The school model is due in the morning, and tube glue wants to be clamped and left alone until tomorrow — which is time you do not have. Hot melt goes the other way: it comes out molten, grips, and sets as it cools, so a joint is holding by the time you have positioned the next piece. It grips porous things happily — card, wood, fabric, felt, foam, dried flowers — and 100 W is the class that keeps its heat when you work piece after piece.
— The Ghalyh team · How we pick
Good for
School and science models · wreaths, felt and fabric crafts · quick fixes on wood, card and trim
Not for
Anywhere without a socket — it is corded and only works while plugged in and hot, so a chalet floor or the back of a car means an extension lead. And hot glue is the wrong choice for smooth plastic and glass, for anything load-bearing, and for anything left in a parked car in summer, where it softens; the nozzle burns, so keep children out of it.
Specifications
- Power
- 100 W, corded — mains socket required
- Glue
- Hot melt sticks; sets as it cools
- Grips
- Card, wood, fabric, felt, foam, dried flowers
Questions people ask
Which glue sticks does it take?
Match the stick diameter to the gun's inlet — check the size listed on this page and buy sticks to match. A thinner stick wobbles and feeds badly; a thicker one won't go in at all.
Can a child use it for a project?
Do the gluing yourself and let them place the pieces. Molten glue sticks to skin before you can wipe it off, and a burn is the usual reason a craft afternoon ends early.