Homax 6500 Drywall Taping Tool

I had never taped drywall before in my life. For long straight areas (not corners), this thing is great It would have taken forever to hand tape instead, and would have been difficult to get the correct amount of mud. Its a little tricky to do corners, and when you get down near the floor or against another wall it can be difficult to rip the tape, but still much faster and easier than taping by hand. Yes, it is messy to refill, and if you're not careful and cut the tape too short you have to open it up to pull the tape through, but who doesn't expect to get messy when taping drywall?If you have to tape alot of drywall and have never done it before, you absolutely need to buy this thing. Period.And I don't know what people are talking about with the knob breaking off. On mine the knob can be slid in and out for cleaning, so it can be removed but I don't see how you can really break it, and it came with an extra knob anyways, and once you set the knob once you don't really need to adjust it.

I first learned the 'joy' of taping drywall joints 20 years ago. To say I wasn't looking forward to taping my new house by hand was an understatement. I forget how I learned about this tool, but figured for the price it was worth a shot.I will say it has been much faster (for me) to use this tool than to tape the eway I learned, but there are some gotchas that will really mess up your day. First It isn't foolproof, you have to pay attention to how thick your mud is, and ensure it is properly coating the tape. I did have some issues with blisters and some areas of the tape not getting enough mud to bed down right. The biggest thing that you need to watch out for is how you tear off the tape at the end of a joint. You have to press the tape against the wall with your taping knife and twist the banjo just right to tear the tape at the knife. More times than I care to admit, I got into a hurry and pulled at the wrong angle only to have the tape tear off at the opening of the tool. This means you have to open the tool up and dig the tape out of the mud and re-thread it. It's annoying.Overall once you get used to it, it makes taping a much less painful process.

This is a good tool for a great price. The key to using this tool is having a lighter mud consistency. I used this product with the drywall stilts to replace several ceilings in my house, this allowed me to do continuous lines. This tool thankfully cut several days out of my project. Mudding is an important part of having a nice finished wall, all be it a dirty and daunting task.I did read the other reviews prior to purchasing this product, as a result I was very careful with the nob which many reviewers said they had broken. I still have my knob in tact.I am very pleased with the purchase.

This product has been a huge time saver! My brother and I are remodeling a house I bought, and we are on a time crunch. This device has been great for us. It works pretty well, but it takes some getting used to. Be sure to take some time when you first get it to practice on a few places that won't be very visible. Here are some complaints, Pros, and Comments if you are considering buying this.Complaints:-The wheel that the tape sits on is pretty stiff (at least mine is) and it forces you to pull harder to get the tape out, which also forces more mud to be on the tape. It doesn't make this item suck, but it's a minor complaint.-It's kinda hard to clean out. There are some really tight corners throughout the design of this tool that takes some time to clean when you're done using it.Pros:-SAVES A TON OF TIME! This tool literally takes the job of taping seams and cuts the time in half. Keep in mind, we aren't pros at finishing drywall, so it probably wouldn't save an expert as much time (if any, since some of those people are insanely fast). I accidentally bought two of these (don't ask how), but I'm actually thinking about keeping the second one, just in case.-Saving time = Saving money. I'm sure this tool has already paid for itself. So, yeah. Nough said about that.Comments:-This tool is very heavy if you are holding it over your head and taping ceiling joints for a while. Be sure to not hurt your back while running this thing.-Play with the mixture of your mud if you are getting too much or not enough mud coming out. It took us some time to get a good thickness.-It's hard to rip the take correctly, without it ripping too far back, forcing you to take the side off to fix it each time. Just be sure to practice this when your first get it, or use your mud knife to score it before you tear it.-I have not tried the corner attachment for it, but would like to. I have a corner mud knife that makes corners pretty quick, so I'm not too quick to try it on this yet.Conclusion. If you're doing a lot of drywall (or plan on it), get it. It's worth figuring it out and getting good at. I don't want to become an drywall finishing expert, so this tool makes the average DIYer a lot quicker.#worth#justdoit

I was very skeptical about purchasing this tool (Thought it was a sham and wouldn't work as advertised) and I was shocked at the results!!! This taping tool cut down my taping time by a lot more than half... I was able to do all seams in a 26x12 basement including ceiling in about 5 hours. I waited until the next day to do the corners and was able to completely seal all the corners in about 2 hours. This job would have taken me at least two full days doing it the manual way applying joint compound, then tape, then pressing out the compound. I tried doing a couple corners with the metal insert corner bead which took forever! This tool made the corners look sharp and it was so easy! Lay out the tape touching both sides of the corner, then press in with taping knife and press out excess. It made the tape sufficiently wet with joint compound that I didn't have to worry about there being any dry edged that would lift, creating an uneven surface. I would definitely recommend this product for everyone from the amateur to the pro. One thing you have to remember though, just make sure you hold/support the beginning of the tape run and along the way as the tool tends to want to pull the laid tape, Once I figured that out, it was smooth sailing. Just get it!

Worked great for our application!!! Easy to clean.

Bought for my dad and he hasn’t had any complaints

Needs a cutting blade

Buy the metal version. This version is very cheap plastic and the control knob is junk. Tape did not come out with a smooth or even coat of mud.

If you are not already a PRO, this will not help you! Mud too thick, mud too thin, could not get right.

Easy to use. Made taping go fast.

Good tool. There is a learning curve to using it as you might expect. But it works well I was able to tape the room in a much shorter time then if I did it without the tool and...

I knew why I was ordering and got exactly that. Works perfectly provided you have the right mudd consistency, and technique.

Worked as advertised. Would buy one with a tape cutter in the future

I didn't get a chance to use item till June and it doesn't work for me it keeps ripping the paper so I did the masking the old way. Wish I could return it.