Found a heat gun trick after a GameCube shell repair went sideways at a con

I was at RetroGameCon in Cleveland last October trying to fix a buddy's yellowed GameCube between panels. My heat gun was too hot and warped the corner of the shell, so I had to improvise with a hair dryer from the hotel front desk on low setting. Anybody else found a specific distance or temp that works best for softening plastic without melting it?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinc666d ago

Well I'll be. I used to think you had to have high heat to get anywhere with plastic repairs, but you've convinced me otherwise. I was always cranking my heat gun up to 500 or 600 degrees and wondering why things went wrong. The six inch distance rule makes a lot of sense too, I was probably holding it way too close out of impatience. And putting weight on the corners is something I never would have thought of, I just let them curl and then had to sand everything down later. Your method sounds a lot more controlled and less likely to ruin a good shell. I'm going to give this a try on a broken Dreamcast I have sitting around.

derek_dixon786d ago

Actually that hair dryer trick is smart for a quick fix, but heat guns can be tricky for sure. The key is to keep it around 350 degrees if you can, and hold it about six inches away rotating constantly. Most of the warping comes from holding it too close in one spot, like less than three inches. Also helps to work on a flat surface with some weight on the corners so they don't curl up as the plastic gets soft.