I’ve heatshrinked well over 1000 cells, I’m quite good at it now.
I couple additional tips. Heatshrink the positive end of the cell first by rotating the cell 360 degrees in your hand. Then go to the bottom of the cell.
Secondly, heatshrink along the crease from end to end. Use a low enough temperature or point the heatgun at a distance so it shrinks slowly. This prevents a wavy effect.
After this is done, give the entire cell a quick pass over by the heatgun to shrink the rest.
When I first started Redilast, I would do a good part of the heatshrink work myself. Now days I just do it occasionally… Quality control.
On a side not if you plan to do heatshrinking make sure your heatgun has a low mode. And avoid harbor freight heatguns. I had 2 fail on me in a 2 month period. And not to mention when you first get them, they smell smoke and smell bad… My wagner brand one for $17 from home depot is holding up great and is used several times a week.
i wrapped a few old eneloops . I used a cigarette lighter so results werent as preety but are ok :) . i guess you need a good consistent heat like a neat blower with an udustable heat output to do it really well .
Every time I see this thread pop up and see the photos, I think HJK should be wrapping all of our Christmas presents! Such a neat and exact job on wrapping those cells!
FYI the tubing with adhesive is called 'double-wall polyolefin'. It's more expensive, so if you see tubing that doesn't specifically say it's double-wall, it will be single-wall which is what you want for batts. Double-wall is awesome for most stuff but too thick for a battery.
Depends on the tailcap design. If there's no way for the exposed shell to touch any part of the tailcap or tube it won't hurt anything. If it does touch, it will just bypass the switch and turn the light on.
Yep, I was thinking on the same lines. I just inserted it on a Convoy M1 and rattled it in my hand just to see if it would turn on. So far so good. I think I’ll be OK.
Would a 23mm tubing be able to wrap a AAA sized battery? I’m thinking of getting the 23mm instead of 17mm from fasttech so that I can wrap both AA and AAA sized batteries.
My experience with shrinking 16340 with the 18650 shrinktube was Not so Perfect on the top of the cell there was a edge.
But I have not tried shrinking AAA with AA shrink tube.
Edit: just tried it it with a scrap piece and a AAA primary, it shrinked enough but I got a edge on top but this is maybe because I used a blowtorch instead of a hot air blower.
They look much cleaner, even using the 'right' size tubing, if you heat the top or bottom and then press it against something flat while it's still hot.