This afternoon I was tinkering away gluing this to that, when suddenly, right beside me, something pretty frightening happened.
A ball of fire shot out of the glue chamber of my glue gun, the chamber continued to flame for a few moments, then subsided and gave way to the acrid smell of burning plastic.
This is the gun that I was using: Ad Tech Hi Temp Glue Gun purchased at Walmart less than a year ago. It had been plugged in for about 30 minutes and I was using the recommended glue sticks.
I immediately searched the brand and found the following within just a few minutes:
Yeah, this isn't an isolated incident despite this canned reply from the company: "AdTech is committed to safety, and its products have an excellent safety record."
So I dutifully made my way to the Walmart website, the place I purchased the product, and left this review "A literal fireball came out of the glue chamber followed by the acrid smell of burning plastic. I'm a professional artist/crafter and have used many similar products and never had anything like this happen before. A quick internet search revealed this is not an isolated incident with this brand. I would absolutely NOT recommend this brand and question the safety of this product." Basically everything I've just explained to you.
The review was rejected by Walmart. I've asked for their reasoning and will post if they reply.
Until then, I really and truly hope that you will think twice before buying Ad Tech brand glue guns. I'm sure it appeals to a lot of thrifty crafters, it's pretty cheap and widely available... but maybe the few extra bucks for something that doesn't catch fire or explode would be money well spent. After all, if you're crafting near paper or other flammable materials it could spell disaster. Heaven forbid this happens while someone is holding the thing and someone gets injured.
Just because something is value priced, doesn't mean it should burst into flames.
Craft safely, friends!
Edit: I did contact AdTech and told them of the incident. They never replied. Walmart asked to see the rejection message they sent to me and still has not supplied a reason for the rejection.
