@@handle1196 The ball bearing seal at the end of the nozzle should keep everything airtight. As long as you're ruthless shutting off the flow every time you use it, it should stay workable... I use mine all year around and never have to do more than scrape around the nozzle/tip...
My experiences with these guns have taught me that as long as you keep the gun live (aka don’t lock it off after use with the dial on the back) you will never need to clean the gun out. My theory is that the can and the gun stay pressured all the way to the nozzle this way therefore the foam won’t go off inside the gun, simply clean the tip off and away you go. This does mean you have to be careful how you store the gun and where you store it as obviously if the trigger is pulled somehow you will end up with a mess in the back of the van 😂 hope someone finds this helpful, Sam
This is my experience too. I have one gun going on 5 years now. The knob locks the trigger off so no issues there. You can disassemble and drill out the dried up foam if someone's takes the can off and leaves it.
@@MrHavokmanI have been using foam guns for 30 years and the one way you keep them working is every time you use it you close the valve at the back , you always close the valve at the back or it gets blocked up by the foam drying in it .
Tip, periodically extract the needle and rub it down with a nylon scourer. This removes debris and make the trigger more retractable, on release, stopping the flow instantly.
Had my current gun for about four years, keep a can on and keep it pressurised. I'm not too fussy about cleaning the tip off either, just break it off once it sets and give it a quick swipe with some sandpaper and its good to go every time!
Or if you are looking to buy a foam gun pay extra and get a non stick one like the Faithfull ones, you can just leave the can on and don't even need to clean it out. Well worth it.
Always leave a can on mine but if they do get a bit clogged I give them a basic strip then the metal components a gentle soak in cellulose thinners to remove stubborn hardened foam. After that the gun is good to go for a while.
I strip mine down and run a long masonry bit through long tube and dig out where needed . and a drop of cleaner. got it down to about 5 mis start to finish.
I have 4-5 in my garage all clogged, the plan is to take them all apart one day and clean them through. when the foam guns first came out they were really expensive, but they are around throwaway price these days
Acetone and an ultrasonic cleaner are your best friends if the foam has cured... Had to strip mine down but was cheaper then buying a new one and took an hour.
Rather than doing nothing every time, or fully cleaning it every time, why not try the middle-ground: unscrew the foam can, screw on the cleaner can, give it a quick blast to get acetone into the system, unscrew the cleaner can, screw back on the foam can. Leave it a soup of acetone and foam inside. Why not give it a try!
On the gun I use , the spring-loaded ball valve (where the can screws on) can be unscrewed, dismantled and cleaned, the ball usually is stuck to the housing... pick the old foam out with a fine scriber or whatever... 🤔
Coming from Yorkshire means i've got the same gun I bought 20yrs ago 🙂 Always leave it connected to a pressurised can of foam, use the foam cleaner as per this vid or strip it down and clean it out. If you want a cheap, but powerful solvent that melts foam then buy 'standard thinners' it does the same as acetone, but costs much less.
Are you locking it off with a can of foam on the end or not? How do you get the thinners in to clean it if its not in a pressurised tin? And what do you do at the end of a day if youve used the foam connected to it and and dont plan to use the gun for weeks, is the gun itself not full of foam
bought one and was impressed so bought another one and they both blocked and could not get them to work any more, stripped them and cleaned them threw them away
its always been the ball valve that sticks in mine .not letting the new foam , pressure out . only solution far as i know is unscrew the can , not good
Ive never owned a gun but need to buy one. If i add a foam can and use it but dont empty it, do you leave it attached, is there a max time limit before it all clogs up, days weeks?
If I'm going to use the gun again that day or in the next day or 2 I leave the can of foam on. If I ever forget about a can & leave it on by mistake I usually find it'll start to clog the gun after anywhere from 1 to 4 ish weeks depending on how well that particular gun's openings are sealed. If I'm not going to use the gun again for a bit, I flush it thoroughly with a can cleaner & always make sure before I remove the cleaner can not to press the trigger in order to leave some cleaner in the gun under pressure. I've found the guns with a manual ON/OFF valve are a lot more robust compared to guns that rely on a spring loaded ballbearing to seal the can intake, as tiny specs of crap always seems to get into the ballbearing valves & prevent it from functioning properly. Other opinions will vary.
I just use the other type with the little plastic tube. Not quite as good but no faff with cleaning etc. just stick a screw in the end and it’ll last for a few weeks. I’ll stick with that.
Those are fine for a a little bit of DIY like sealing up a small hole etc but no good for bigger jobs like sealing up PIR between rafters or studs etc on a large build.
