I was wondering if I could use a hot glue gun to affix electric wires on the inside roofs of passenger cars or underneath cars.

Will it stick to plastic is my basic question.

Or does anyone have an alternative method to keep wires for lights, etc from hanging down.

I sometimes use Glue Dots. I have used hot glue but I recommend caution; depending on the material of the roof and the heat of the glue it might deform the roof.

Hot glue works just fine since you’re not going to be using a huge amount of it. If the car was to sit out in direct hot sun for an extended time, it may let loose, though. I have used it to stick wiring to a number of various different materials.

Ben H.

Be careful with the high temp hot glue. I used it to secure LEDs and the heat from the glue destroyed the junction, so they no longer lit up. There is a low temp hot glue out there too, but like Ben said, it may let go outside in the sun.

I always use just a smidgin of silicon sealer (clear) to hold leds in place…Easy removal when required…no damage to wires or leds.

What about rubber cement. I was also thinking RTV silicone gasket material, the non hardening kind.

John Bouck said:

I was wondering if I could use a hot glue gun to affix electric wires on the inside roofs of passenger cars or underneath cars.

Will it stick to plastic is my basic question.

Yes

David Russell said:

Yes

Glad you gave a detailed answer…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

Devon, if it doesn’t harden, how would it hold? I used RTV to seal the electrical connections outside. Now I use goop for most things.

David,

There are varying forms of RTV for automotive use. Some get hard like a rock some stay like rubber. Not sure which one is which I just know we used to buy some at work that got hard as a rock. It was brown. So cured and hard are different things. It has to cure but I would think you would want it flexible.

permatex forma a gasket #1 that’s the hard setting stuff. The #2 is a pliable set.

Ah. ok. I used the blue or the black RTV compound. It cures into a rubber type substance, not a rock like substance. But like I said, I use Goop now for most things. It sticks to most anything, and it sets up into a rubbery like consistency.

Duco cement at Walmart does a good job. I use it to glue a lot of unlike materials and it holds them together. Does not melt styrene either.

So Ron, you take your stuff to Walmart to glue it together? I never thought of doing that.

Use Goop…any one of the Goops…they are all basically the same…

Aristo cabooses fell apart while stored in my garage in the original boxes due to the type og hot glue they used.

I would never hot glue anything on my trains unless I needed something temporary, not permanent.

I use Quick Grip and years later it will peel off much like a post-it.

Ross Mansell said:

I always use just a smidgin of silicon sealer (clear) to hold leds in place…Easy removal when required…no damage to wires or leds.

Ross, I use silicon for lots of things. But using it to hold wires isn’t that effective. It takes too long to set and the wire will usually pop out. I want fast setting. I’ve never used hot glue, so I don’t know haw fast it sets.

It depends on how hot you get it. If the gun hasn’t warmed up much above the melting temperature, then it sets pretty fast. If you let the gun heat up all the way, it can take a minute or so to set. Of course, spritzing it with some water, will make it cool and set up faster.

I use hot glue for holding down wires. I have two guns, a low temp craft gun and a standard high temp gun. The glue from the low temp gun sets fast, the high temp has more working time but can melt thin plastics. I’ll usually place a large drop where I want the wires to go, let it cool for just a few seconds, then shove the wires in the pool and hold them a few more seconds until set.

Experiment outside the car with some wire scraps on some scrap plastic and I think you will decide that hot glue is a good choice.

EDIT to add: The glue for low temp craft gun has a lower melting point. This is a good thing for working with it and not burning fingers, but direct sunlight on a dark surface might be enough to melt it. The high temp glue is much more difficult to melt after it has set.

Thanks for the info, guys. I’ll get a gun and give it a try.

'Nudder question. How easy is it to remove? I assume it just pops off with a little effort.