Heat Gun Product Review: 
Chandler 300 Watt Heat Gun

Chandler Tool Heat Gun

I was asked by Chandler Tools to review their 300 watt American-made professional heat gun.  Full disclosure: They provided the product free of charge in return for writing this review. The full title of the product is as follows:

Chandler Tool Embossing Heat Gun - 300 Watt- Dual-Temperature Professional Heat Tool - for Embossing, Shrink Wrapping, Drying Crafts. 

It comes in blue or pink.

Description

I received the product well packaged from Amazon and in excellent condition.  

When handling the product, it is obviously made very well.  It just looks and feels like a high quality item, unlike many other tools that you can buy online.  The texture and the embedded ridges in the sides make it easy to hold.  The chance of this slipping out of your hand is very remote.  It is well-balanced, light-weight and easy to use.

I like the fact that it has a somewhat smaller nozzle than some other heat guns so you can direct the heat a little better which is especially good for smaller projects.

It has an on-off switch right on the base of the device which is always a plus in my mind. The switch has 2 levels of heat that you can select. I used the low level for most of my projects which worked very well.  It heats up very quickly - within seconds.  The heat is never transferred to your hand.

Using the Chandler Heat Gun Tool in Wiring

In model railroading, wiring is of utmost importance.  You need to have solid secure connections when connecting two wires together or when connecting wires to power sources.  If something doesn't work on a train layout, it's often because of poor wiring or poor connections.  I like using a heat gun and heat shrink tubing for this purpose.  Plus it looks a lot neater and cleaner to have all your connections look like this. 

Here are some before and after pictures that I took while connecting a wire to a connector using the Chandler heat gun. I first put the heat shrink tubing (purchased separately) over the wire, then put the wire into the connector and crimped it with pliers. I then slid the heat shrink tubing over the connection and applied heat.  Within seconds the tubing magically shrunk over the connection.  It is now a very secure insulated connection, that doesn't come loose when you pull on it.  And it looks like it was done professionally!

Connector, wire and heat-shrink tubing

After applying the Chandler heat gun tool

Embossing

I've never done embossing before, but my first attempt at it with this product went so smoothly and easily, it made me want to do more.  I purchased a small inexpensive embossing kit, used the pen to write my initials on some cardboard, sprinkled some embossing powder over the "ink" and heated it up. Within literally a few seconds, the powder melted into the ink.  I vacuumed  away the stray powder and was left with my initials embedded into the cardboard. Pretty neat!

Melting Glue

One added benefit is that I was able to melt the glue from the Chandler glue gun using the heat gun.  This comes in handy if you lay a piece of track or roadbed and you don't get the position of it exactly right the first time.  You can heat up the glue with the heat gun and temporarily liquify it enough that you can move the item into a better position. You just have to be careful not to overheat the track to avoid melting the plastic ties. 

Bottom Line...

I was very impressed with the quality, the safety and ease of use of this product and I'm sure I can find many uses for it as I work around my layout.

Here is the description given on the Amazon listing for this device...

• VARIABLE SPEED / HEAT SETTINGS: The only one of its kind, our heat gun combines a low speed/heat setting for delicate or detail work, with a high speed/heat setting for heavy-duty or high-volume work, all in a compact easy to handle package. It’s like having a mini-heat gun AND a full-size heavy-duty heat gun all in one!
• VERSATILE: Perfect for crafts, automotive, electronics, embossing powders, vinyl wrap, HTV, epoxy resin, shrink wrapping, shrink tubing, shrink tube connectors, decals, wine bottle shrink capsules, EVA foam, transfers, acrylic, shrink film, cell phone repair, tablet repair, screen repair, soldering, jewelry making, wire connectors, butt connectors, wax, beeswax, soy, candle making, and more!
• INSULATED - ERGONOMIC - LIGHT WEIGHT - QUIET: cheap mini heat guns get too hot to hold. Traditional large “gun-style” heat guns get too heavy and awkward to handle for extended periods. Chandler Tool saves the day with the perfect balance of compact size, light weight & low-noise to minimize fatigue on even the longest jobs
• UL-CERTIFIED - Be careful! Poor-quality heat guns are both a fire hazard & an electrical shock hazard! Most generic heat guns are NOT manufactured to North American safety standards & are NOT safety certified. Underwriters Laboratories “UL” is the industry standard for North American safety certification. UL Certification ain’t cheap, but we’re proud to say we won’t sell a heat gun without it
• AMERICAN BRAND - Tired of buying poor-quality “throwaway” products from overseas sellers who don’t care about their customers? Chandler Tool is a good ‘ol American brand, located right here in the greatest country on Earth - the United States of America. Though many of our tools are manufactured overseas, our company is located in America, we employ Americans & we pay American taxes, just like you

I found all of these claims to be true without exception.

Overall this is another excellent product from Chandler Tools.  I would easily give it 5 out of 5 stars.