How to use heat shrink tube. Heat shrink tubing is a process used to cover and repair electric wires to save them from extreme weather. If there is a hot summer condition, then the direct sunshine is dangerous for electric wires, and in the same way, if there is cold winter, then snow is not suitable for the wires.
Therefore electricians use heat shrink tubes to cover the wires because it is a flexible plastic layer that covers the wires and insulates them from harsh weather and condition.
If you are planning to use a heat shrink tube for your electric wires, you should have some skills because if you don’t know how to take measurements and use the heat gun, you can bear loss and injury also.
Therefore, if you have some essential skills, this article will surely guide you in all the steps in detail for heat shrink tubing of electric wires. Still, if you don’t know the basic rules of taking a measurement, I suggest you hire an expert electrician for this process.
How to use heat shrink tube
Heat shrink tubing is not only suitable for protecting the wires from harsh weather and chemicals but is also suitable for bundling and tension comfort.
But before you start, you must have the tools required for heat-shrink tubing. It would help if you had a heat gun, heat shrink tube, measuring tape, ruler, scissors, etc.
Safety tools
Keep in mind one thing before you start your work is that self-protection must be your priority. Do not take this work as an easy task because if you take it easy work, you may harm yourself.
Wear gloves on your hands and safety glasses on your eyes before you use a heat gun. If you have long hair, then tie them up. Wear a tight dress because if you wear a loose dress, the heating element might burn the loose dress.
Moreover, a heat gun is dangerous, so wear a face mask and open all windows for cross ventilation. Lastly, ensure there is no explosive thing near the work because flash bugs are dangerous in such a situation.
Wire measurement
The first step in the process is a measurement of the wire. You need to be very careful while measuring the wire because if you do not measure the exact width of the wire, you can not od the heat shrink tubing.
The wire gauge tool is best used for the measurement of wire. There are different holes of different sizes on the gauge tool; add the wire into one hole and check whether the wire is moving inside the hole or not.
If the wire is moving, it is not the correct size. Try to feed the wire in the next hole and check that the wire is moving or not. If the wire is tightly fixed in this hole, note the hole size because this is the right size for the wire.
Select the tube
The shrink tube size must be larger than 20% to 30 % of the size of the cable so that the tube can easily fit on the cable.
Now find the length of the shrink tube that should be slightly bigger than the cable. After selecting the suitable length of the shrink, use a scissor to cut the length of the tube.
Slide the shrink tube
After cutting the size of the shrink tube, slide it gently into the wire so that it covers the cable. Now the next step is to use the heat gun so carefully use the heat gun to shrink the tube on the electric cable.
Retain the heat gun on the shrink tube by moving it forward and backward because if you keep the heat gun at one place on the wire, it will damage the wire.
Continue this process until all the cable is protected by a shrink tube but ensure to move the heat gun and not hold it in one place.
The bottom line
The final words in this article are that if you are willing to secure the electric wire with a shrink heat tube, you must know how to take measurements of the wire and shrink tube.
Next, you must have all the tools required for this task because self-protection is very important when using the heat gun to secure the electric cable from extreme weather.
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