I bought this for a shed project, and I've been driving a variety of nails. I'm going to share the good and less-than-perfect.
First, read the directions. I'm as guilty as anyone of skipping the directions. Read them. The two parts that are notable:
-Like any air tool, use a little oil each day.
-It frequently goes into a free-flow air mode where it blows air but doesn't do anything. This is common and no big deal. Tap it and it stops. It's no big deal. This is a function of how the inner valve works. The directions talk about it at greater length.
This inexpensive nailer comes with a high quality swivel quick disconnect. It's great. I can hold it with the hose leading away in a variety of directions. I actually bought a swivel, not realizing I wouldn't need one, but I'll use it on some other tool.
Use of the tool is trivial. Insert the head of a nail in the end, position, and press. The tool does the rest. There is a magnet built into the tool that holds the nail for you, so it won't drop out. The only trick: it's possible to accidentally fire the tool while inserting the nail. I did this just often enough to learn to be careful. It didn't seem particularly dangerous. It didn't shoot nails at me or anything. But it did bang my fingers a few times. It didn't hurt half as bad as getting hit with a hammer.
Driving speed appears to be similar to that of normal nailing. The advantage, however, is that you can get into much tighter locations, although there are some restrictions. I've never enjoyed pounding nails sideways between 16-inch-center wall studs or floor joists. That's just a little tight to swing a hammer, and it makes it a pain in the ass. With this tool, it's great. Also, tapping my fingers, especially with shorter nails, happens far less often.
On the flip side, you need a little more clearance from the face of what you're working on. I built the decking of my shed first and the walls on top of that. When nailing the walls together, this little hammer tends to bottom out against the floor while doing the lower of the nails. No biggie, but I wanted to mention it.
The process is probably noisier than hammering. I wore ear protection. But you get noise from your compressor (and mine is really loud, although I kept it in the garage and ran a long hose). The tool makes a bzzzt sound, as it's doing a lot of little taps rather than a few big ones. Earing protection was nice.
Note that movement of the work piece is lower than hammering. See the previous paragraph, but basically it's like a really fast baby hammering the nail rather than a grown adult. If I didn't weight my walls while hammering, they would still slowly walk across the deck, but at nowhere near the rate as when using a standard claw hammer. I thought this was nice.
Note that some people said you can't counter-sink nails. That's not true. They tend to end just slightly raised, but it took me about 3 minutes to learn a technique to sink them a little lower. Or just keep a hammer handy to finish that last bang.
I definitely recommend this tool. It's very inexpensive and can drive any framing nails. It won't work on large-head nails like roofing nails, but that's what a roofing nailer is for. I didn't feel like I saved time, but I might have saved my arms for the number of nails I was driving, and I didn't have the frustration of swinging a hammer between 16-inch centers.
And who can have too many air tools?
| Manufacturer | BOSTITCH |
|---|---|
| Part Number | PN50 |
| Item Weight | 1 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 19.88 x 8.06 x 9.69 inches |
| Item model number | PN50 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Color | Beige |
| Finish | Beige |
| Shape | Triangle |
| Power Source | Air Powered |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Included Components | bare-tool |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
| Warranty Description | 7 Year Limited |