@@gdfggggg Just last week I had to seal around 150mm PIR in between rafters. In some places there was a wide enough gap to stick one of those little soft plastic tubes but in most places the gaps were small enough to require the metal gun tube to force it's way between the PIR & the rafter to the back of the PIR & make sure foam could be applied to the full 150mm depth & not just the front of the board. Whenever I'm sealing PIR I find this to be the case & one of those little soft tubes could not do the job properly. Many such cases.
Quite surprised at how you mistreat the foamgun. Spotted it in your other video. Yes you can leave the can on the gun but dont think it can stay on there for weeks on end without use. a week or so, no problem but the foam will start to slowly react. I've never had a gun clog, i have had can valves fail when removing (small weep from the valve). If the gun is not going to be used for some time just put some cleaner through it. Quick spray until the foam stops, then cleaner can off and depressurise the gun. Its all ready to go for the next time
The price of the cleaner though! £13 per can in LBS for a tin of Acetone!! Half that for a full litre of it! Now the trick is to work out how to get the cheap still Acetone into the empty spray can and re-pressurise it...hmmm.......
All these, and Roger’s advice, are for the tradesmen. What solutions are there for the DIYers? We don’t use our tools and equipment on a daily basis, once or twice a year perhaps. We must clean after every use, and really thoroughly otherwise the gun will always become unusable. I realize this channel is mostly for tradesmen but a lot of us enthusiastic amateurs also watch.
Buy a can of gun cleaner. When you have done the job, unscrew the foam can, screw the cleaner can on and give it a quick blast out. The cleaner solvent can also has a tip you can put on it to use it as an aerosol spray when off the gun so you can clean the outside of the gun. It works great and my gun is like new after each use as it's typically only used 3 or 4 times per year. My cans of cleaner last me well over a year.
Although they're not quite as controllable, you can just use the handheld cans. There are some which are pretty reusable for at least a few months if properly handled, otherwise you just write the cost of the unused foam off as the cost of, well, not exactly business.
@@Monkeh616. I agree. That’s what I’ve been doing. I once lashed out and bought a gun, it wasn’t cheap, I used the cleaner as stated on the can, next time I went to use it the gun was totally useless. So now I just buy the one off cans basically for single use, often discarding most of the quite expensive stuff. We try to copy the professionals but the reality is we can’t, the only thing we have over them is time and patience, but not their know how.
@@Monkeh616 I used to used handheld cans until the day I bought a gun and the difference in controllability is night and day. The only time id consider a handheld can is if it was on sale / free and I had a large earlier to fill where controllability is irrelevant. If you are filling small gaps, get a gun, you wont regret it.
@@JR-el7et I have one. But that's the tradeoff you have to decide on- controllability of the gun vs cost, cleaning, risk of it being clogged. Either way for occasional use you're going to be discarding foam. You can do fine gaps with the handheld stuff, it just takes.. quite a bit of practice. The guns, well, it's much more like using a caulk gun. Far easier to be consistent.
Fuck the cleaner used all the time gun fails used most guns. Now not interested in cleaning keep everything air tight no issues. Asked boys how used them in regular basis non ever cleaned and had any issues. In yet a would clean with cleaner every time and every other time be issues. No cleaner gun works a treat lol.
I think foam is the worst product the cans always block they never empty its total land fill waste junk its a shame its such a badly presented product. There must be a better alternative its definitely a product the industry is just lazy with.
Would help if you had the cleaner the correct way up 😂 not the same as the foam. I’ve had my gun for years. Only time it sticks is when the spring and bearing gets coated
@@SkillBuilder If it's a typical construction with a dip tube, you just end up with the propellant coming out. This is so you can use them right side up with the nozzle. The foam cans don't have a dip tube, which is why they're used upside down. There are aerosols which can be operated in any orientation, not actually sure what the internal construction of those looks like. Wouldn't bank on commodity industrial products being such. The propellants themselves may be somewhat effective as a solvent but they fill them with more than just butane (usually acetone and sometimes a blend with ethyl acetate and other solvents) for a purpose.
@@SkillBuilder yeah it’s like monkeh said. It’s mainly the propellant coming out instead of cleaner. You can end up with a half a can of cleaner and no pressure to push it out. As long as you leave the can on for 15 mins minimum to dissolve all the foam you should be good. Don’t just squirt cleaner though it as the spring and bearing will remain coated
Sorry to go off topic Roger, but why should we bother sorting our household waste for recycling when the building trade is completely blind to the issue? Not to undermine your helpful videos, but perhaps something you’d like to discuss.
