# Super Cheap Spider Webs



## marcus132

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Scary Terry's Hot Glue Gun Web Shooter and the commercial guns with similar specs.

Unfortunately, if you're like me, you're not going to buy an expensive professional air compressor just to make spider webs. Fortunately, you don't have to!

This weekend I tried an experiment using just a regular hot glue gun and my girlfriend's hair dryer. I just turned the dryer on maximum power and then squeezed a bead of glue in front of the nozzle. The dryer did a pretty good job throwing the stream of glue outward and over my props.

The relatively low air pressure did result in some glue clumps that needed to be picked off the webbed objects, but overall it turned out pretty well.

This technique certainly won't put the web gun manufacturers out of business, but if you don't have a lot of money or the proper tools, it gets the job done. :jol:


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## Sickie Ickie

That sounds really neat Marcus. Do you have pics?


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## berzerkmonkey

Another option that I've seen floating around is to use a can of compressed air (like for computer dusting) to throw the webbing.

Just recently I saw an ad for a compressor / finishing nailer combo that was a really good price. If I remember where I saw it, I'll post a link.

I got lucky myself - my father-in-law left me a compressor so he doesn't have to lug his around if he comes over to do any work on our house. Next year, I'll have me a web gun ready for Halloween!


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## marcus132

Sickie Ickie said:


> That sounds really neat Marcus. Do you have pics?


Oh... yeah. Better late than never, right? ;-)


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## Gory Corey

Pretty cool, did it take very long to web that?


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## Sickie Ickie

Looks good, man!


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## marcus132

Gory Corey said:


> Pretty cool, did it take very long to web that?


Nope, just a few seconds.

Since the air flow is relatively weak and inconsistent, it's literally hit or miss trying to do webs this way. You just kind of put your prop on the table, aim the dryer and gun at it, move your arms back and forth and hope for the best. :jol:


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## Frighteners Entertainment

I've seen small pancake compressors for about $42 at lowes.


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## dave the dead

Last year I webbed a few props in my yard by dripping the glue over the prop on a windy day......lol 
Now THAT's CHEAP!


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## Lilly

marcus it looks good.

dave that sure is cheap my kinda prop.

which glue sticks di you use marcus the minis or the bigger ones 
i have both but i dont like my gun for the big ones it doesnt have a low heat onit.


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## marcus132

Lilly said:


> which glue sticks di you use marcus the minis or the bigger ones


I use the big ones.

I have a gun that uses the smaller sticks too, but it's really crappy. It doesn't get hot enough to get the glue flowing nicely.


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## Lilly

ok thanks then my big gun would work great it gets really hot.
I do have a web shooter bu tno compressor yet wahhh


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## beelce

That is a good look


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## Pavitti

I imagine if a hairdryer works, so would an electric airbed pump. Which also has a tiny nossle for more precise direction.


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## Howlinmadjack

I wonder if my airbrush would work for this?


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## Bone Dancer

Maybe on of those 12v air compressor that you plug into a car cig lighter.


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## Chuck

I made my own web shooter based on scary terry and tried to use it with a small 6 gal pancake compressor and it works....for about 1 minute and then you have to wait for the tank to fill again. Even if you dial down the pressure to about 40psi (any lower and you won't have enough volume to throw the glue). Since it is only 3.2 cfm's, it doesn't produce enough air to recover fast enough. At least for me it didn't.

I ended up using an electric airbed pump. I covered 100 feet of fencing in about 10 minutes with it.


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## fontgeek

howlin mad jack said:


> I wonder if my airbrush would work for this?


The air-jet portion of this is the easy part, it's the volume and pressure of air your compressor can put out. Trying to run molten glue stick through your airbrush might work for a few seconds, but then your airbrush would be full of a rock hard glue that would end the airbrush's life. Don't waste a great tool like an airbrush for this.


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## marsh28

howlin mad jack said:


> I wonder if my airbrush would work for this?


I actually make webs by dripping hot glue in front of my airbrush. Works perfectly.


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## marsh28

Has anybody ever used rubber cement to spin webs?


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## Dixie

No, but the DJ on my radio station was talking about it this morning, as if he had never heard of the glue gun trick.... he said that the rubber cement works really well. (He brought it up because he saw the web spinner Spirit has out this year, and announced it was an automatic gun of rubber cement like he used to use in the "good ol' days", hehe)


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## Jaybo

marsh28 said:


> Has anybody ever used rubber cement to spin webs?


I have not actually used rubber cement. I've read it works great indoors, but won't hold up outdoors.


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## debbie5

I posted this before but I will again: I use a can of compressed air (like you use to blow dust out of your keyboard) and held the tip right next to my glue gun as I squeezed the trigger. I don't know if it works on large areas, but worked great on a basket. I dusted it with talcum powder to bring it out more & reduce shine. So, I would guess an airbrush tip would work just as well.


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## randomr8

I tried the blow dryer and glue gun combo just now. It's really quite good and alot more fun than spreading the bagged stuff. I had a couple of kids out there while I was doing it, they wanted to try. Coolness.


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## MapThePlanet

I'm with Pavitti, the air bed pumps work great. Smaller, more direct airflow. and a word on rubber cement, yes it does work and look cool, but remember it IS flammable when wet


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## Bethene

hummmm interesting,,, worth looking into!


