I would like a recommendation for a brand, model number and source for a good caulking gun. I want one that will release pressure on the caulk tube when you release the trigger, in addition to smooth operation.
Thanks
Low-e storm panels improve the energy efficiency of these old sash windows without changing their classic look.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial NowGet instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
Cox, 'nuff said.
http://www.coastaltool.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/hand_tools/cox/caulking.htm?L+coastest+ydxw2929ffebe8eb
PJ
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
I second the Cox recommendation, but as far as releasing the pressure, you still may need to push the release on the back immediately after dispensing. Are you doing that with your current gun?
why bother with anything other than a Cox....
careful... there's a lot of knock offs of this gun...
but they're not even close to real thing...
note: look for their dripless gun...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Edited 9/21/2007 12:52 am by IMERC
I have a bunch of Cox guns. Whether or not the caulk stops oozing when you stop plunging has a lot more to do with the caulk than with the gun, in my experience. Sometimes it seems like a plot to make you waste caulk so you have to buy more.
not to mention when it passes an air bubble and really messes things up...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Have a Cox dripless... still drips, a lot.
Bought a Tajima... problem solved.
It does seem to differ with what caulking is used. For me, it's mostly Phenoseal or PL.
Not sure on the model number of the Tajima, it's red if that helps.
Nick
I HATE that! I'm bad enough with caulk without air bubbles making it worse. Seems to always occur just when I'm actually on a roll.
YUP....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
View Image
Convoy Lite
This gun is one of my favorites. The Cox guns are well made too. I've got both.
Got to agree that dripping often seems to be a function of the tube more then the gun...buic
Cox guns are where it's at....Enough said.
http://www.dripless.com/
http://www.dripless.com/
Pray tell, have you used these?
I've never met caulk gun that didn't leak some under right conditions.PJ
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
Mostly use it for cheap painters caulk and it does great. No drips. One of the things that I really like about it is how smooth the operation is. No ratcheting, no turning the plunger to release pressure. It's the best one I've tried, but I haven't had the chance to try this "cox" that everyone likes.
It did drip when I was using it for a sanded grout caulk.
I can't say enough good things about these guns. Every time someone uses mine they end up buying one... I have big and small ones....
http://www.amazon.com/Ergo-Tech-Contractor-Quart-Caulk-Gun/dp/B000LNT1VA
-Kit
Several guys on here have recommended the ETS5000 in the past. I took their advice one day and haven't regretted it since. I've used several different types, but for the money, this one is my favorite. Easy to load, easy to use, simple design, and doesn't waste a drop.
MichaelNew knowledge is priceless.
Used knowledge is even more valuable.
As far as manual guns go, I'll put in another vote for Cox.
I find that if I thumb the drive-bar release tab as soon as I finish squeezing out the bead, I get very little drip. But no gun is truly dripless with every type of product that comes in a cartridge.
If there is any air in the cartridge at all, it will be compressed while you're gunning the caulk...and will of course 'push back' as soon as you release the pressure, thus forcing more caulk out of the tip.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
To Dinosaur and all who took the time to get involved in this discussion: Thanks!! I did not think there would be that much interest in this subject, and your comments and advice are appreciated. Seems there is a market out there for a truely dripless gun and caulk tube.
I'm not sure truly dripless is possible. When I use sanded latex tile caulk, it oozes not matter how gently I squeeze and how quickly I hit the thumb release. Like I said, a plot to make you buy more. The Cox is a big improvement with Sikaflex, which is hatefully messy if it oozes.
I think the only way to ensure truly dripless operation would be to incorporate a positive connection between the gun's drive rod and the tube's piston cap. With that kind of set up, it would be possible to pull back on the drive rod just a tad at the end of your bead and actually pull the piston back at the same time. This would reduce the built-up pressure inside the tube to or slightly below that of the ambient air pressure...so no more caulk/whatever would flow out the nozzle.
To some extent, all products packaged in tubes are compressible, either because of air bubbles trapped in the cartridge or because of microscopic gas bubbles which are actually part of the product by design. Improved quality control in tube and product manufacture could address the first of these causes; but if the product itself is inherently compressible, even to a small degree, the essential problem remains. Either way, that gas is compressed when you start to yank on the trigger of the gun, and until it is pushing back with more force than the combination of ambient air pressure and nozzle friction, the product won't come out of the tube.
But once it does start, it will keep flowing out the nozzle until the internal and external pressures are again equalised...and that doesn't happen the instant you stop pushing on the piston. It won't happen until the gasses in the tube expand again, and since the path of least resistance is for the product to flow out the nozzle (rather than to push the piston back toward the other end of the tube), it will drip, at least some.
The denser and less easily compressed the product is, the less it should drip from a 'push-only' gun.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
I have a CHEAP ($5.95) stamped metal one that is very good.The only complaint is that with the mechanical advantage is low and it takes lots of force to operate.But it is dripless for most things.Never a problem drip for thinks for latex caulk, silicone caulk, or Power Grab adhesive.But with PL Premium it drips even if I release the plunger and pull it back..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
<<But with PL Premium it drips even if I release the plunger and pull it back.>>I know what you mean, it happens to me also. Back in 1991 when PL Premium first came out, I bought some and conducted a test to compare it to PL 400. What struck me right away was the way that this new adhesive did not have the run-on problem of all the others. So, what happened? Change in formula? More air bubbles in the tubes as they ramped the production up? I dunno, but I want that first experience back!Bill
I have a $4.00 gun I bought at HD 9 years ago that doesn't drip no matter what I run through it. There's no ratchet on the gun, just the metal rod with a plunger attached to it. I don't back it off the rod or anything. I'm scared I might lose this gem of gun one day and be up the creek!
