Repairs Made Easy with Glue Guns: Not Just for Crafts
My grandson is destined to be a Mr. Fix-It. He has my curiosity into the building or rebuilding of things. During the last few years, he had brought different broken items to me hoping I could offer some sort of repair solution.
My inspiration to use my glue gun came from watching the tears roll down his face, because of a broken wheel or other plastic part on a toy. My husband, having worked in manufacturing, tool and die, made the comment one day. “It’s only plastic. Why not melt it back together?
My first thought was my handy dandy, glue gun. It produces hot plastic and has a hot tip on it. Used properly it will melt and blend the two plastics together to reform the strong bond.
I tried it and it worked great. That began the quest to see what other uses I could find for this multi-purpose wonder.
Here are some of the ones I thought would benefit other, DIY enthusiasts. FYI-Be Very Careful With This Tool..HOT…HOT….
1.Loose Furniture Legs-If you have a leg on furniture that you want to secure, this is an excellent way to do it. Pull the leg far enough out to apply hot glue all the way around. Re-insert it fully and let it harden.
Anything you do with hot glue, needs to be performed correctly and quickly. It dries within a minute or two.
2.Assembling Furniture-If you have bought that furniture(such as entertainment centers)in a box, to assemble when you get home, then you know how flimsy it can be. Put your hot glue gun where it will be handy. Make sure you get a few extra glue sticks available. As you assemble the pieces, apply hot glue to the joints of the furniture. You get secure, strong pieces, that don’t fall apart when you move them.
3.Bathroom Towel Racks-Have you ever had one of these, just fall out of the holder? Pull it out and apply hot glue to either end. Place back in the holes and let it dry. No more falling out with the towels on them.
4.Repairing Plastic Toys-Most of the plastic toys, aren’t meant to withstand the beating they get. However, buying new toys all the time is not very cost efficient. It only takes a few minutes to mold the broken piece back on. Let it dry and you don’t have to go shopping. Before you waste alot of time on toys, check to see if they are hard, hard plastic or the softer kind. One is molded,hard. It is almost useless to do these. The softer poured plastic is repairable.
5.Replacing plastic moulding-Anywhere you have a piece of plastic molding, you can use hot glue. It doesn’t take much and you have to be neat. A few swipes with the glue gun and you have created a bond. Stick it back on and let it harden.
6.Wall Sinkers- You know those awful wall sinkers that you install to hang things? If you put them in sheetrock, eventually they wiggle into bigger holes. Quick fix is to remove the thing and apply a dollop of hot glue. Stick in back in the wall and the glue provides a more secure, stable hold.
7.Car Door Moulding-The rubber moulding that goes around your car door. Put a small dab around the edge of the rubber and it adheres to the car. Temporary, but functional fix.
8.Shoe repair-If you have a pair of shoes that are coming apart, but need to wait to buy new ones, try using your hot glue gun. It doesn’t take much, spread out over the entire loose part of the sole,apply pressure and wait for the glue to cool. Most hot glue is hard within a few minutes.
9.Repair plastic parts on appliances-Hot glue will make most plastics re-adhere to their surfaces.
10.Wooden Picture Frames-Got frames falling apart.Use a small amount of hot glue at each corner. Push back together and hold until cool
11.Virtually any plastic or cloth can be reattached to its host with a hot glue gun.
There are many other uses for the hot glue gun, but these are some that are not as apparent as others. Glue guns are wonderful fix it tools. My grandson tells his mom, If you would get a glue gun like my Nana’s, you could fix stuff too. If you don’t have one, get one. If you have one, explore some of the many uses, other than crafts.
