Tubes of sealant and cartridge guns: size mismatch?

[RichardS]

I must have used dozens of tubes of sealant around the house and car over donkeys years and I always thought that the cartridges and guns were a standard size .... until now.

I'm on the boat with a tube of polysulphide sealant and my gun which I've used for the last 20 years or so and, when I try to put the cartridge into the gun it doesn't fit.

I should be able to squirt some sealant out and move up the piston a few cms and cut a few cms off the end of the plastic tube and bodge it in ..... but has what has gone wrong with the standard system?

Richard

 

[PaulRainbow]

I must have used dozens of tubes of sealant around the house and car over donkeys years and I always thought that the cartridges and guns were a standard size .... until now.

I'm on the boat with a tube of polysulphide sealant and my gun which I've used for the last 20 years or so and, when I try to put the cartridge into the gun it doesn't fit.

I should be able to squirt some sealant out and move up the piston a few cms and cut a few cms off the end of the plastic tube and bodge it in ..... but has what has gone wrong with the standard system?

Richard

Had this with some butyl sealant a few years back, i did the bodge you describe.

 

[lw395]

You can get a longer gun from Toolstation for about £4.

 

[RichardS]

You can get a longer gun from Toolstation for about £4.

I think I may be out of luck in Croatia.

But what is this "longer gun"? Are there now 2 different "standard" sizes for cartridges? Perhaps there are more than two?

Life used to be so simple. :ambivalence:

Richard

 

[ip485]

Partly I think good old B and Q wanting to ensure you purchased their guns so the sealants are made to fit the gun. It is a pain. The bodge works of course.

 

[Tranona]

I think I may be out of luck in Croatia.

But what is this "longer gun"? Are there now 2 different "standard" sizes for cartridges? Perhaps there are more than two?

Life used to be so simple. :ambivalence:

Richard

Don't think there is a standard size. I use the longer gun which is far too big for many tubes but just right for some like Arbro.

 

[jwilson]

There's actually three sizes - long, short and fat, the rare fat one being for tubes of two-pack fixing resins.

 

[Tranona]

Just measured a collection in my garage.

Arbo 10"

Sabadeck caulk big one 300mm (and fat) small one 800mm

Assortment of household DIY - silicone, No nails, decorators caulk etc 8 1/2"

 

[Daydreamer]

I think I may be out of luck in Croatia.

Richard

Why?

These larger guns have been around for years, decades even. I think they may have started when adhesives like Gripfix appeared where "professionals" need to get a lot of material out onto boards quickly. You will have noticed that the nozzle is also larger.

I would be very interested to know how you get on with Geocel 201, It isn't polysulphide but a polymer sealant and I am much impressed by it. As it happens I have recently used it for glazing the forward glass of LR doortops. It does seem to set quite quickly inside an opened tube though.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Just measured a collection in my garage.

Arbo 10"

Sabadeck caulk big one 300mm (and fat) small one 800mm

That's big for a small one

 

[Tranona]

That's big for a small one

You are right. Had the 8" equivalent stuck in my head. Should of course be 200mm. Funny that the Dutch use a size close to the common 8 1/2" but not exactly the same but don't know if that is unique to Saba.