There are "glue guns" that melt a stick of plastic resin so you can use the liquid plastic as adhesive. The problem is often that one end of a seam gets cold again before you reach the other end. There are also "iron-on" tape and wood edging that have adhesive on one side so you can iron them onto a surface. Works nice, but choice of material is limited. Also manufacturers charge a lot extra for a little hot melt adhesive on one side.

What I would like is a tape made of the glue gun material that I can put between two pieces (one thin of course) and iron them together. The tape should have a weak adhesive like Post-It notes on both sides to position it and keep it in place during assembly. There could also be tapes with different melting points for more or less temerature resistant materials. I googled for it, but apparently nobody has it.
-- kbecker, Jun 15 2004

Fusible Webbing http://www.stitchem...pia/fusible_web.htm
[half, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Double-sided iron-on tape http://www.hometren....html?codes=FROOGLE
I think this will do what you need, even if it isn't exactly as specified. It's also been around forever. [DrCurry, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Shouldn't be hard to make. It looks to me like the existing glue sticks are extruded, so a different die could be used to change the shape. But, wouldn't this "tape" need to be very thin? I guess regular glue stick material wouldn't work. It would need to be thin like cellophane tape.

It almost sounds like you could use fusible webbing such as "Wonder Under" (from the sewing and fabric craft world). I don't think I've heard of any with a "temporary adhesive" though.
-- half, Jun 15 2004


[half] that fusibel webbing is getting close (I never looked for it, who came up with that name?). Doesn't the glue squeeze out from under the paper while you iron it onto the first surface?

[MrCutieFinster] that would be a useful device. I tried to emulate it with aluminum foil on top of a drop of hot glue. It didn't work too well because the resulting surface was too uneven to position the second part properly. With a controlled blade it should be much easier.
-- kbecker, Jun 15 2004


Don't know who came up with the name. If you saw it, you'd see where the "webbing" part came from. "Fusible" is because, well, it fuses things together when it melts. The "glue" doesn't squeeze out, I don't think it becomes quite that liquid. I've only seen it used on fabric.
-- half, Jun 15 2004


Baked - I used this stuff to hem my pants when I was a kid.
-- DrCurry, Jun 15 2004


That is true. I merely mentioned it as a potential alternative as he didn't state any required thickness/thinness of joint.

I was also thinking that the same sort of manufacturing process used to make the fusible webbing might be used to make the desired tape. Chances are, any solid tape made from material like existing hot melt glue would be too much glue. There would need to be a lot of empty space for the glue to expand in to, sort of like using a notched trowel for spreading thinset or other flooring adhesives. I can imagine that thin strings of the solid glue extruded and pressed together in a mesh might just do the trick.

Some hot melt glue sticks that I've handled are slightly sticky feeling. It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility to think that this "tape" might be slightly sticky without any additional adhesive being added.
-- half, Jun 15 2004


MCF: that tape is entirely thin enough for clothing, the stated use.
-- DrCurry, Jun 15 2004


[half] & [McC...] you are correct, I was looking at something to mount the wood edging of my choice. Can't have a piece of tape in between.

Note from someone looking over my shoulder: Make it heat up in a microwave real fast too, like bacon. That way you can glue small things in the microwave, even if they are not thin. (Happy someone? Now get back to work!)
-- kbecker, Jun 15 2004


The weak adhesive would be a very thin layer like you have it on Post-Its. I would imagine that it can be made so it dissolve easily in the high temperature adhesive since it will be chemically similar. The process would be analog to vegetable oil "soaking" into butter. Works pretty well as soon as the butter gets close to room temperature.
-- kbecker, Jun 16 2004



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