Ir Surface Thermometers

[RayCornett]

To those who use IR thermometers to test tempuratures of sections and other pen parts when using heat to loosen them - Which one do you use/recommend?

[OCArt]

I have a gun-shaped IR thermometer that I use for roasting coffee. It uses a laser as a aiming mechanism but the laser is about an inch above the actual sensor which causes extreme parallax at close distances. I doubt that I could accurately measure something as small as a pen barrel.

[praxim]

I have one that looks identical, of a different brand. I read here someone proposing that you simply put the barrel against the sensor window rather than trying [inaccurately] for any distance. It may not be very accurate but it should be fairly reliable.

[Inkling13]

If its not accurate but reliable what use is it?!

[praxim]

Sorry, I am using the terms somewhat technically. A reliable measurement is one that is the same each time you make the same measurement of the same thing. An accurate (or valid) one is correct on this occasion, or more so than something with a greater error margin. If the latter is not reliable then in an extreme example it is akin to a very slow clock, right occasionally but you don’t know when. Something that consistently (reliably) reads, say, ten degrees low, is not accurate but we can adjust for the systematic error. If the reading jumped around between over and under reading, you could not do that.

[fabri00]

I use a heat gun with temperature controll.

[praxim]

Having previously measured the heat at various points using a thermocouple, I control the distance to a fixed heat gun. A different method to the same end.