Craftsman Battery Powered Caulk Gun Review

 I went ahead and picked up the "Craftsman V20 Cordless Caulk and Adhesive Dispenser"  Model number CMCE600 recently.   No, that's really its official name.  Because it's not like regular manually operated caulk guns aren't "cordless" or anything.   I dunno.

I bought the Craftsman because it is in the battery platform of one of the platforms I have battery powered tools in that also had a powered caulk gun.  Also, because it's $59 on Amazon and based on several reviews I've seen, for the money, it performs actually pretty well.

First Impressions

First impressions before I even put a tube of caulk in it (they refer to it as a "cylinder")...

Just to test the motor upon arrival (sometimes things do arrive and don't work), I threw in a simple little 1.5 AH battery that I normally use in my mini fan.  It did, in fact, work.

Now, one of, not the only, but one of, the main purposes of a powered caulk gun is to reduce muscle fatigue.  This puppy says it weighs 4.6 pounds before you put a battery or "cylinder" in it.  I'm here to tell you that in normal use of a caulk gun, that's not a light tool over a period of time.  Do enough caulking and you'll be 2 handing this sucker before too long is what I expect.

As a professional handyman,  I sometimes do window replacement and repair for houses and some small businesses.   If I have like, 12 windows to do, I really don't want to use a manual caulk gun.

Next up, the grip on the handle is NOT made for people with big, wide hands like me.  It feels a bit uncomfortable to my grip.  To be fair... pretty much ALL cordless tool handles are not made for my hand size.   If you have normal, little people sized hands, you should be fine.

Third off the bat... the trigger lock switch seems ridiculously small.  It's so recessed into the grip you practically need a tool to move it.  That was not a great move Craftsman. 

There is no powered reverse of the plunger rod.  You have to manually pull it back to insert a tube in it. Not a problem actually.   I guess I just dont see a reason it shouldn't be able to reverse. 

I do like the rafter hook on it.  I almost always hang my caulk gun on a ladder rung or somewhere and that's a good type of hanger.

You need to fully depress the trigger to activate the power.  I see this as a good thing.  It can be way too easy to be on a ladder and not pay attention to how you hold a tool and suddenly turn on the tool.  So even if you only apply a little pressure to the trigger, you won't gave caulk or whatever shooting everywhere. 

The gun doesn't have a variable speed trigger control.  The six speed settings are at the back of the gun. The controller is a dial type with 1 through 6 pretty clearly marked.  I'm not sure how well that will work out.  I tend to prefer a variable control trigger.

This gun offers 550 "pounds of force".  I would think that would be the non-air powered version of PSI.  When you compare that to say, the Milwaukee version, which boasts about 900 pounds of force at 20V but runs about $220.00, I think, for the market it's targeted to, the Craftsman's 550 pounds is pretty great per dollar spent.  And honestly, unless your putting down some very viscous and dense material on a pretty regular basis, like you'd expect to in an industrial environment,  550 pounds of force is more than enough for residential or general commercial stuff.

I'll be caulking storm windows soon (using a 2AH battery) so I'll get some video/photos of it in action doing that.  I might even try it with a tube of glazing putty, which is a bit different than caulk. 

AAR, After Action Report

I was able to use the caulk gun on a couple of different projects right away.  One was applying window glazing in a cartridge (DAP) and then actually caulking to the storm windows as they got put back on after replacing broken glass in some house windows.

Window Glazing 

The DAP Window Glazing in a cartridge is not the same stuff you get in the traditional little plastic tubs.  The original window glazing is a thick putty.  The glazing-in-a-tube is a much thinner, less viscous material.  I remembered to use a 2AH battery this time.

Not only is it a thin material,  the tube has a nozzle designed to place it in a fixed position.   So ideally, it applies AND manipulates in one pass. I wasn't sure of this particular glazing product (First time use of that one) but I knew it was thinner than putty.  So I figured to start at the halfway point on setting 3.

