@@thejasonofalltrades I am passing this info on to a bunch of others that I used to work with. You would think that during a career in law enforcement and we always were trying to dampen sounds from our "Battle Rattle" that somebody would have thought of this. But no, we always used electrical tape. it works great initially but if you dont replace it often it fails and can get sticky if in the hot sun. You da man!!!
A lighter works well. As a construction electrician, I have used kilometers of this stuff. Many times too far from a power source for a heatgun. It takes a bit of touch, so practice first. For this I would use a lighter before a heatgun for fear of damaging the bag. Also try holding the pull tab with needle nose pliers. Also, consider the many colours available.
I liked an electric lighter, its heating plasma is effective at a few mm distance only, so it's a bit safer than an open fire ones. Which might happen useful to those who are not confident with lighters as the electricians =)
I find hair dryers work a bit but it does not shrink as much as with a heat gun. If you hold the heat on a plastic or nylon fabric for too long it can melt it a bit. A bit of foil covered cardboard with a hole through it makes a decent heat shield.
Ahhh the o'l devil's hair dryer. Great idea for a non-destructive mod, I've taken to just removing the metal pulls and replacing with smaller diameter paracord like 325. Also, there is clear and color heat shrink tubing if anyone dislikes the regular black type.
Perfect example of why every tip is helpful! I'm not familiar with heat-shrink since I don't do electronics or car repairs. But now another reason to go to Harbor Freight!
For those who might not know, even a heat gun can melt cheap Grosgrain, as I found out the other day while melting homemade 'Greenland' wax into a zipper pouch inspired by one of your videos.
@@stoneblue1795 I bought some off Amazon just like that when I recently rewired my boat. It’s legit. I actually used those connectors with glue inside and then slipped heat shrink over that entire assembly…turned out looking really clean!
Great short video. Heat shrink is useful stuff. I had never thought of it on jingly items before. Brilliant!. PS I've noticed your beard is ever shrinking. Also due to running in FL? Thanks for the channel!
Thanks Dave! My beard is always an uncertain thing, but I am purposefully not growing it back out before I run my 50-miler next month. Too much drag lol!
Hi! My short answer is "I don't know," but here's an educated guess: I would guess washing would be totally fine. In theory, the heat from the dryer would, if anything, fully shrink any areas of the tubing that weren't fully shrunk by the initial installation. I have no idea if repeated heating cycles would deteriorate the rubber faster than otherwise, but it would not surprise me if it did, although maybe not enough to matter practically. I'm totally guessing at this. Heat shrink tubing is not terribly expensive and easy to replace, so if you experimented with this and it caused the tubing to fail, you could always put new tubing on. Most of the things I use this on don't get dried in a dryer, although many have been machine washed with no apparent negative results. (These items are not washed with the same regularity as clothing items, though.) So my suggestion would be to give it a try and see how it holds up, but be prepared to replace tubing if it fails sooner than expected. Let us know what you find if you experiment with it! Thanks for the question, and thanks for watching!
That's good advice, although I have to admit I've been lucky an awful lot. I have melted fabric on a finished backpack strap using a lighter to melt thread ends, though.
Thank you for not flooding my watch-list with a tons of shorts! I never click in the
great idea that I had not ever thought of. Thanks.
Thanks man, good to hear from you!
@@thejasonofalltrades I am passing this info on to a bunch of others that I used to work with. You would think that during a career in law enforcement and we always were trying to dampen sounds from our "Battle Rattle" that somebody would have thought of this. But no, we always used electrical tape. it works great initially but if you dont replace it often it fails and can get sticky if in the hot sun. You da man!!!
A lighter works well. As a construction electrician, I have used kilometers of this stuff. Many times too far from a power source for a heatgun. It takes a bit of touch, so practice first. For this I would use a lighter before a heatgun for fear of damaging the bag. Also try holding the pull tab with needle nose pliers.
Also, consider the many colours available.
