Heat gun

I do not know exactly what you want the gun for , I have one I purchased off Ebay , Drillmaster brand. I use it mainly for shrink tube. pretty decent and light, around $15.00 with free shipping.

Ray 

I used an ancient hair dryer for years. I still have it and use it on occasion for lower heat usage (it is still plenty hot).

I have an Unger heat gun, purchased NOS on Ebay.

this one works really well.

heatgun

I use the MasterMite gun with three interchangable heaters, I've had it for years.  For different purposes, I use an old 1500W hair dryer, very handy for just heating up a large area without melting anything.  Nowadays on the bench, I use my hot air rework station nozzle to do heatshrink, very convenient and always right at my fingertips.

Are there any hot air rework stations that don't costa plenty and work well? I find these items fascinating, but also pretty $$$$ for a nice one. More than I could justify for no more than I know how to do.

this one works really well.

 

heatgun

I have the same one. It has 2 heat settings, gets hot fast and works very well. I'd recommend it.

What are you planning to use it for? It can make a difference.

For heat shrink, I use a Woodland Scenics RG5162 'Heat Tool'. It heats up fast, and doesn't melt solder when you're just trying to shrink the tubing. MSRP is $29.99, but it can be found for less.

I've used a Harbor Freight dual temp heat gun for 3-4 years without issue. At my old job I used to use a really expensive one from McMaster, and it seemed overly fragile. The heating element was always breaking. I figured with the HF one, I could just replace it every couple of years and I'd be ahead of the game. So far, I've had no need. 

I mostly use it for heat shrink tubing, but it's also great for getting paint off metal (inadvertently as well), and if used very carefully, can remove unwanted stickers from motorcycle fuel tanks. :-)

Fred

I have the Harbor Freight one too with 2 heat settings.  I only use it occasionally mostly for shrink tubing, so it is plenty good enough.  I've had it three or four years with no problems.

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Dennis

I have one of the Harbor Freight ones, I use that in my workshop for stuff, but it's a sledge hammer when you need a tack hammer when it comes to working on wiring in a locomotive.

Nope, I bought a cheap one and it's not really up to the task of working on circuits.  OTOH, I discovered it was great for heat shrink, and I can adjust the temperature for the best results, so that's what it does now.

I have Master Appliance heat guns at work and home. Made in the US and built like a tank. Folks at work who buy the cheap imported knock offs are bringing them to me all the time to fix. You get what you pay for.

Pete

I will use it for heat shrink. I have another need, I fix golf clubs and I need heat to soften the epoxy to remove the head from the shaft. 

It'll work for the golf clubs too on the low setting if you don't hold it too close.

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Dennis

I broke one of my own rules about buying anything electronic from H.F. and bought this heat gun when they had it on sale for $7.99. It works well. It's only a year old so it might stop working at any moment but at 8 bucks, who cares?

Was afraid of that. There's a guy I watch on youtube that repairs old audio equipment. He has one that looks to be amazing as to how fast he removes the solder joints and old parts. I figured it would be quite expensive.

Another vote for Harbor Freight. Got mine for $7.99 using a coupon. Does what it says, heats things up.

I'd love to have a high quality air rework station, but the prices are pretty steep.  In addition, you have to have a ton of different size nozzles if you're going to be dealing with a variety of chip sizes, that really runs up the cost at $40 or so each nozzle!

I had a H.F. heat gun that I had bought to use with heat shrink tubing.  It died a rather quick death, so I splurged and bought a Wagner HT3500 digital heat gun.  It has worked flawlessly for the past 6 years.  Temp. range is from 250-1350 degrees. 

Larry

This is starting to sound almost like buying new steam engines and some rolling stock to go with them.   Have a feeling the 'engine' might even be more costly for the rework station.