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## Spooky D

I just built one for my compressor. Slinging the webs around is the most fun thing ever. I covered everything in webs, even part of my car.


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## samseide

I tried the rubber cement cobwebs. They look great. I shot them outside, went inside for a minute, came back out and they were gone. So...probably only good for indoor props.


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## CenCalHaunt

marcus132 said:


> I use the big ones.
> 
> I have a gun that uses the smaller sticks too, but it's really crappy. It doesn't get hot enough to get the glue flowing nicely.


Same problem I have. I tried making webs with the cans of compressed air and it didn't work for @#$%. Turns out my little hot glue gun is just not the right tool for the job. Nice piece of info, I thought I was just doing it wrong, everyone else made it seem so easy


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## CenCalHaunt

Chuck said:


> I made my own web shooter based on scary terry and tried to use it with a small 6 gal pancake compressor and it works....for about 1 minute and then you have to wait for the tank to fill again. Even if you dial down the pressure to about 40psi (any lower and you won't have enough volume to throw the glue). Since it is only 3.2 cfm's, it doesn't produce enough air to recover fast enough. At least for me it didn't.
> 
> I ended up using an electric airbed pump. I covered 100 feet of fencing in about 10 minutes with it.


I think a new glue gun and this tequnique would work for me this year


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## fontgeek

Like the can of compressed air, the airbrush can produce some decent pressure, but typically not great volume. The fault isn't all on the airbrush though, usually the compressor's used by most airbrushers don't produce that much volume of air, or at least not for an extended period of time. The cans of propellent used for airbrushes, like cans of "clean air" used for dusting things off will only blow for short bursts at a time, then the can freezes up. It will thaw in a while and then you can repeat the process, but you won't get a whole lot of volume in air out of it no matter what.
You can rent tanks/bottles of CO2 that you can use for airbrushing or for blowing webs with your hot glue gun.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol:Marcus, thanks for the idea, I guess there are plenty of ways to 'shoot' webs! Great idea though. It has been my experience that outside not a lot of stuff that is fragile will hold up to the elements. Thanks for sharing though!


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## Sytnathotep

fontgeek said:


> ...You can rent tanks/bottles of CO2 ....


That's an idea, but where would you rent them from?


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## Bone Dancer

Sytnathotep said:


> That's an idea, but where would you rent them from?


Check your yellow pages for the people that carry gases for welders. They normally have oxygen, CO2, ect. 
If not there, check out beverage companies. They normally have CO2 that is used in pop dispensers . You will be paying for the gas and a deposit on the tank.


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## fontgeek

One thing to note,CO2 is under a lot of pressure, so you may want a regulator on the bottle/tank to drop the pressure down to where it won't blow your air hoses apart.
Yes, welding supply places tend to rent or lease bottles out, while they will require an open credit card or a deposit of $200 plus dollars, keep in mind that that deposit is returned to you when the bottle is returned to them. CO2 works great for airbrushing too! No oil or water in the gas so your a lot less likely to have issues with contamination.


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## Lord Homicide

Bone Dancer said:


> Check your yellow pages for the people that carry gases for welders. They normally have oxygen, CO2, ect.
> If not there, check out beverage companies. They normally have CO2 that is used in pop dispensers . You will be paying for the gas and a deposit on the tank.


for CO2, check www.airgas.com for the closest location to you.

i would look into getting an air compressor because they do come in handy for other things also. Harbor Freight is a cheap source for tools and the like - www.harborfreight.com


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## fontgeek

Keep in mind that you can run pneumatic tools from a CO2 tank or bottle too.
Don't get me wrong, I have and love my compressors, but they aren't for everyone or every situation. With CO2, you don't have to worry about noise, plugging it in, cleaning the air filter, taking care of the oil, tilting it or carrying it tipped or laying on it's side, or overheating. You can use the same size quick-connect fittings for both your air tools and hoses so that the same stuff can be used on either or both the compressor or the CO2 tank. If you truly need the high pressure and high volume for doing your stuff, it means you either buy a large compressor with a large reservoir/tank or look at something like a CO2 tank that you can lease for as long as you need the high pressure and or high volume.
It's better to explore all of your options before you waste money on something that won't actually do what you need it to. Remember, when you go to look at compressors, look for the compressor's highest WORKING volume and pressure, not it's peak volume or pressure. Lots of tiny compressors can put out high pressure, but only for a very brief period of time, like a single quick blast of air. Trying to web a big area with that kind of setup would take you a week or two. When in doubt, buy on the larger capacity and pressure side.


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## Spooks-Magee

I just stuck the hose of my shop vac over the exhaust and used that. The vac I have (Rigid from Home Depot) is designed to detach and use as a leaf blower so it's an easy thing for me to do. Not sure if other vacs can be reversed like that.


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## Sytnathotep

Spooks-Magee said:


> I just stuck the hose of my shop vac over the exhaust and used that. The vac I have (Rigid from Home Depot) is designed to detach and use as a leaf blower so it's an easy thing for me to do. Not sure if other vacs can be reversed like that.


So your using it to blow hot glue webs? I have the exact same shop vac, I'd never thought of trying that.


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