Which Tufting Gun Should I Buy?

What is a tufting gun?

The Tufting Gun is a common tool used to speed up the tufting, rug-making process. If you have any experience with needle punching, the tufting gun operates with the same logic, just way faster than the punching. It has a hollow needle that you can feed the yarn through. This needle penetrates into the stretched tufting cloth and this movement creates the continuous pattern of yarn strips.

Cut-pile and Loop-pile Tufting Gun operates almost in the same way. The only difference between the two tufting guns is in the case of the Cut-pile Tufting gun cuts the yarn thread after each movement through the openings of the tufting cloth with the help of its built-in scissors. But on the other hand, the Loop-pile Tufting Gun does not have built-in scissor equipment because it creates a pattern with a continuous piece of yarn on the tufting cloth. You need to cut the yarn manually after each completed line. 

One of the most important aspect to consider when deciding between a Cut Pile and a Loop Pile is the possibility to shave the rug. In the case of a cut-pile rug, it is possible to shave and carve the rug to make your design more attractive and clean. However, it is not possible to shave a loop-pile rug.

Available Tufting Gun Models

It is possible to find five main different models of tufting guns in the market. But in the case of a beginner, it’s easy to say that you need to decide between three different alternatives because the other two models are more professional tools and can be harder to operate. Additionally, these models would increase the initial starting cost dramatically and unnecessarily. 

AK-I, AK-II, and AK-III are more or less the same models just with different operation modes. AK-I operates as Cut-Pile, AK-II creates Loop-Pile Rugs, and with AK-III it is possible to create both types. You can find more detailed information in Tufting Gun: Cut Pile vs Loop Pile. 

AK-I Cut-Pile is the most beginner-friendly model among the others. ZQ-II and ZQ-III models are more heavy-duty models for longer tufting sections. It would be possible to assume that these models would have a longer lifetime due to material quality but this also makes these tufting guns dramatically heavier compared to AK Tufting Gun models. In the case of a beginner tufter, it could make the tufting process quite harder because of its weight. 

Additionally, ZQ-III Tufting Gun requires an Air Compressor in order to function and it is quite important thing to think about it. This is not the model that you should consider purchasing when you are getting started with tufting. 

Which Tufting Gun To Buy As A Beginner?

For a beginner in rug tufting,  I believe the most important feature to compare between different models of tufting guns is the ease of use. If you try to start with a model that is harder to operate and requires additional tools to function it can easily become an overwhelming task instead of a creative hobby.

Personally, I decided to purchase AK-I for my first tufting gun because it is quite easy to operate, it is considerably lighter (1.4kg or 3 pounds) compared to ZQ-II which is 2.8kg or 6 pounds. This may sound like not a huge difference however during the tufting process it can become quite tiring to hold the gun up for a long time. In addition to the weight, AK-I is the cheapest available option to purchase. If you just want to test tufting and check your interest in this craft it is the best option for you.

Alternative Options For Tufting Gun

Purchasing a tufting gun could be a hard decision to make if you are working with a limited budget. If that’s the case you may want to search for alternative options to the tufting gun. The Punch Needle can be what you are looking for. Tufting and Punch Needle are really similar techniques, both used in order to create handmade rugs. 

However, practically they are not the same, they require different tools, and techniques and the creation process is not the same. In both methods, the yarn poked through the holes of the cloth and created a pattern of yarn. The most important difference is the speed of the process, in the case of a highly detailed small rug piece the Punch Needle can be a better choice however for larger sizes it can take a couple of days to finish a piece. The final products are visually the same for a loop-pile tufting gun and punch needle. You can find more information about the punch needle here.

For punch needles, there is a wider range of available products. Depending on the thickness of the needle, yarn, and the final result you want to achieve. You can have more information about the different options for punching needles here.