Hot melt 20 watt Hot Glue Gun With glue sticks hot melt adhesive (HMA), also known as hot glue which is a form of thermoplastic adhesive that is commonly supplied in solid cylindrical sticks of various diameters, designed to be melted in an electric hot glue gun. This gun uses a continuous-duty heating element to melt the plastic glue sticks, which the user pushes through the gun with a mechanical trigger mechanism on the gun. The glue squeezed out of the heated nozzle is initially hot enough to burn and even blister skin. The glue is tacky when hot, and solidifies in a few seconds to one minute. The color of the glue gun may be very due to device resolution.