Electric nail guns

[joiner_sim]

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying an electric nail gun for at home. I am wondering how they compare to the air compressor powered ones? I am only after one that will fire brads upto 35mm. I like the look of the tacwise ones available.
Does anyone have any advice, opinions or experience that will help me to decide on what to buy and how much to spend.
Ideally.... I'd like to buy at a low price -the tacwise 181L electric master nailer is on sale for £45

 

[promhandicam]

They are all cr*p, especially if you have used an air brad nailer. If you need to do quite a lot of pining get a small compressor and gun if it is only the odd job buy a hammer and a nail punch.

 

[marcros]

i had a cheap one- whatever it was it was unbranded, and as cheap as i could find. it was dreadful, and that was driving the smallest nails i could get into softwood (bee hive frame assembly). I replaced it with a cheap air version from silverline which is much more powerful and better all round. A £45 electric may be better, i imagine that mine was about £15 at most. The downside of air is that you need to get the compressor out every time you use it, so jobs around the house are not so easy if you require the nail gun. I cant think of any such jobs i have done though.

 

[clivethecarpenter]

There pants .............dont bother !

Hammer and nails less money far more reliable or spend a bit more and buy a small compressor and a nail gun
Or blow the budget to pieces and buy one of the new Senco fusion guns which are fantastic

 

[petermillard]

They are all cr*p...

Disagree; you get what you pay for. Maestri and Spotnails make excellent electric pin guns, just not cheap. Tacwise are poor, barely half a step-up from a hobby gun - they make OK staplers, but lousy bradders; whatever you do don't buy the cordless Tacwise 'ranger' - I had one and that was total cr*p!

Anyway, after many years of odd mis-fires, random double-shots and iffy triggers I entually bit the bullet and bought a Spotnails SE30/08; teriffic bit of kit, thoroughly recommended - makes pinning a pleasure...

 

[promhandicam]

I'd like to buy at a low price

£145 + vat doesn't really count as a low price does it?

 

[petermillard]

I'd like to buy at a low price

£145 + vat doesn't really count as a low price does it?

About the same as a cheap compressor and air nailer, no? And he did say "Ideally, I'd like to buy at a low price..." though I guess you meant that they're all cr*p in that price-range.

Like I said, you get what you pay for; FWIW I'll take a decent electric pin gun over a cheap air nailer any day...

Cheers, Pete.

 

[Graham Orm]

Senco. I use it for work constantly. Superb tool. I went through a succession of cheap ones before finding this. I've used it constantly for 2 years now and it's never missed a beat. As good as any air nailer (I have one of those in the workshop).

I went through 3 Tacwise machines and took them all back after only a few uses ultimately for a refund.

This is mine. http://www.macbuildingproducts.com/product_info.php?products_id=24544

 

[Roughcut]

I've still got a Tacwise cordless nail gun in the garage that I bought several years ago for around £140.
It is a load of poop and total waste of money.
It will fire about 6 nails and then it bends a nail and the tip gets jammed.
I haven't been able to work out why it does this?
And it was never powerful enough to drive a nail all the way below the surface in softwood (it would stop about 2mm proud), I would always have to finish off by driving the nails under the surface with a nail punch and hammer.
I have given up with it.
If I were to buy another nail gun it would be a decent air nailer with small compressor.

 

[jasonB]

As Peter says you get what you pay for my Maestri ME30 is still going stong and about 15yrs old.

So either stick with a hammer or save up for a better quality one

J

 

[ColeyS1]

I use a 18v dewalt nail gun. Imported from usa years ago and still works like a goodun

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I have a Tacwise 500EL. I've never had it jam, though it does not get a lot of use. Struggles with the longer (50mm) nails - leaving the heads sticking out in harder wood.

It is not a fine woodworking tool. Used indoors, it is a reliable way to make the neighbours complain :roll:. I keep it just for pinning trellis back together, for which it works rather well.

 

[graduate_owner]

I have an electric Arrow brad gun. It's OK (Just), but often doesn't drive the brads fully home. It cost about £45. It hasn't jammed yet but then I only use it occasionally, and I wouldn't have bought it if I'd had a compressor then. I've also heard that air nail guns costing about the same amount are rubbish - difficult to get a consistent depth and, of course, prone to jamming.

I think that once again it's a case of getting what you pay for, but it is difficult to know what is too cheap. I mean £45 for a brad gun is too cheap, but £45 for a hammer or a wood chisel will get you a tool that could well still be around for your grandchildren to use. So how do you know what's too cheap? Well I think that's where forums like this come in so useful.

K

 

[joiner_sim]

Thanks for all the opinions guys!
I'm guessing buying a cheap electric nail gun would be a complete waste of money. Unfortunatley I currently cannot justify buying an air compressor, even though I have alot of nailing to do. So, unless I can borrow one I think I'm going to do it the old fashioned way. After all 18mm nails aren't too much work anyway!

 

[ColeyS1]

Sounds like a plan. Buying cheap imho never really pans out. If I were you id put the money you save to buying a compressor - maybe some plasters if the old hand eye coordination aint up to scratch :lol:

 

[Graham Orm]

Depends on your budget limits but this will do just for nailing and bike tyres etc. http://www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-d...2nxVFF35cqJzQ2TbtVhyNqYW83msGLTLypZ!752165342