Glue pot Alternative/Review

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Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Glue pot Alternative/Review

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

My Rival Hot Pot finally bit the dust. My modified pot always kept the hhg at the right temperature, but lately it's been all over the place.

I bought a hot wax pot, meant for cosmetic wax. I found out there are a couple of different kinds, one that heats up to 240°, and the one I chose, which heats to 176°.

I chose a pot with a rheostat rather than digital controls, because it allows for really fine control. It came with a 14 ounce aluminum pot with a lid, and an extra fuse. I was pleased to find that the only plastic are the handles. The all metal construction is nice. Apart from the temperature control, is the on/off rocker switch. There is a light to indicate that the unit is on, and a separate light that toggles on and off depending on whether the unit is heating or not.

Since I only make a small amount of hhg at any one time, I decided to use a 4 ounce canning jar in a water bath. It's short enough that it doesn't interfere with the pot lid.

The unit arrived on Sunday. I made the glue and I kept track of the temperature for the past 2 days. I was really surprised of the accuracy of the warmer. I was aiming at 150°. The warmer keeps the glue at +/- 1°. If the water allowed to evaporate to less than 1/2 of the jar height, the accuracy is the same, but the temp will drop. When the lid is on, the glue gets hotter, but the warmer still maintains that high accuracy.

I've not made a concrete decision yet whether to keep using the jar, or whether to go ahead and use the pot that came with the unit. It may be better to use the pot. I'll have to do some research to see if hhg reacts with aluminum.

Anyway, here's the unit. It cost $33 on Amazon. The link is below. I never buy anything from Amazon when the ratings are under 4 stars, but in this case I went through the reviews and found that many were problems stemming from people who obviously didn't read the description, or possible user error.

I'm going to drill a hole in the top to accommodate the thermometer.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ROD298/re ... SBb0RJ814D
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Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Glue pot Alternative/Review

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

What sort of job you do with 4 oz of HHG?

Ed
Ed M
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Glue pot Alternative/Review

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

I'm not sure what you mean Ed. I make guitars. I make small batches so that it's always fresh. I got used to making small batches with the Rival pot, because the largest jar I could suspend into the water was an 8 ounce jar, but I could only fill it 1/2 full.

All I can say is that I make it often. I guess I've gotten used to making small batches, because of the design of my old pot. I was thinking about it today. I think I'm going make the glue in the pot that came with the warmer, so I can increase the amount.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
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