Looking at Bostitch, Senco, Hitachi framing nailers. Criterial is full round head, easy for toe nailing, lots of available nails, etc.
Spotted the FHB article, which had good ideas, but no specific recommendations. I am not a construction guy, but a home owner who plans on building a 3000 sq ft shop*. Too many years of damage to the shoulders, so swinging a full 22oz framing hammer for more than an hour is not an option for me. Price wise, I figure something like a Paslode Impulse Cordless would be fine, as I’ll still be out volunteering twice a year at a Habitat site.
Did a search, but didn’t find anything really specific. Just rather spend a few extra $$$ and get a tool that I am happy with, and will last a long time. Ya, most of my electric tools still with me are all Milwaukee… Sawzall gets double duty from cutting tree limbs to 2″ aluminum plate!
Thanks,
Tom Walter
*I have a Gneral Contractor who does custom homes to watch over me. After all he needs a good chuckle once in a while.
Replies
All three of those are great nailers. What you need to look for is your local air tools service guy. See what he services, and what the turn around time would be. That outta narrow your choices down. No sense in buying a nailer that you have to ship off to get serviced when you could have bought a brand that is serviced in your area.
I feel the Hitachi is the workhorse of the framers, but you wont be unhappy with any senco nailer
I bought the bostick from HD and very happy with it. But I do catch hell around here. 99% here is paslode and senco. If its not one of them you ain,t nothin. Thats the altitute around here. I am still happy with the bostick .
the Titanium Bostich N88-RHF. is a great gun... sinks 'em all.. light and well designed.. i looked at the Hitachi.. but i bought the Bostich.. lots of good featuresMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike
We have that gun as well. I like it. It feels well made. I talked to a Bostich rep that said they are coming out with a replacement nosepiece for that gun that will convert it into a positive placement nailer. He told me it'll cost around $50. He said it will be an easy conversion. So combine the relatively low price of the gun in the first place with another $50 you can shoot your hangers on.
I'm not sure if the diameter of the nails will be any bigger though. That might be the one caveat.
Switched from Paslode to Hitachi's. Beaten, dropped, kicked, bounced, rained on, left out, (not be me) etc....Been great guns. But as someone said before...find out who services them in your area. (reason for us to switch to Hit.)
Also, look into those lightweight airhoses that are out there. 1/4" usually clear blue in color. can't think of the manf. right now, but you will love it (light, easy to clean, rolls by itself, etc.) Try a nail and staple supply house for those)
I believe the airhoses you are refering to are called "flexeel" by Coilhose Pneumatics.
As soon as I tried one I replaced all my hoses- I am happy with the 1/4", but they make bigger hoses also...
gb
http://www.coilhose.com
Tom, I've got to disagree that the framing nailer article in FHB 145 had no specific recommendations. Rick and Mike each picked a favorite stick nailer and a favorite coil nailer. Rick's picks were the Max CN 890 II and the Max SN 890 RH. Mike's favorites were the Makita AN 901 and the Bostich N88RH.
Andy,
I should have pointed out the ONLINE article didn't have any specific recommendations.
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/h00003.asp
Worst thing about moving... ALL my old FHB are now stuffed into boxes in storage until the new shop/office get built. I'm a horrible pack rat, but didn't toss the old FHB and FWW issues, but when I have about 100 boxes of magazines and books, makes it hard to remember where they went.
Looks like there is a local Hitachi dealer/repair center... so that will be my afternoon run for the NR83A (tool crib list is at $309, if local guys are under $350 I'll support them... local big box doesn't carry the Hitachi stuff).
Just a thanks for the heads up, and my rotator cuffs thank you (I'm 43... but both shoulders are candidates for surgery, hence the pneumatic nail guns... as I'll put it off as long as possible, and stick to underhand softball pitches... can not get the arms to toss up and over. Sigh).
Side note: Thanks for the headup, I hadn't looked at MAX brand. One question, does anyone use anything larger than a 0.131 size (10d??) on a regular basis?
