# Web BLOWer



## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

I finally bought a web caster to try, and the first impression is pretty poor. Large globs of glue drip out and get (sometimes) caught in the airstream, then a small filament is left attached to the next glob that gets spit out.. Not at all like the beautiful delicate filaments the manual says I should be producing. Does anyone have any experience with these, or do I need to cut my losses and get one from Minion's Web?
Thanks in advance.


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## Allen H (Feb 13, 2010)

I like my webcaster, make sure to keep it straight up and down, and adjust the airflow to find the best fit- I have also found that you should be about 10 to 12 feet away from the area you want to web.


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## phillipjmerrill (Mar 19, 2009)

Wow, 10-12 feet away? I am standing way too close with my webcaster. Thanks for the advice Allen. Do you have any more free tips for us amateurs? I love YouTube Wednesdays, by the way.


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## SoCal Scare (Aug 3, 2007)

I too use the Webcaster with great results, Like Allen said if the glue is just blobbing you may need more airflow. I think I set my compressor at about 65 - 70 psi and adjust the flow with the little knob on the side. it takes a little practice but once you find the sweet spot it workd great.










If you look closely at between the fence pickets in this picture you can make out some of the webs that I have made.


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

This is what I am making tomorrow.

http://goneferalinid.blogspot.com/2011/10/webs.html


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## phillipjmerrill (Mar 19, 2009)

goneferal - I saw that video on your blog today. I was thinking about trying that method as an alternative to my webcaster. I had to buy a special security screwdriver with the triangle head to open mine up because the spring attached to the trigger wasn't hooked up right, making the trigger pretty much useless.


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## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

Allen H said:


> I like my webcaster, make sure to keep it straight up and down, and adjust the airflow to find the best fit- I have also found that you should be about 10 to 12 feet away from the area you want to web.


Thanks Allen. Sounds like my technique needs some..er..fine tuning. I'll give another shot!


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

I made a great web gun with a 40 watt glue gun from Michael's and my hair dryer. I just electrical taped them together and that was it. It shot the webs out with the hairdryer on it's side on the bottom and the glue gun taped horizontally as well on top of the dryer. I used the high hot setting and it worked perfectly. It shot about 10 feet at least and looked great. I tried the bed inflater like the one used in the video on my blog, but it couldn't shoot over 6 inches. It was a battery powered inflater, so the power might have been low. This was the easiest project I've done yet. I am very pleased with the results.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

A lot of it is just technique and practice. I've just hacked together the blow gun from my compressor and the hot glue gun. But, as said, the key seems to be having the gun on top, air on the bottom and the item to be webbed in front. Don't try to blow webs down on the item, or blow the glue straight out onto the item.

I usually have the first blob of glue fall through the air stream and catch it on a card. Then the filament is blown out and you're castin'. If you have to stop the glue feed, starting yields another blob, but then the filament is blown out and you're castin' again. If the filament is very fine, sometimes you don't even see it - you just see the cotton-candy like cob webs building up on the item.

Lil sample of some floor lamps I made out of sticks, a cardboard tube and some color change LEDs...about 18" tall. Puts out a nice eerie glow when the light catches the cobwebs.


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Nice Light Corey872!


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Goneferal - Thanks, those are one item in my collection!

Now the bad news - This thread inspired me and I thought why not rip some of the rayon/synthetic webs off my props and go with more realistic hot glue cobwebs. So I rip everything off and go to the hot glue - now I can't get it to work!!

It seems as though my glue just isn't as 'stringy' as I remember. Like it comes out of the gun thicker. I'm wondering if either my gun is starting to give out and not heating up as much, or I've gotten a slightly different formulation of hot glue which melts at a little hotter temp. I have three different glue sticks, one is a high temp stick, completely opaque, one is claimed to be a low temp but still has a cloudy appearance, and one is what I thought was from a batch of low temp sticks I used last year that is mostly clear, but even it still doesn't work.

The glue always seemed to ooze out of the gun practically on its own, but now it seems to need a bit of pressure on the trigger and comes out in more of a thick stream. So I'm leaning to the 'not hot enough' theory. May have to monkey around with it more tonight.


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Is your gun high temp? That may be the problem. The little mini stick ones might not be hot enough. Also, wait a bit before you start to let the gun really heat up. Best of luck!


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

I'm not sure. It's just a general hardware store grade gun (a step or two above the tiny craft guns, but not a full blown pro gun) It's the same one I used last year with great success to do the light I pictured, candelabras, etc.

It melted the high temp sticks fine when I used them for other projects, and the low temp sticks would practically dribble out, and result in a screaming "YEEEOUCHH!!" if the glue happened to get on a finger. Now webcasting just builds up a blob on the end of the nozzle and I can reach down and peel it right off, so I'm thinking the gun just isn't as hot as it used to be.

I did accidentally leave it on for a period of a week or so when I thought it got shut off, but didn't. I don't know if the barrel has segmented heat where one or two zones can go out and it would still half work, or if it's one big heater and it would just 'pop' all at once. It's definitely melting, just not the way it used to.


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## lostskeleton (Aug 30, 2011)

Yeah you might have roasted it if you left it on for a week.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

As a bit of an update, looking at the nameplate, the gun is rated 380ºF, 40 watts. I fired it up last night and could see about 280º on the outside of the barrel - don't really have a good way to get inside for a measurement. It was reading ~280 ohms, so 110V/280 = .39 amps and .39A x 110V = 43 watts - so in the ballpark.

I also looked at my 'semi cloudy' glue sticks and they say 'multi temp' and have a graphic showing them placed between high/low temp. I don't even have the package for the nearly clear sticks I used last year, but I suspect they might be low temp as they seem to work a bit better.

Overall, looks like a new gun might be in my future and a pack of the lowest temp sticks I can find. Seems that should make the best webs...high temp gun and low temp sticks.


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## azscoob (Oct 6, 2010)

Sorry to dredge up an old thread...

I got a webcaster a few years ago in an after-Halloween sale, it took a few uses to dial it in but I find I get great results with the line pressure at max for my compressor (130psi) and wick the air down using the valve on the gun and as mentioned earlier, stand 10-15 feet away.

I have a 220v commercial compressor in my garage (I am a mechanic by trade) so having 80 gallons of air really comes in handy when webbing up my display because my webgun is a bit of an air hog.


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

*Lookin' great*

I was so thrilled with my hair dryer setup until just before the big day last year when the temps dropped. The colder air rendered my setup useless.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Be aware that you can use other compressed gasses rather than air to operate your web shooter. You can rent/lease bottles of CO2 that will be way more than enough to take care of your web needs, without the noise, the power consumption, the fight of oil or water in your "air" lines, etc. Check out your local suppliers (welding supply, commercial soda vendors, etc.) to see if that is the best way for you to go, most of those companies just take an open credit card, or a deposit to cover the cost of replacing the bottle/tank should it be lost or stolen, but the cost for the gas is very reasonable. When you return the bottle, you get your deposit back.


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## kentuckyspecialfxdotcom (Oct 20, 2008)

*Temperature*

Temperature has big effects on webcasters / cob web shooters and the learning curve.
If you build the gun in the summer and then try to use it during the cool or cold fall it will perform totally different than it did when the weather was warm.
Adjustments will be needed for sure.
Also 40 watts works in warm weather but not in the colder fall for very long at all, you have to have at least 150watts.


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## Schizodeluxe (Aug 18, 2013)

I was thinking of buying one of these webcasters as I always have problems getting the right spiderwebs up properly. Seems a little pricey but is it worth it?


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