Hair Dryer heat gun?

[Weslicon]

Hello there! I'm getting ready to craft some Mandalorian armor. (chest, back, and arms) They're mostly just flat pieces, so it's a fairly simple endeavour. I'm going to use the normal gray foam mats that are most commonly used when crafting softer armor. Along with the foam, there is a very important element: The heat necessary to shape the foam. In just about all the projects I've seen, a heat gun is used to heat the foam and then bend it into place. I was wondering, if one does not have a heat gun, will a hair dryer suffice? or is it not capable of reaching high enough temperatures. I certainly plan on getting a heat gun for future porjects, but I'm wondering for now whether or not a hair dryer would work. Thank you!

[Zat German]

A hair dryer should work fine, it just may take a bit longer to get the pieces heated. Having helped a friend with shaping the armor and doing foam work myself, I have found the best thing to do after getting it heated up and shaped is to throw it in the freezer. This sets the foam better than just letting it cool.

[Weslicon]

Awesome! Thank you very much for the advice!

[runcornstuntman]

Looks like im gonna be cleaning out the freezer for when i start my build

[Spacemeat]

A hair dryer can work, I tried it with some of early foam pieces. But a heat gun at harbor freight is just $13 and is much much better and faster at bending the foam. I'd say just pickup the heatgun and save yourself the time required to just sit there keep the hair drier pointed at the foam

[Ziebster]

or is it not capable of reaching high enough temperatures

Ha, have you seen what shows like Mythbusters have done with these things? There's a reason I don't own one anymore. On top of the temperatures that they can ALREADY reach, there's a diode-thingy inside that after too many uses becomes shot, and without that diode-thingy there is NO heat gauge, so the machine on high settings running without the diode-thingy literally melts itself until there's smoldering plastic and metal left.

So to answer your question, there's no possible way that the hair dryer won't work. Have a nice day! :P