All this rapid-fire trim gun needs is a box of nails, and a charged battery
I finally got a hold of one of the new hoseless Senco nailers that I first told you about last November.
At first glance, the Senco Fusion F-15 looks like a regular hose-free nailer. It’s got a battery, it’s the same shape as a typical trim-nailer, and it drives the same 15-gauge nails. But it’s a game-changer because it has no cartridge. the red cylinder on top holds compressed nitrogen. The nitrogen gas pushes a piston that drives the nails, and then an electric motor resets the piston. Using this technology means you don’t have to wait for a mechanical flywheel to speed up, like in the deWalt nailers; and there are no expensive, messy fuel cartridges to buy, like in the Paslode guns.
You can switch the nailer from single-fire to bump-fire mode – in bump-fire mode the piston can drive a nail about once every second. That’s much faster than the DeWalt, I don’t have any of the nasty fumes of the Paslode, and it’s got some other great features as well: it’s got an adjustable belt hook, a battery gauge, a depth indicator, and a removable track that pops off easily to clear jambs.
The FN65DA takes 1-1/4-inch to 2-inch 15-gauge nails, and there will be an 18-gauge model coming out soon.
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I use a CO2 cartridge on a belt around my waist to drive all my nail guns (NO, not the junky one that Lowe's sells from Kobalt) and have a 50# CO2 cylinder in my shop to recharge my CO2 cartridges with. It works wonderfully for all my uses. In fact, I had one of those very expensive to operate Paslode guns and sold it because my CO2 canister system was less expensive and the weight of that Paslode was tiring on a daily basis.
However, as you said, this could be a game changer. The weight of the gun (as compared to a standard hose type gun) was the only thing that you didn't mention. I'm certain it's heavier than a hose type gun, but I'm also certain it can't be as heavy as the Paslode or the Dewalt (both of which I've used). If the weight it right (and the balance of that weight would be helpful to know as well), then I'm sure this will be a gun to buy in the future.
Thanks for sharing this with us.
James D
Athens, GA USA
This is amazing! I have the old type battery Senco finishing nailer, as well as the Paslode cordless framer and brad nailer, (got spoiled when the other guys on the crew were using them) and the cartridges are pretty expensive. I would love to get one of these, as soon as contractors in California stop hiring illegals to do carpentry, and start hiring American citizens again. Then I will be able to afford it!
The physics of this gizmo are a little confusing, based on this review and nearly everything on line. However, it seems clear that the energy for the impulse comes from the battery, and is *stored* as pressure in the nitrogen tank until used. Nitrogen seems never to be actually released from the canister, so unless there is a seal failure there would never be reason to replace the $177 canister.
If this isn't so, please correct me. I am sure the engineers tried, but it seems likely that some heavier gas such as Xenon might be able to store more energy, possibly in a smaller canister, since it's not being consumed.
Nice review, thanks.
DTempleton,
In theory there would be no loss of Nitrogen during the firing and recycling, but if that were reality than Senco would have cracked the code of creating the perpetual machine. Some leakage has to occur, and the folks at Senco are admitting this. The question is how long will the tool go before the drop in pressure is making any difference. If it's over 200,000 shots, then Senco tells me that puts them ahead of the number of nails you would be able to shoot with any commpetitors tool before it craps out anyway (their words, not mine...I've never taken the time to count...)