[Zap]

Another vote for using a cheap lighter. No need to wait for it to heat up (like a soldering iron) and hotter than blow dryer. Set flame on high, flick, wave flame under heatshrink tubing for a second or two, DONE!

I also don't like the Radio Shack rigid stuff. I've been buying the stuff that All Electronics carries. They come in 4' lengths. The most recent one I got was $1.35 for 1/8" diameter (shrinks to half diameter). I think the stuff is available in a few colors. Stuff is thin and flexible. One of the lengths I've gotten had a 3M brand tag attached to it. Flat rate $6 shipping per order, so just load up on some stuff ("squirrel cage" blowers, split loom tubing, LEDs, whatever).