Not that long ago, a heat gun was a nice-to-have tool, something you’d use to melt some shrink sleeves or remove old decals. Many older guns were either “on” or “off’” with no heat control, so you had to be extremely careful when using one. More than one paint job has been damaged by using too much heat to remove a decal or a wire destroyed trying to apply shrink sleeving.
But that was then. Heat gun technology has moved forward, and a good example is the Summit Racing™ 20V Heat Gun. The cordless tool has modern ceramic heating technology that is very efficient and comes to temperature quickly. You can choose one of two fan speed settings. The low speed setting provides 3.5 CFM of airflow. The high speed setting provides 7 CFM of airflow.
The LCD screen at the top of the gun displays the temperature. You can fine-tune the temperature +/-50 degrees using the buttons just under the screen. The fan speed setting button can be locked when you’re working on a big project like stripping paint.
Other features include an LED light in the face of the tool to illuminate your work area and a handy hook on the back of the gun so you can hang it up when not in use.
The Summit Racing 20V Heat Gun is supplied with three stainless steel nozzles—a flat nozzle, a .035-inch diameter nozzle, and shovel blade for removing paint. The nozzles slide over the nose of the gun and are locked in by a rotating collar. When you’re done with the job, just rotate the cover to eject hot nozzle without touching it.
The Summit Racing 20 Volt Head Gun uses Summit Racing’s own Lithium Rechargeable Batteries. The batteries have built-in protection from short circuits, high current overload, high and low voltages, and overheating. They’re available in two- and four-amp versions and work with all of Summit Racing’s 20 volt cordless tools.
In operation, the heat gun is convenient to use. The handle is very comfortable. Switching between high and low speeds and making temperature changes are simple tasks. When it comes to doing jobs like , the gun is clearly up the task. Since the temperature is easy to control, applying heat shrink tubing is a snap with there’s little or no chance of accidently melting the material. The same applies to using it with solderless heat shrink wiring terminals and self-soldering connectors.
We didn’t have the opportunity to use the Summit Racing 20V Heat Gun for stripping paint. Summit Racing does include a scraper with three interchangeable heads plus a regular putty scraper. With the super-effective heat control, the gun should be a whiz when it comes to paint removal.
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