defish Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Is it worth the extra money to get a variable temp heat gun or is a regular Hi/Lo style gun fine? I plan to use the gun mostly for powder painting multi-color baits and will still use the oven for heating the baits for basecoating. Thanks. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Dan, This is a tough question. The reason being is that if you know how to powder paint jigs, blend powder paint on a jig and do this with multiple colors than I would say that you could maybe get away with a high low heat gun. I 'm not saying here that you don't know what you're doing so don't take this wrong. Now I myself would not be without a multi-temp heat gun. I do so many multi-color jigs that at some point you have to reduce the heat to keep from burning the paint. As a matter of fact I have 3 variable temp heat guns two are spares in case the one I'm using burns out. Also if you get a variable temp heat gun, you can use it for other things. Like heating up the clear coat, or other things around the house. I'm sure you will get many answers here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBlaze Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 A variable heat gun is all I have ever used and I am very content with it. I have had it for several years now and haven't had any trouble with it. It is a Wagner. I used to heat my jigs with a little butane mini torch. Don't think I have scorched a jig since I went with the heat gun. It Is more convenient and much safer on my cluttered bench than the torch was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 I use a hi/low heat gun from Wagner. I vary the time over the heat according to the size of the jig head. I also haven't scortched a jig since I switched away from a propane torch to the heat gun. Even on hi, the heat gun takes 8-10 seconds to heat my 1/4 and 3/8 oz football jigs to the temp I like, so the powder melts and glosses. Maybe higher powered guns heat faster, but this works for me. I read here that people use their toaster ovens to preheat a lot of jig heads before they powdercoat, but I can't manage to get stuff out of a hot toaster oven without burning myself or dropping the jigs, or both, so I don't do it that way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defish Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Thanks for the replies. It looks like I'll probably lean toward the variable temp as being more flexible to use for other things like rodmaking, and unfortunately house painting... And Cadman, it really is questionable if I know how to do multi-color powder painting or not, but the fish don't seem to know any better - they try to eat the lures anyway! LOL!!! (I know what you meant Ted, and got a chuckle out of how you worded things so carefully so as not to offend.) Thanks again. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Thanks for the replies. It looks like I'll probably lean toward the variable temp as being more flexible to use for other things like rodmaking, and unfortunately house painting... And Cadman, it really is questionable if I know how to do multi-color powder painting or not, but the fish don't seem to know any better - they try to eat the lures anyway! LOL!!! (I know what you meant Ted, and got a chuckle out of how you worded things so carefully so as not to offend.) Thanks again. Dan Dan, I try to word things so when I say them people don't think I'm a know it all or I'm challenging their way of doing things or knowledge. I try to rephrase things so when they read what I write it makes them re-evaluate the way they do things and re-think what they are doing. It's tough to give advice without stepping on people's toes and they think I'm encroaching on them as a person. I'm glad you took it constructively and not persoanlly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldfart9999 Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Ted, I don't care how you word things, you still know way more than I do, so as far as I'm concerned, you are a know it all, thank goodness, I can ask questions and get good answers. Rodney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