Tom
http://www.air-nailers.com/On_Sale.jsp
$289 for the Hitachi from these guys. Joe
JoeH - Thanks for the link! They just sold another Hitachi.
My vote is for the Senco 601 Frame Pro. Competatively priced with the other majors, but the shorter nail magazine makes it a little more convenient when getting in and around studs 16" on center when nailing bottom or top plates.
It takes a 30-35 degree clipped head nail, (35 degree according to the manufacturer) but easily accepts the Paslode and Fastner Unlimited brands of paper colated angled framing nail.
The clipped head is most readily available from a variety of outlets, home depot, lowes, and well as local specialized outlets. Also by not being bound by a specific brand you can price shop your fastner costs, store to store.
I've only had mine for about 6 months, and have run a variety of sizes and styles of fastners through it and have not had any difficulty.
The unit comes from the factory with a 'production' trigger, which shoots a fastner as long as the trigger is held depressed every time the 'toe' of the gun in 'bounced' onto the framing substrate. A precision trigger is available at no charge from the factory if you prefer to only shoot one fastner per trigger squezze.
It's solidly made, and comes with a 2 year warranty.
Thanks... lots of good feedback! Andy was nice enough to fax me the FHB 145 article, so more good details. One thing I had overlooked as the adjustable drive depth. Not needed for framing, but I also have a limited budget and plan to attach siding, and Hardie plank with the same air nailer. 2" is over kill for a Hardie plank, but going up over 6" framed walls, so the depth adjustment makes a big difference for me.
Now to get some bills paid, and go nail gun hunting!
Tom W
Hey there! My framing crew uses the Paslode F350S framing nailer exclusively, but I bought one of the new DeWalt clipped-head nailers and I like it much better! It has a hand-adjustable depth of drive, larger magazine, and lighter weight than the Paslode guns. BTW, the DeWalt also comes in a full-head model, and both come with a bounce-fire trigger and sequential fire trigger.
Captain Strap,
I also use the Paslode F350s, I was thinking about getting the Dewalt, doesn't the dewalt use the same nail as paslode?
How is the hook that comes with it ?
I forgot to mention that I'm talking about the clipped head gun, I know that the full head nailer is a different angle.
Let me know.
Joe Carola
Framer,
1. My crew mostly uses Senco brand clip head nails for our paslodes--they also work well in my clip-head DeWalt...We have used the full round head paslode "Roundrives" made for the F350S, but they seem to be hit or miss as far as reliability is concerned. I believe, however, that the Roundrives are the right angle collation for clip-head nailers (as the Paslode gun is a clip-head nailer itself), I just haven't tried them in my DW gun yet...I'll do so soon and let you know if it works.
2. While I haven't actually gotten to use the rafter hook for its intended purpose (my boss doesn't like the idea of one of my personal power tools getting broken on his site ;-), it is very robust and at the very least makes a good momentary holder for hooking it off to my hammer loop.
3. Somthing else I forgot to mention--it has a quick-detach feature on the magazine that lets you remove it/replace it in about a minute in the case of a jam... I think it's a nice feature.
Although I'm still a bit leery about the long term durability of my gun, if it's as good as the other DW products I own it should outlast me...no regrets choosing it over the other brands...even the other guys on my crew were trying to get first dibs using it on the last "wall day" and had nothing but good stuff to sayabout it.
Sorry so long but wanted to be complete!
I have both a Paslode framing nailer and an Impulse gun. I like the Paslode because it is light and easy to use. The Impulse gets heavy and expensive because of the gas cannisters. The hitachi is supposed to be better but I have pretty much always used Paslodes.
I switched from Senco to the new DeWalt full round head nailer (1845, I think) about 6 months ago and have been real happy with the performance and reliability of the gun ever since I bought it. It works real well on the Hardi-plank siding, too. I kept one of my old Hitachi guns for an extra, but I haven't had to break it out yet. Those DW guns seem to be tough and from my experience they are dependable, easy to fix,versatile and easy on the arms and elbows.