ColdHeat Cordless Glue Gun: Discontinued — What to Buy Instead
The ColdHeat brand is gone. What a cordless glue gun needs to work at all, and the current one to buy.
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ColdHeat is defunct and its cordless glue gun is not available. There is no parts or warranty path.
Why cordless glue guns were hard to get right
A glue gun is a heating element. Melting a thermoplastic stick takes real energy, sustained, and that is exactly what a small battery is bad at. Early cordless guns solved it by heating on a dock and running on residual heat, which meant a short working window and glue that cooled mid-bead.
Lithium packs changed the arithmetic. A current cordless gun on an 18V pack heats in a couple of minutes and stays at temperature while you work, because the pack can supply the element continuously.
What to look for
Time to temperature, and whether it stays there. A gun that reheats between beads produces cold glue, and cold hot-melt makes a joint that peels off in one piece. If the glue does not look wet and glossy when it leaves the nozzle, it is too cold to bond.
Full-size sticks. Mini guns take 7mm sticks and run out fast. 11mm sticks hold more glue and there are far more formulations available in that size.
A stand that actually holds the gun nose-down over something. Every glue gun drips. This is not a defect.
The thing most people get wrong
Hot melt is a gap-filling, fast-grabbing, low-strength adhesive. It is excellent for holding a jig together, tacking a pattern to a workpiece, or clamping something awkward while a real glue cures. It is not a structural wood adhesive and it creeps under sustained load. Used for what it is good at, it is one of the most useful things in a workshop.
For wood-to-wood joints that need strength, PVA is stronger than the timber. Use the glue gun to hold, not to join.
What to buy
The Ryobi P305 ONE+ 18V cordless glue gun, linked below, takes full-size sticks and runs on the ONE+ platform, whose battery foot has been unchanged since 1996 — so if you own any Ryobi cordless tool, you already have the power source.
If you glue at a bench next to a socket, a corded gun costs a fraction as much and never needs charging. Cordless earns its cost when you are up a ladder or out on site.