They say that the two essential items in any toolbox are WD-40 and duct tape: one thing to make stuff move and another thing to stop stuff from moving. Many hackers would argue that the third essential tool should be hot glue — it stops stuff from moving, but still allows you to move it later if you decide that’s better after all. It also works on loads of stuff ranging from macaroni to microcontrollers. And let’s be honest: who hasn’t done the “pew pew” thing with their glue gun?
[Vije Miller] decided to give his hot glue dispenser a bit of a western vibe and built himself a Glue Gun Six Shooter. Like an Old West revolver, it has a rotating cylinder with six rounds of ammunition that lets you continue gluing right away even if your glue stick runs out in the middle of a job. A tiny switch on the side of the barrel starts the reloading sequence: one servo rotates the cylinder, then another one chambers a round. Both are controlled by an Arduino Nano, which is powered by a 5 V USB power supply hidden in the grip.
A red laser below the barrel gives the user a better aim, as well as a bit more “pew pew” ability. The rest of the gun is pretty standard, similar to what we’ve seen before in a teardown. If you’re looking for something more high-tech, check out [Ben Heck]’s ultimate glue gun.
Thanks for the tip, [Fiona Grutza]!
WD-40 and duct tape: one thing to make stuff move and to then make stuff stop moving. Also another thing to stop stuff from moving.
Fixed it for you.
Anyone who needs to make things move should try some slip 2000. That will make things move, and keep moving, even when all logic and sanity would suggest it would just get jammed up.
Moviprep is pretty good at making things move…
If only there was something to hand to let you affix one glue stick to another for any length glue stick you can cope with and continuous glue feed.
A second glue gun ;)
A lighter?
Wally mart sells some Gorilla brand glue sticks that are ~ 3X the normal length.
I usually cut my glue sticks in half: i use manual feed hotglue guns because the pistol grip ones suck. Many times just a lighter is enough tho
In the Gerry Anderson series ‘Space:1999’ the hand weapons actually WERE Bostick hot glue guns, with the cord chopped off.
I have one of the exact same units that my dad bought in the mid 70s and it still functions perfectly well, I use it every so often.
To add to my comment, I don’t mean the regular stun gun (that is an inverted U shape) but one of the other weapons. I’m trying to find a photo of it now. I’m sure it was Space:1999… hmm maybe it was some other show.
I can’t find any picture of any Space:1999 gun prop that looks like it was based on a glue gun. Can’t find any pictures of mid 1970’s Bostik glue guns either. I have a vintage Swingline Model 966 “Electri-Fast” glue gun, never been used. I’ve been tempted to make silicone molds of its housing to use for making a 1960’s SciFi prop gun that never existed.
Unfortunately there is *nothing at all* I can find about this model of glue gun on the web. Yes, Google, it’s “Electri-Fast”, not “Electric-Fast”.
I keep getting offered Swingline’s Model 968 “Little Red Fixer” as a “match”. That glue gun would also be an excellent base for prop builders, especially with its odd trigger on the back of the grip. To feed the glue stick, there’s a piece pushed forward by the web of the thumb – or the gun is pulled backwards into the hand by the fingers. The Model 968 appears to be quite plentiful, often in lightly used or never used condition, so using originals for the master model would be easier than using something very uncommon.
The Model 966 has no trigger, the glue stick is pushed forward by the thumb, so only short sticks can be used.
Various old soldering guns would be good for making vintage style SciFi props by making castings from their housings. I may even still have one that’s made to resemble a double action revolver, with the transformer in the faux cylinder area of the dark red housing.
That’s interesting, my first thought was some sort of sci-fi phaser, too! 😃
Thanks you very much for sharing this information! 🙂👍
PS: Over here in Germany, the show was popular, too. It was known as “Mondbasis Alpha 1”, the name of the station.
It wasn’t perhaps as widely known as Starship Enterprise, but equally appreciated by fans, I think. Even though older folks may have strong feelings to our own creation, “Space Patrol Orion”, which was more of a stiff parody perhaps and not having the depth of the other show (see Sternenschau and Calypso, two humorous elements).
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondbasis_Alpha_1
I’ve seen some of Space Patrol Orion, I thought it was reasonably good. That makes three TV shows by the name of Space Patrol, the others being a US show from the 1950s and Roberta Leigh’s fabulous 1962 series ‘Space Patrol’ (my favourite – and the episodes are on Youtube!).
As for the glue gun I referred to, just took a picture of mine:
http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/uploads/612/Bostik_TG2_glue_gun_1970s.jpg
…and now I can’t google-fu a photo of it as the sci-fi hand gun prop I referred to. Maybe it was UFO?
One of these?
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-thermogrip-bostik-1886691401
Now THAT looks like a ray gun!
really cool and useful !