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What temperature should i heat the surface when I am post heating?
Just wondering as a matter of interest, what sort of temperature does anyone have their hot air gun set to when post heating?
I can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone mention that, only the desired surface temp!
Obviously the hotter it is the quicker the surface will reach the desired temp, but presumably too hot could damage the vinyl or paintwork also if not careful? Too cold & you’ll be there forever!
I haven’t done do much wrapping, just the occasional van back, car roof & trim strips etc. & have never managed yet to do a course so have really just picked up what I know from Youtube vids & personal practice.
I recently had a job to wrap the silver trim strips shown in pic below on the front & back of a new black Range Rover in black vinyl & it took me about 8 hours!!! Hardly ideal conditions!! All done outside on a gravel drive with wind blowing & occasional showers!! I hadn’t realised until it arrived how far underneath the bottom ones go!! So I spent a good amount of time lying on the floor upside-down with a head torch on! I really must build myself a shed!!🤣
I wish I had taken some pics of the finished job but I was just glad it was done to be honest although it was probably my best effort yet & far from simple.
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8 Replies
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Argh, I feel your pain!
We do a dechrome or two a month, virtually no material used but, they’re hateful things to do; labour-wise, so we charge a lot to do it, £300 half day, £550 full day, plus materials, and only ever done with the car dropped off here in the warm.
We turn down a lot of them because they want it done at their work, or home, etc. Nope!!-
Help!!!
The dreaded de-chrome.
We used to get a pile of these in constantly. A local car dealer sold a ton of Audi and was bringing them in constantly (leaving one down while collecting another)!
Used to feel like crying every time another appeared. Hated this grill the most 🙁
Not hard to wrap just really time-consuming. From memory, some of the Audi’s have around 22 chrome parts to be wrapped at the front alone!
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Yeah, my wrap guy hates doing them, can’t say I’m keen but, they’re pretty easy money.
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Nope, I’m with your wrap guy not for me. I steer well clear of de-chromes, and car wrapping 😂 I’d rather be water boarded.
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Sorry to ask again but what temp do you guys set your heat guns at when post heating?
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Hi Myles, sorry mate I missed your reply question regarding the “Heat gun temperature setting”.
Heat guns blow at varying temperatures. Some, are much hotter than others. But even some guns that state they blow at x-amount of heat, do not, because they wear and burn out, meaning some progressively get cooler and so on.
Some top-end guns blast out their heat higher than the norm, but their true benefit is that they normally last longer due to being built better.
Meanwhile, countries like America and Australia prefer to use hand-held propane blow torches with a naked flame!
My point here is that there are many variables with regard to gun settings and preferences. Don’t get fixed on a certain temp setting, I prefer the gun much hotter than it being cool.Working with vinyl, heating, stretching etc you can use whatever setting “you are most comfortable with”.
But in my opinion, I prefer the gun blowing full pelt, regardless of the heat that is coming out. not because extreme heat is always required, just that you MUST get used to handling the gun, waving it back and forth at a steady pace, not to pause and overheat but also not slow enough so your not there all day! Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes, but heating steadily, touching the surface continually etc all gives you a general feel for what you are doing.
You do not want to be too close either, the closer you are the quicker the movement side to side should be. keep back about 12 inches, but when post-heating you can afford to go in as close as 6, but increase the speed you move side to side while continually taking surface temperature readings with the laser.Post Heating:
Vinyl is very resilient and it will take some doing to scorch it. The key thing is to keep the gun moving, gently wave it side to side in increments of about 12-16 inches to progressively heat the vinyl and the metal below it, up to the required temperature of post-heating. You should always have your temperature gauge in your hand while you are post-heating. 100 degrees is a good number to hit when post heating. Some manufacturers state slightly lower, and some higher. its always good to check what they spec, but for me personally, i will go for 100 and i normally do go over, but never under.It is hard to properly explain to you what i mean, “typing it”, much easier to understand when your actually watching.
Any further questions, please feel free.
as for working outside, you always have the option of an inflatable workshop! 😀
https://youtu.be/5_8V5hhSd2Y-
Ha Ha! yes a blow up work station might work but I can just imagine accidentally touching one of the ribs with my super heated hot air gun & getting flung around like a giant deflating balloon!!🤣
I get what you’re saying about general heat gun temperatures though & obviously when outside too they need to be hotter to allow for any cool breezes etc. I have had mine up to around 450 C which seems mad but when it’s cold I guess that’s not so mad. You do have to be careful not to accidentally touch the end though at that temp it only needs a gentle glance for an OUCH!!😱
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that workshop is really cool. 😎
if post-heating then the gun is up full, if very little heat is needed, then the little heat setting it is. 😀
i hate the term “post heating” just wanted to get that off my chest. 🙄
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