Heat gun versus boiling water to seal shrink caps

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I took a big garage sale pressure cooker and attached a stainless tube to it.
i set the regulator at 15 lbs....i have a bleed off valve on the end of the stainless hose....when i cap,i start the steam and just open the valve..
presto.
if i loose steam, by the time i have another bottle ready, steam is all ready there.
 
jamesngalveston said:
I took a big garage sale pressure cooker and attached a stainless tube to it.
i set the regulator at 15 lbs....i have a bleed off valve on the end of the stainless hose....when i cap,i start the steam and just open the valve..
presto.
if i loose steam, by the time i have another bottle ready, steam is all ready there.
Click to expand...

Alright James you have to admit it (overkill).You're a tinkerer and you did this because you could do it, not out of need!:b
 
Varis, I have that exact heat gun, it works great, shrinks the pvc capsule in seconds.
 
jamesngalveston said:
I took a big garage sale pressure cooker and attached a stainless tube to it.
i set the regulator at 15 lbs....i have a bleed off valve on the end of the stainless hose....when i cap,i start the steam and just open the valve..
presto.
if i loose steam, by the time i have another bottle ready, steam is all ready there.
Click to expand...

Hey...... I have an old espresso maker that I never use. Hmmmm.....
 
Boiling water for me. Two seconds and it's done. I put the caps on before labeling. Using the boiling water on the caps puts a little condensation on the bottles that makes it handy to give them a quick wipe down before I apply the lables. Then they are all clean and shiny. :D
 
Ibglowin - Nice looking labels. Do you make them yourself or order them? I use the boiling water method. It always works good for me & takes about 4 seconds per bottle. I might have to go to Harbor Frieght & get a heat gun just to try. I always like new toys.
 
I got those through here They put out a nice product but they are not the cheapest. The turn around time is fast and they seem to have lots of labels to pick from that are very customizable.
 
ibglowin said:
I got those through here They put out a nice product but they are not the cheapest. The turn around time is fast and they seem to have lots of labels to pick from that are very customizable.
Click to expand...

I cannot believe they make you register just to look at their labels! I realize you could probably give them a bogus name/address, but this seems like a dubious way to do business.
 
Well once you register you can not only peruse the nice labels but you can also make your label and download it as a PDF sans any watermark....... ;)

I would say that's worth it. They do not send out any emails or ads nor do they sell your email to anyone else.
 
ibglowin said:
Well once you register you can not only peruse the nice labels but you can also make your label and download it as a PDF sans any watermark....... ;)

I would say that's worth it. They do not send out any emails or ads nor do they sell your email to anyone else.
Click to expand...

Good to know. Thanks.
 
Only boiling water for me. At 800 ft elevation it always works well.
 
crap..you guys got me thinking... i could do a infrared heating system on a small conveyor and do like 30 bottles at a time....
i have to go get some roller, pulleys,chain,electric motor, infrared lights and some , shoot glue...lol
boiling water on my induction cook top...12 seconds to peak boiling.
 
Ibglowin - Nice site for labels. I logged on and got some great ideas and managed to download JPEG's and redesign some nice labels via PowerPoint. Thanks for the tip.

I like to make my own label and I use a glue stick to put them on with. The glue is not very powerful and easily come right off the bottles for reuse. The only shortfall is if you have a party and put the bottles in an ice bath the labels will eventually come off during the night. Not a big problem.
 
I put the labels on some empty bottles I had. The picture is a little fuzzy but it's probably the camera man. Can't do this without a couple of beers. :h

2013-12-06 17.34.49.jpg
 
I just capped 29 bottles. I did 12 with a hair dryer.
Then I tried the boiling water!
I am sold on water.
Aside from having to carry every thing up from the basement, it worked so easily and looked so much nicer.
The hair dryer left everything wrinkly. Not to mention I had a helper with the bottles.
My daughter Put the tops on all the bottles and I just dipped.
For her assistance I will try to save her a bottle, which she can have in 19 years.

I might have to go back and dipp all the bottles I had previously used a hair dryer on!

image-1787432465.jpg
 
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