We all know how heat shrink tubing can do wonders for any system where cables or wires need to be protected. Whether you need something to insulate bare wires, cover wire splices, color code wires or bundle together some badly sprayed out network cables – heat shrink tubing can be used for anything and everything.
But what if you’re not an electrician or a network installer, then what?
Is the use of heat shrink tubing only restricted to wire and cable related applications, or can you do much more with it?
To find the answer to this question, we reached out our ingenious Tef-Cap team and our simply amazing Tef-Cap customers. The uses they suggested left us in complete awe.
So we decided to share some of these heat shrink uses with our readers too—the homeowners, the handymen, the hobbyists, and everyone in between.
It’s improvisation at its finest!
Heat Shrink as Pencil Grips
One of our customers, who just so happens to teach occupationally impaired children, told us that he uses heat shrink tubing as a pencil grip. Because the children he teaches have difficulty with motor skills, they write with pencils that are larger in size than your average pencils. Hence, these pencils can’t be fit with standard grips. By cutting down heat shrinks in shorter lengths, he can slip them around the pencils and heat-shrink them into place. This makes it easier for his students to hold the pencils.
Heat Shrink for Curling Iron Repair
This use was suggested to us by one of our staff members who is very particular and conscious about the hair style she wears. She told us that recently the plastic grip on her curling iron came off. She tried to put it back, but couldn’t. Of course, she could not use the curling iron with a bare handle as it was quite risky, so she came with a genius idea. She used the heat shrink tubing to cover her curling iron’s handle, and the fix worked.
Heat Shrink for Glass Repair
Have you ever found yourself in a situation, where one arm of eyeglasses snapped and you just didn’t know what to do to repair the pair? Well, we could not help you at that time (sorry for that), but now we can. We’ve got a fix for you. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation again, simply get a heat shrink from your local store, slip it over the broken ends of your eyewear and eyewear arm, and shrink it to size. It may not serve as a permanent fix, but it buys you enough time. And yes, it would also save you from short-term blindness.
Heat Shrink as Furniture End Caps
That outdoor furniture in your patio, it has constantly being leaving rust rings on your patio floor for the last year or so. And you’re absolutely tired of cleaning these left behind marks again and again. Well, you can save yourself from the inconvenience by installing heat shrink tubing onto the feet of your furniture. Those rust rings aren’t coming back—trust us!
Do you have any unconventional use of heat shrink in your mind that you would like to share with us?
Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments section below.
A BONUS read: The Chemistry Behind the Working of Heat Shrink