I liked an electric lighter, its heating plasma is effective at a few mm distance only, so it's a bit safer than an open fire ones. Which might happen useful to those who are not confident with lighters as the electricians =)
The lighter was all I used for years unless I was working on electronics. Hell, it's still my go to.
I find hair dryers work a bit but it does not shrink as much as with a heat gun. If you hold the heat on a plastic or nylon fabric for too long it can melt it a bit. A bit of foil covered cardboard with a hole through it makes a decent heat shield.
That's a great tip, I need to remember that!
Thanks for the tip!
Ahhh the o'l devil's hair dryer.
Great idea for a non-destructive mod, I've taken to just removing the metal pulls and replacing with smaller diameter paracord like 325.
Also, there is clear and color heat shrink tubing if anyone dislikes the regular black type.
That's great info, thanks!
Good idea. Time to get the heatshrink in my electronics area and my sewing equipment area acquainted
Perfect example of why every tip is helpful! I'm not familiar with heat-shrink since I don't do electronics or car repairs. But now another reason to go to Harbor Freight!
Paracord in a figure 8 through the zipper tab and knotted at end does a great job also.
That is a great idea, I don't like a bunch of jangling either. Thanks
I've never even heard of that before so thanks for teaching me something new today
For those who might not know, even a heat gun can melt cheap Grosgrain, as I found out the other day while melting homemade 'Greenland' wax into a zipper pouch inspired by one of your videos.
Thanks, I didn't realize that was a potential problem, good to know!
Heat Shrink... Amazon is your "cheapest deal" friend..but Harbor Freight is hard to beat & awesome with no wait.
HF has some shrink that I think they called Marine-grade that has some glue that comes out when it is warmed that is quite nice.
@@stoneblue1795 I bought some off Amazon just like that when I recently rewired my boat. It’s legit. I actually used those connectors with glue inside and then slipped heat shrink over that entire assembly…turned out looking really clean!
I like it. I am heat-shrink addict of sorts from working on cars and motorcycles.
Will for sure give this a go. Thanks buddy!
Definitely a handy tip and it looks good too 😜
Ah okay this is a nice one, I usually just clip these and add a knotted piece of paracord in their place
Great tip. Thanks for sharing.
Maybe heatshrink BEFORE sewing the zipper ?
Good idea anyway !
That is definitely a great option. I'm pretty terrible at planning, though 😂
Great short video. Heat shrink is useful stuff. I had never thought of it on jingly items before. Brilliant!. PS I've noticed your beard is ever shrinking. Also due to running in FL? Thanks for the channel!
Thanks Dave!
My beard is always an uncertain thing, but I am purposefully not growing it back out before I run my 50-miler next month. Too much drag lol!
Would work well on waterproof jackets😀
Can you wash and dry the item with the tubing on it?
Hi!
My short answer is "I don't know," but here's an educated guess:
I would guess washing would be totally fine. In theory, the heat from the dryer would, if anything, fully shrink any areas of the tubing that weren't fully shrunk by the initial installation. I have no idea if repeated heating cycles would deteriorate the rubber faster than otherwise, but it would not surprise me if it did, although maybe not enough to matter practically. I'm totally guessing at this.
Heat shrink tubing is not terribly expensive and easy to replace, so if you experimented with this and it caused the tubing to fail, you could always put new tubing on.
Most of the things I use this on don't get dried in a dryer, although many have been machine washed with no apparent negative results. (These items are not washed with the same regularity as clothing items, though.)
So my suggestion would be to give it a try and see how it holds up, but be prepared to replace tubing if it fails sooner than expected.
Let us know what you find if you experiment with it!
Thanks for the question, and thanks for watching!
@@thejasonofalltrades thank you!
You were very lucky not melting your bag. Next time cover it with a thick card board
That's good advice, although I have to admit I've been lucky an awful lot. I have melted fabric on a finished backpack strap using a lighter to melt thread ends, though.