I have drip problems with PL Premium, too, now that you mention it. But I usually use a pneumatic gun rather than my Cox/Wexford, and I know that's going to drip unless I unplug the hose before I lay it down. So until now I guess I attributed it more to the gun than the product.
The worst thing that happens using a pneumatic gun is that sometimes the cheap house-brand tubes have very short pistons in them, and thus aren't inherently stable in the tube. (Not that I buy house-brands usually, but some of the big box stores around here won't stock the good brands of certain products, only their own cheap knock-off.) A pneumatic gun doesn't have a drive rod; it just pushes the piston forward with air. So if a short piston gets out of alignment in the tube, it'll tip and spin...and now you've got 60-80 psi of air jetting directly into a semi-liquid product.
Wanna talk about a mess...?
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Serious squirtage?
Caulkfarts like you've never seen... if you're lucky!
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Good thing I only use the hand jobs!!!
I ain't gonna touch that line....
The pneumatic gun excels at laying down a perfectly uniform, smooth bead, something that's very difficult or impossible to do with a manual gun. This is because the pressure it exerts on the product doesn't vary the way it does in a manual gun everytime the operator has to pump the trigger. With a pneumatic gun, you set the pressure you want at your compressor's regulator, and assuming your tanks are big enough (a twin hotdog unit is fine), it will remain constant at the gun. If you keep the tip moving at a uniform rate down the joint and keep a steady tip-to-work angle in both axes, you will get a perfectly uniform bead.
(Given a good product with no big bubbles in the tube, of course....)
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Might work on the Geocell Pro Color caulk better than my cox gun. Its a "tripolymer", and it gets away from me sometimes. And the ooze when I release pressure keeps on going. Don't touch that line either!
Might work on the Geocell Pro Color caulk better than my cox gun. Its a "tripolymer", and it gets away from me sometimes. And the ooze when I release pressure keeps on going.
And air gun isn't a cure-all for oozing; it can actually be worse than a manual gun for that because there's no thumb latch to release the pressure on the piston. Air guns just have a trigger which either lets in pressurised air or cuts it off. But the only way to bleed off the accumulated pressure behind the piston is to unchuck the air line and then pull the trigger so the air can blow back out the nipple. When you use one of these guns regularly, you learn to do that everytime you are going to lay the gun down for more than a few seconds.
What an air gun is good for is (a) smooth, uniform beads without re-tooling, and (b) a hell of a lot less fatigue on your forearm muscles. When you've got a couple of thousand linear feet of caulking to do on a paint job--or a big subfloor to glue down, or a lot of anything to squirt out of a tube--you'll really appreciate having one.
They're not particularly expensive; IIRC, mine cost me about 60 bucks maybe 10 years ago?
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Tip for using the PL Premium in the cox gun. The run on is slow but goes on for quite a while so I found that a conformat screw fits nicely into the tip and holds back most of the outflow. But the good thing is that PL stays alive in the tube for a long time if it isnt too hot out. You pull out the screw, use what you need, reinsert and a few days to a week or so later it is still good.
The knockoff (HD) guns work pretty well but you gotta wonder if somebody is getting stiffed on the design.
2" clear plastic tape -- the stuff for moving boxes -- will seal the tip almost as good as new. It can be air tight.
-- J.S.
> .... ; but if the product itself is inherently compressible, even to a small degree, the essential problem remains.
Yup. The only thing I've had any luck with is releasing the piston just a tad early. If you're doing a lot, you can get the hang of it for a particular material and ambient temperature.
-- J.S.
Yeah, that's about the only way I can see to do it as long as the guns remain 'push only'. But I don't see caulk companies re-inventing their tubes to fit a yet-to-be-invented 'push-pull' gun which could reduce internal pressure by physically backing the piston out a tad at the touch of a thumb. Especially as that would reduce waste and therefore sales....
I am certain that the type of tube has something to do with how much drip you get from a standard gun, too. Plastic stretches more--and has more shape memory, too--than paper, so it would seem to me that plastic tubes would tend to drip more as the tube itself shrinks back to its original size and shape after having been ballooned under load.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
I like the Cox as well and have two of them. But i recently bought a Jajima which seems to work better. It looks similar but is a little longer making it easier to load and unload, and it has a nice long spike on the frame to puncture the seal on tubes. Sorry I don't have the model number but should be easy to find; just Google Tajima. They have a lot of other good tools.
I gor a sweet Hilti Caulking Gun on Ebay a while back. Think I payed .01 or something plus shipping. I was a joke until I got it. It is by far the best gun I have ever used, and I have 2 Cox guns. Anyone else have a Hilti caulk gun?
Another vote for the red Tajima
these are the ones I use:
http://www.amazon.com/Wexford-II-Skeleton-Caulking-Gun/dp/B000DZBHS6
View Image
Those are great guns!
Also have a metal cox Wexford? that's fantastic, but would be nicer if it had a tube poker. It has such a mechanical advantage you can blow a tube, or get serious plunger ooze if you get carried away. Bought it at Lowes, now all they have are Chinese also rans.
I'm thinking I like these guns so much I should order several more before they stop making them. Seems like every time I find a tool that I really like, the next thing you know, you can't get them anymore, or thay have been 'improved' to the point where they aren't as good.
I figure a half-dozen ought to get me there, and then some: I still have the first three I bought 10+ years ago, still working great.
I much prefer the fiberglass model to the metal one.