The glazing was even thinner and faster than I expected.   Setting 3 was way too much.  So I moved it all the way down to setting 1 and that proved to be much more appropriate. 

Setting 1 proved to be much more appropriate.  I was able to maintain the pace and result much better. 

The anti-drip function is about what I expected.   Especially with such a thin material. It technically did stop and back off just a bit when I released the trigger.  However, pressure being already established in the tube and again, thin stuff, it did release some material after the fact. Not a lot, but... there ya go.  I'll take it.  It's not like a manually operated caulk gun can do any better.

The hanging hook worked as well as I expected.  Hanging the gun from the ladder in between applications as I did other things, it was able to be kept right where I needed it.

The trigger action worked well.  I don't think it held or released incorrectly during use.  It wasn't stiff or wiggly.  

The trigger lock was about as annoying as I expected.   It's not that the action of the switch was bad.  It's just a pain to actually get to, especially when you've got fingers as big as mine.  I still think that could be done better.  But, if you have smaller sized fingers than I do (I wear a size 16 ring) and you actually have fingernails,  you probably won't have as much trouble with it as I do. 

The manually operated plunger rod works fine.  I still want to move cautiously as I pull or push it just because I feel like it would cause some kind of problem.   I mean, they designed it to work this way, so probably not, but I still handle it cautiously. 

Next up, caulking the windows! 

Caulking Windows

So, while repairing some panes of glass on a window, I took the opportunity to strip and repaint the exterior wood trim as well.  Cleaned up the gunk from the old storm window and put it all back together. 

I always put new white caulk around the back of the storm window edges once I have it basically screwed in but still not tightened down.  That allows a good caulk seal when it does get tightened down.

Once again, using speed level 1 was plenty sufficient to keep the caulk moving at a controllable rate while working from the ladder around the window edges.  Not too fast, stops quickly when you let off the trigger.

You don't need a thick bead between the storm window and the wood but old storm windows might have spots that take a bit more than the rest.  This is easily controlled at speed 1 on the Craftsman caulk gun by going at the regular pace but occasionally slowing down a moment to allow for a bit more in a particular spot.

Once the caulking around the edges is done, the storm window can be completely tightened down and there will be a bit of caulk squeezed out at the edges.  This is to the benefit because it's easy then to smooth the bead along the outer edges of the storm window to get a solid seal.  Plus, the white caulk matches the white painted wood almost perfectly. 

I can go back after it's all applied and run a putty knife on the front of the storm window to remove surface caulk.

Summary

In the process of glazing and caulking windows, I've been my usual ASHD "bull in a China shop" self.  Not helped at all by being a big guy that has less maneuverable room to move in around me.  Ladders have been bumped, tools knocked off.  Including the caulk gun.  Any tool I get has to be durable just to survive me being in the vicinity or actively holding it.

So far, this Craftsman V20 Cordless Caulk gun has survived my unintentional efforts to put the kibosh on it very well.  That's a big plus right off the bat.

As mentioned, the speed control seems fine.  Running at speed 1, it was very manageable and no effort to apply glazing or caulk.  The trigger is a good size and easy to hold down.  I did yell at the caulk gun at least once when it wouldn't depress the trigger due to the fact that I had forgotten I had put the trigger lock on to prevent unnecessary unleashing of caulk.  The trigger lock works. Though I still think it's too small.

The gun seems to be fairly conservative about battery draw.  It seemed to hardly use more than 1 bar (out of 3) from the 2 AH battery I had used to power it during this project.  And, I was wrong about the total weight being a problem.  Once I got to moving around with it, it wasn't noticeably heavy or awkward weighted to use at all.  Though, I did hang it up after using it here and there.  Not a problem after all.

All in all, I'll give this powered caulk gun 8 out of 10 stars based on this project.

Good price

Good battery use

Good operation

If you actually read the instructions,  it's easy to figure out.

I really don't have much to complain about here.  I thought I would.  I really expected more to complain about (re-read my "first Impressions").

I'll be using this a lot more.  A future project will be to use it to apply driveway sealant.