In my experience the building industry is not blind to it, we have to jump through lots of hoops. Skips go to a waste transfer station and are picked through. Plasterboard goes in a separate skip, so does metal and wood waste.
Had the same foam gun for years, never used the cleaner, just keep everything air tight and your have no issues
How do you keep the tube inside clean and from setting between uses without cleaner?
@@handle1196 The ball bearing seal at the end of the nozzle should keep everything airtight. As long as you're ruthless shutting off the flow every time you use it, it should stay workable...
I use mine all year around and never have to do more than scrape around the nozzle/tip...
If you left them for a month they will dry inside, unless youre using a super high end foam gun
@@zaxmaxlax Odd, never had a problem, but then I guess it's rare it goes weeks without using it....
If its plugged up I take it apart and clean with Acetone. That is what those can of cleaner are.
My experiences with these guns have taught me that as long as you keep the gun live (aka don’t lock it off after use with the dial on the back) you will never need to clean the gun out. My theory is that the can and the gun stay pressured all the way to the nozzle this way therefore the foam won’t go off inside the gun, simply clean the tip off and away you go. This does mean you have to be careful how you store the gun and where you store it as obviously if the trigger is pulled somehow you will end up with a mess in the back of the van 😂 hope someone finds this helpful, Sam
This is my experience too. I have one gun going on 5 years now.
The knob locks the trigger off so no issues there.
You can disassemble and drill out the dried up foam if someone's takes the can off and leaves it.
You couldn’t be more wrong 😂
@@dragonfitter how so?
@@MrHavokmanI have been using foam guns for 30 years and the one way you keep them working is every time you use it you close the valve at the back , you always close the valve at the back or it gets blocked up by the foam drying in it .
@@MrHavokmanthe whole reason for that valve is to keep the gun in use
Tip, periodically extract the needle and rub it down with a nylon scourer. This removes debris and make the trigger more retractable, on release, stopping the flow instantly.
Had my current gun for about four years, keep a can on and keep it pressurised. I'm not too fussy about cleaning the tip off either, just break it off once it sets and give it a quick swipe with some sandpaper and its good to go every time!
I used to do that but in the end it got clogged inside
Or if you are looking to buy a foam gun pay extra and get a non stick one like the Faithfull ones, you can just leave the can on and don't even need to clean it out. Well worth it.
Always leave a can on mine but if they do get a bit clogged I give them a basic strip then the metal components a gentle soak in cellulose thinners to remove stubborn hardened foam.
After that the gun is good to go for a while.
Acetone or MEK will devolve the foam and clean it through, there is also a ball bearing in the system that clogs up and might need an extra clean.
I strip mine down and run a long masonry bit through long tube and dig out where needed . and a drop of cleaner. got it down to about 5 mis start to finish.
Great piece of advice Roger. Appreciated.
Been through hundreds of these damn things.
I’ve gone through a few BUT! Faithful do a non-stick one Black in colour….. a game changer for these.
I will try it next
You can disassemble them on a vise and clean the insides with the foam cleaner spray. It will be as good as new.
I always clean my gun nozzle with acetone, never had it clog up.
I have 4-5 in my garage all clogged, the plan is to take them all apart one day and clean them through.
when the foam guns first came out they were really expensive, but they are around throwaway price these days
Acetone and an ultrasonic cleaner are your best friends if the foam has cured... Had to strip mine down but was cheaper then buying a new one and took an hour.
Rather than doing nothing every time, or fully cleaning it every time, why not try the middle-ground: unscrew the foam can, screw on the cleaner can, give it a quick blast to get acetone into the system, unscrew the cleaner can, screw back on the foam can. Leave it a soup of acetone and foam inside. Why not give it a try!
A gummed up gun can be soaked in Acetone and the foam will just dissolve.
On the gun I use , the spring-loaded ball valve (where the can screws on) can be unscrewed, dismantled and cleaned, the ball usually is stuck to the housing... pick the old foam out with a fine scriber or whatever... 🤔
Ty!
Coming from Yorkshire means i've got the same gun I bought 20yrs ago 🙂 Always leave it connected to a pressurised can of foam, use the foam cleaner as per this vid or strip it down and clean it out. If you want a cheap, but powerful solvent that melts foam then buy 'standard thinners' it does the same as acetone, but costs much less.
Are you locking it off with a can of foam on the end or not?
How do you get the thinners in to clean it if its not in a pressurised tin?
And what do you do at the end of a day if youve used the foam connected to it and and dont plan to use the gun for weeks, is the gun itself not full of foam
The seal on these cans is a horrible design if you ask me. It opens the can valve BEFORE the can is properly seated on the gun.
