@patchwork We use a heat gun most of the time but when we can't be bothered to get it out and deal with how loud it is and how it has to continue being loud afterward to cool itself down, we have a bic lighter in the lab

we are very much not in the "touch it with the soldering iron" or "carefully use a blowtorch" camp though, both of those have too much risk of damaging or burning stuff

we've never used a flameless butane heat source either but that's just because they're not common anymore
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@Felthry i feel like the last time we knicked some shrink tubing with our iron it got kinda melty, but i'm curious about trying with a bic next time now, just for funzies

@Felthry i also really suck at electronics stuff so apologies if my comment was in any way telling XP

@patchwork i mean, you know what heatshrink is, that's a step above a lot of people out there!
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@patchwork i am a little curious what projects you've done! and what tools you use, because we get into tools quite a lot for soem reason
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@patchwork yeah soldering irons are a bit too intense for most heatshrink (though we got this one type once that we couldn't even get to shrink with a soldering iron, only managed to make that shrink by holding it in the flame of a lighter for several seconds)

the usual way to use a lighter for it is to just sweep the flame back and forth so you don't have it in one spot for too long. it's quite easy actually, works really well
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@Felthry @patchwork yeah seconding this. The biggest hazard for me is burning my fingertips.

:thinking: mini heat guns should exist.

@JulieSqveakaroo i didn't think a hair dryer would get hot enough to shrink heatshrink!
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@Felthry @JulieSqveakaroo Hair dryer can do well! It's very good for putting plastic up over a drafty window.

@Felthry

At high hair-dryer temps, some heat shrinks will indeed shrink and seal.

@starkatt Some of the old butane-powered soldering irons have attachments to blow hot air for this exact purpose. We've never used one, but it sounds like a handy thing to have around.
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@Felthry okay i want one

@starkatt https://www.mcmaster.com/77125A66/ here's one a cursory search turned up, you could probably do cheaper and actually know what brand you're getting though. I think Weller makes one, or made one at one point.
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