Nail guns

[Crofter]

At the moment I am using two different nail guns: a Hitachi gas gun for framing, and a Clarke coil nailer that runs off a compressor and fires full head nails up to 70mm.

initial impressions are that the gas nailer is handier in many ways, no hose to drag around behind you, but overall I don't think it's any faster to use as it has more issues with jams, cold gas, and of course needs reloaded more frequently. I have been surprised by how temperamental it can be below about ten degrees celsius.

The coil gun has the option of sequential firing which can make scarily rapid progress on things like sheathing. Even running it off a cheap little 12l compressor it is faster than I am.

 

 

The main thing that drove me to get the coil nailer was that I was able to buy stainless full head nails for a fraction of the price of the Paslode-type ones for the gas gun. I will need these for my timber cladding and the relatively cheap coil nailer has probably already paid for itself just through the difference in cost of the nails. Plus, no more taking out fuel cells and sticking them in your armpit until they are warm enough to work!

[Construction Channel]

i usually carry a spare gas in my front pocket, keeps it nice and warm and is a convenient shape to cause an illusion

[Nickfromwales]

i'm just about to buy a silent compressor to start the man-shed.

roll on the sunny days where i can actually get something done

 

[Frogeye]

Just a word of caution with compressors....

I bought a 2.5HP 24 litre SIG compressor to run various air tools from, however because I have this plugged in the end of 100m of extension cables the voltage drop caused when it kicks in tends to trip the thermal cut out on it. It works perfectly at the 50m mark, but the second length of extension cable pushes it over the edge. I had my sparky look at it and the voltage dropped from 240v to 205v when it tried to kick in.

I upgraded my extension cable from the screwfix ones to 2.5mm² ones but with no improvement. Meanwhile I tried a friends 1.5HP compressor and that ran with no problems. I've can just about get around the problem for now by totally draining the tank and starting it from absolutely empty - and as I am only stapling my first floor UFH spreader plates with it I can get about 500 staples in per tank fill.

I'm looking forward to having a proper main supply on site!

[Crofter]

I'm likewise running off 100m of extension reels- have had no problems with the compressor but I forget what Hp rating it is. It's a cheap Screwfix 'Impax' one that was on offer at about £60.