I have a mini glue gun, but I couldn’t find in mini glue sticks, so assumed the regular size would fit. I can’t return them either.
4 Answers
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I’ve done the same thing before. There’s no great way to fix it but there are two methods that may help: best and okay.
Okay first… Lay the glue stick down and cut it lengthwise so that you have two long pieces. Then take either of those pieces and cut it lengthwise again. The resulting piece will fit in your gun. If the gun uses a trigger to advance the stick you’ll probably have to push on the back of the stick with your finger. If it doesn’t have a trigger just use it the same way.
The best thing you can do takes a lot more effort. You’ll need to find something that is the same circumference as the correct size and can resist heat. Brass tubing is available at hardware and hobby stores and that’s your best bet. Just take your glue gun with you and try different sizes until you find one that fits in the gun. Take that home and cut off a piece a little longer than your desired glue stick length. Now, cut an empty tin can in half, put it on the oven on its lowest setting and cut up some of the glue sticks that are too big into roughly 1/2 inch pieces. Drop them in the can and let them melt. You may stir it with a Popsicle stick or something similar. If it starts to smoke it’s too hot! Once it’s melted, carefully pour some into the tube you cut earlier. Leave it standing up on wax paper or a metal surface. Once the glue dries it will shrink a bit and you can push it out of the metal tubing.
Not the easiest thing to do but it works!
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Large Glue Sticks
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Hot Glue Gun Sticks
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i did the same thing too
Relevant information
First of all it depends on the type of Glue Gun that you have, if it is of a good quality, and has a good heating system in place, and you are sure that it won’t fuse or burst of do something of that sort when you are playing around with it, only then think of doing something like this because after all it is an electrical equipment, and care has to be taken. And second, I have made this very mistake. I have fused by glue gun, have had it’s wire burn by it, and shorted my house.
Despite those horrible personal experiences, I would still say that it is fine to do so. But what will tend to happen if you don’t keep the glue gun facing down (towards the end where the glue is coming out from), is that the glue will leak from the wrong end.(depending of Course on the angle of your Gun, which like I said, must be around perpendicular to the ground)
As long as care is taken, you can keep adding in thinner sticks, and it will work fine, though you may have to push it with the your hand because the gripper in the gun may not be for that.
Now if you do happen to leak the glue, then you can use something like a plucker or tweaser or something that can pluck out the dried glue (yes turn if off) and once all the dried glue that leaked is out, you can proceed to putting another stick.
If you are however not prepared for such circumstances, are under the age of 14, don’t have adult supervision, then your short answer is NO, otherwise, if you are in some sort of emergency, then your answer is YES