You are completely right, you have to be quick.
@@SkillBuilder Do you know if any better designed guns exist? Like 'screw onto gun / pull lever to lower into gun valve'?
Any solution to cheaper cleaners? $8-12 per can is a bit on the step side when you need multiple cans. Might try to make one refillable.
Teflon foam gun, every time.
I have just ordered one, thanks for the tip
Teflon gun is the way forward!
Any particular make ?
@@wotnoturbo Faithful red and black one is surprisingly good quality.
@@lukeshepherd9529 cheers
bought one and was impressed so bought another one and they both blocked and could not get them to work any more, stripped them and cleaned them threw them away
Tried that with mine but no luck, just ended up buying a Teflon coated one
I had one of these failed with the ball valve after few months of use so there was no chance of saving it.
its always been the ball valve that sticks in mine .not letting the new foam , pressure out .
only solution far as i know is unscrew the can , not good
Ive never owned a gun but need to buy one. If i add a foam can and use it but dont empty it, do you leave it attached, is there a max time limit before it all clogs up, days weeks?
If I'm going to use the gun again that day or in the next day or 2 I leave the can of foam on. If I ever forget about a can & leave it on by mistake I usually find it'll start to clog the gun after anywhere from 1 to 4 ish weeks depending on how well that particular gun's openings are sealed. If I'm not going to use the gun again for a bit, I flush it thoroughly with a can cleaner & always make sure before I remove the cleaner can not to press the trigger in order to leave some cleaner in the gun under pressure.
I've found the guns with a manual ON/OFF valve are a lot more robust compared to guns that rely on a spring loaded ballbearing to seal the can intake, as tiny specs of crap always seems to get into the ballbearing valves & prevent it from functioning properly.
Other opinions will vary.
I just use the other type with the little plastic tube. Not quite as good but no faff with cleaning etc. just stick a screw in the end and it’ll last for a few weeks. I’ll stick with that.
Those are fine for a a little bit of DIY like sealing up a small hole etc but no good for bigger jobs like sealing up PIR between rafters or studs etc on a large build.
@@northeastcorals not really, been using them for years on many building projects. Served me well. No faff.
@@gdfggggg Just last week I had to seal around 150mm PIR in between rafters. In some places there was a wide enough gap to stick one of those little soft plastic tubes but in most places the gaps were small enough to require the metal gun tube to force it's way between the PIR & the rafter to the back of the PIR & make sure foam could be applied to the full 150mm depth & not just the front of the board. Whenever I'm sealing PIR I find this to be the case & one of those little soft tubes could not do the job properly. Many such cases.
@@northeastcorals I just squash the end flat.
@@gdfggggg 😂 yeh that'll definitely work
I've never cleaned a gun out and never had an issue
I've found that despite cleaning, mine clogs where the ball valve seats on a small plastic cup. Too soft to scrape etc etc. can't get spares.
For a more thorough cleaning you can take the gun apart - video by Ultimate Handyman
Quite surprised at how you mistreat the foamgun. Spotted it in your other video. Yes you can leave the can on the gun but dont think it can stay on there for weeks on end without use. a week or so, no problem but the foam will start to slowly react. I've never had a gun clog, i have had can valves fail when removing (small weep from the valve). If the gun is not going to be used for some time just put some cleaner through it. Quick spray until the foam stops, then cleaner can off and depressurise the gun. Its all ready to go for the next time
always the ballbearing getting stuck in the gun head. Lots of cleaner they push the bearing in and clean out
I always leave the foam gun with the can of cleaner attached .
have gotten one, full of hard foam, I think I can throw that one away
The price of the cleaner though! £13 per can in LBS for a tin of Acetone!! Half that for a full litre of it! Now the trick is to work out how to get the cheap still Acetone into the empty spray can and re-pressurise it...hmmm.......
So stop shopping at places which bend you over? I've never paid (much) more than a fiver for a can of the stuff, and that's at the expensive end.
Take it apart and clean it out. The solvent to get is 'Standard thinners', it's much cheaper than acetone and does the same job.
@@lksf9820 Partly because it has acetone in it. And, well.. everything else. Wonderful blends of recycled and surplus solvents from other processes.
Russian fella on TH-cam has a short video showing you how to rig up a refillable cleaning can- it's a bit Heath Robinson it seems to work.
@@Monkeh616 Living in rural Wales there's sometimes not much choice when you need it in a hurry! LBS have the monopoly here! 🐑
Dont lend it to someone else, guaranteed way to ruin anything.
