PRODUCT REVIEW
GluePRO 400 LCD from Steinel: Making it stick
THE difference between ‘consumer’ and pro-quality glue guns is vast. When I was teaching Design and Technology, I used to feel for the frustration of my students, forced to use low melt glue guns for good old ‘health and safety’ reasons, as they watched their carefully glued pieces of work literally coming apart in their hands. The glue guns simply didn’t reach a high enough temperature for the adhesive to make a good enough bond.
On the other hand, a high-quality professional glue gun can be a very useful tool – providing almost instant adhesion, thin glue lines and typically a comprehensive array of stick adhesives to suit almost every gluing issue.
Enter the Steinel GluePRO 400 LCD – an up-to-date electronically controlled glue gun that will suit many trades with its versatile and highly controllable options for dispensing glue.
The glue joint - it’s all to do with electronics Modern electronics is at the heart of the Steinel glue gun. With it, the tool is not just a heating element and a trigger to dispense the glue – it becomes possible to set the desired temperature of the glue to be applied so that it spreads evenly and does not cool so quickly that it merely forms a sticky lump in the middle of your gluing job. Steinel says that the temperature will be within 1 degree celsius of the user’s setting on the LCD screen – which is more than accurate enough.
One of the switches on the right side of the panel is the on/off switch with a temperature set button underneath it.
Press the set button and use the up and down arrows on the left side to move to the required temperature that is shown on the LCD screen.
From the time of pressing the ‘on’ button Steinel says that the glue gun will be ready to use in less than two minutes. I timed it several times and the result was always within the time limit.
Other design features The thing about a glue gun is that it is hot in use, so the designers have to find a way for it to stand independently without dripping hot glue anywhere unwanted. The GluePRO 400 has a lightweight and open built-in stand that will support it very stably when not in use. In the absence of a flat space it can be laid down on its side as well so site workers still have a gun resting option.
By PETER BRETT
The addition of a bit of electronics has not made the glue gun any more difficult to use. On the GluePRO 400 just where the cord enters the body there is a small LCD screen with switches on each side of it.
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