This is a cool tool that was first brought to us by a local TIA member, PT Custom, which we hope to meet soon. He emailed us a while back and told us about the Newborn Rodless caulk gun. In all my years I have never heard about this. Maybe because all my caulk guns are from Home Depot and I pick them up whenever I need one or I should say when I forgot mine at home. When he first told me about this I thought what a great idea. I know there have been plenty of times when the caulk gun rod has got in my way from finishing or starting a good bead. So naturally we had to go out and get one to see how well this really worked. I know there isn’t much to talk about, so I will keep this short.
As you can see by the pictures below, the caulk gun doesn’t have a rod to get in the way. This system uses a flexible steel strap plunger which rides up in the body and barrel. So you can picture it like a pulley system. My first question was how strong this system would be. First, it has to be flexible enough to bend and move in the caulk gun, but strong enough to push out different types of materials. Well after using it, I can say this system is very nice. I don’t have any worries about this not being able to perform. In fact, I felt like I could lay a bead just as good as a rod system. One thing to note this does have a 10:1 thrust ratio.
The two downsides for some are losing the rod and barrel. Yes, losing the rod is a huge plus, but it also means you lose the ability to hang the caulk gun up in between applications. Newborn tried to counter this loss with adding a belt hook to the caulk gun. Another downside to this system is because of the design, you lose the ability to incorporate a barrel that will twist. With this system, the barrel has to stay in place and you will have to do any twisting with your hands. Not a huge deal, but something to note.
One thing I would like to see on this caulk gun is an integrated poke stick so when I cut the end of a caulk tube, I could pierce the inside. Again not a huge loss, but something to note.
On Amazon this only has three reviews. 1 five star, 1 three star and 1 two star. I always try to take what other people say into account, but I haven’t had any problems with mine as far as sticking. Someone did complain about not having a manual. There really isn’t much to caulk guns and by playing with it, it’s pretty easy to figure out.
Newborn Z-Lite Lightweight Rodless Caulking Gun
I have to say I am so happy PT Custom brought this to our attention. This is such a cool and reliable way to implement a system without having a rod to get in the way. If you are someone who uses a caulk gun and is tired of the rod getting in the way, the Newborn rodless caulk gun is a perfect solution. Bottom line, PT Custom said his worked well and he was happy with the purchase. So in my book, that is enough for me to trust this caulk gun.
I don’t know how many times my rod hit the ladder when laying a bead around a window. And you don’t want to finger that caulk. ISO Quad is a pain to work with. (This could be a bad double entendre.)
No rod?! That’s witchcraft!
I saw this caulk gun in Cool Tools on DIY network a few years back & I got one a short time later. I’ve always hated the rod versions and I decided to give this a try and I have no complaints. It does have its glitches every now & then, but what type of caulk gun does not. Like Eric mentions in his write up, it’s a cualk gun nothing new here, except for the mechanism to push out the caulk (not including a manual? it’s a caulk gun, put in tube squeeze, done). It is pretty cool seeing it work without the rod. Laters TIA
I have to get one i love when people up grade stuff we take for granted cool review short and sweet!!!
I would have like to have owned one today I did a lot of trim work at grandparents house and there was a lot of tight spots in that old house ,it would have been nice to have no rod today , I went to HD thinkin they would probably have newborn caukgun there and nope :/ I ended up buying there heavy duty version we will c how long it last till I finally get fed up with it. Great review Eric!
Hi Jeth, this is a great caulk gun & you should invest. It was not expensive when I got it a few years back. The best part are the comments you will get when using it with the unique mechanism which it uses. Its cool & functional. You will need to get use to laying down a line, but not a big deal. Laters Jeth
LOL someone complained about it not including a manual, really?
But that design is very nice, I never liked the rod sticking out but had to deal with it as I didn’t know there were rodless designs. This is worth picking up.
I think it was the same guy who complained about Klenex not coming with direction