Never leave a foam gun without a can on it ! Even if the cans empty !!
The can doesn't reseal when you remove it so I don't see how you remove it after every use
Snapped mine into pieces after an hour of trying.
Acetone or the clients nail polish remover 😉
Carb cleaner does it for me 😊
Maybe I shouldn’t clean mine after every use.
Brake Cleaner works the best.
Sorry to tell you but that's all the spray cleaner is son 😂
@@Dale-11 Yeah, but "brake cleaner" is a lot chheapeer.
@@theprofessorfate6184 yep it is mate
All these, and Roger’s advice, are for the tradesmen. What solutions are there for the DIYers?
We don’t use our tools and equipment on a daily basis, once or twice a year perhaps. We must clean after every use, and really thoroughly otherwise the gun will always become unusable. I realize this channel is mostly for tradesmen but a lot of us enthusiastic amateurs also watch.
Buy a can of gun cleaner. When you have done the job, unscrew the foam can, screw the cleaner can on and give it a quick blast out. The cleaner solvent can also has a tip you can put on it to use it as an aerosol spray when off the gun so you can clean the outside of the gun. It works great and my gun is like new after each use as it's typically only used 3 or 4 times per year. My cans of cleaner last me well over a year.
Although they're not quite as controllable, you can just use the handheld cans. There are some which are pretty reusable for at least a few months if properly handled, otherwise you just write the cost of the unused foam off as the cost of, well, not exactly business.
@@Monkeh616. I agree. That’s what I’ve been doing. I once lashed out and bought a gun, it wasn’t cheap, I used the cleaner as stated on the can, next time I went to use it the gun was totally useless. So now I just buy the one off cans basically for single use, often discarding most of the quite expensive stuff. We try to copy the professionals but the reality is we can’t, the only thing we have over them is time and patience, but not their know how.
@@Monkeh616 I used to used handheld cans until the day I bought a gun and the difference in controllability is night and day.
The only time id consider a handheld can is if it was on sale / free and I had a large earlier to fill where controllability is irrelevant.
If you are filling small gaps, get a gun, you wont regret it.
@@JR-el7et I have one. But that's the tradeoff you have to decide on- controllability of the gun vs cost, cleaning, risk of it being clogged. Either way for occasional use you're going to be discarding foam.
You can do fine gaps with the handheld stuff, it just takes.. quite a bit of practice. The guns, well, it's much more like using a caulk gun. Far easier to be consistent.
Why wouldn't you wear nitrile gloves when working with foam?
Non stick gun is what you need, check Charlie DIY video, works brilliantly
I have just bought one, now I am going to stick it up to see if it works
Fuck the cleaner used all the time gun fails used most guns. Now not interested in cleaning keep everything air tight no issues. Asked boys how used them in regular basis non ever cleaned and had any issues. In yet a would clean with cleaner every time and every other time be issues. No cleaner gun works a treat lol.
I think foam is the worst product the cans always block they never empty its total land fill waste junk its a shame its such a badly presented product. There must be a better alternative its definitely a product the industry is just lazy with.
👌🏼👏🏽🧱👍🏽
Would help if you had the cleaner the correct way up 😂 not the same as the foam. I’ve had my gun for years. Only time it sticks is when the spring and bearing gets coated
why does it make any difference which way the can is? I am curious.
@@SkillBuilder If it's a typical construction with a dip tube, you just end up with the propellant coming out. This is so you can use them right side up with the nozzle. The foam cans don't have a dip tube, which is why they're used upside down.
There are aerosols which can be operated in any orientation, not actually sure what the internal construction of those looks like. Wouldn't bank on commodity industrial products being such. The propellants themselves may be somewhat effective as a solvent but they fill them with more than just butane (usually acetone and sometimes a blend with ethyl acetate and other solvents) for a purpose.
@@Monkeh616 spot on bud
@@SkillBuilder yeah it’s like monkeh said. It’s mainly the propellant coming out instead of cleaner. You can end up with a half a can of cleaner and no pressure to push it out. As long as you leave the can on for 15 mins minimum to dissolve all the foam you should be good. Don’t just squirt cleaner though it as the spring and bearing will remain coated
Sorry to go off topic Roger, but why should we bother sorting our household waste for recycling when the building trade is completely blind to the issue? Not to undermine your helpful videos, but perhaps something you’d like to discuss.
In my experience the building industry is not blind to it, we have to jump through lots of hoops. Skips go to a waste transfer station and are picked through. Plasterboard goes in a separate skip, so does metal and wood waste.