Air compressors and nail guns

[Anonymous]

Hi,

my new workshop will soon be ready for cladding. I'd preferably like to use a nail gun for the cladding as a hammer is hideously slow. The cladding will either be shiplap or feather edge. For the feather edge I've used clout nails in the past.

What size compressor and nail gun do I need? Ideally I'd like a compressor which can take larger nail guns, sanders, spray guns etc.

Cheers,

Dave

 

[George_N]

A nail gun only needs a small compressor because of the intermittent use, whereas spraying and particularly sanding, need a compressor with a much higher free air delivery. My little 24 litre compressor can only deliver 5 - 7 cu ft/min, which is fine for nailing, dusting and small spray jobs but air powered sanders need 12 - 16 cu ft/min free air because they run constantly. As for nailing your cladding I'd think you would need something like a 15g nailer and hot-dipped galvanised nails for strength and corrosion resistance. For light use the cheaper ones that can be bought off Ebay are said to be ok (no first hand experience though).

 

[mailee]

Yes I second that. Definitely 15g nailer as the brad nailers are too light duty for this. As for the compressor I would advice buying one with a large tank as has been stated anything from 24L upwards will do. It just means that the compressor isn't running all the time when you are firing a lot of nails in as in cladding.

 

[Rich]

Hi Mailee, Aldi are selling compressors very soon, 24litre capacity and all the tools and hoses you will need, plus spare adaptors and fittings,all for £70.00'
Regards, Rich.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, i have the Bostitch sfc-rc6 6 litre compressor. It is rated at 145psi and 2.3 cfm.
This small unit gives this amount of shots per tank before the motor kicks in to refill.

stapler 22
masonry nailer 9
18g bradder 25
framing nailer 4

The motor takes 8 seconds to fill the tank from it's lower limit of 120psi.

Using the framer i can drive 20 nails a minute or 1 every 3 seconds without affecting performance. No good for sitework but fine if not in a hurry.

So you can see that a small compressor is fine for all nailing with the CFM not that important so long as the psi rating is 145 and not the usual 115.

Sanding and spraying is a totaly different story with the CFM and tank size much more important.

Steve

 

[Shultzy]

Dave, I have the compressor from Aldi with all the bits and used it to build my workshop (see the projects section). I nailed the cladding with 2" nails using a SIP roofing coil nailer and it coped admirably firing about a dozen nails before a recharge.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for the info. Looks like sanding and spraying are out the window. Will look at getting a small compressor.

Now for the nail gun. I'd prefer full round nails rather than clipped nails. Shultzy, which SIP nailer have you got? Can anybody suggest a nailer from one of the online stores which will do the job?

Cheers,

Dave

 

[gidon]

Dave
I can recommend this 3HP SIP compressor:

It will handle nailing jobs without too much stop starting. Plus it can handle spraying and lower rated sanding too (Free Air Displacement quoted as 10.5 CFM - so match your tool to this).
It also has two outputs - I find this quite handy - I have the blower on the unregulated output and plug other tools into the regulated one.
I had the 3HP Axminster before - but it had a fault - I find the SIP compressor quieter and the pneumatic tyres are handy for reducing vibration.
I picked up a Dewalt (D51845) full head framing nailerin the states recently - I think this is the sort of thing you are after. Even a 15 ga nailer may be a little light weight. I don't have a 15 ga but used a 16 gauge nailer for cladding a playhouse recently and found it just about ok - but my cladding was very lightweight.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Anonymous]

Blimey Gidon,

I'll use a hammer rather than shelling out that sort of money. Cheers for the pointers but I'm not after that quality of tool. I'd prefer to keep my money til the workshop is built and buy a good table saw.

I did suspect the nailer might be expensive hence the question. I don't want to shell out for a cheap compressor if the nailer is going to be hundreds. I had read elsewhere that 15ga might be a little small for cladding.

Cheers,

Dave

 

[gidon]

Dave
No I would never spend that sort of money either! The nailer was less than half that price in the states!
You can certainly get cheaper framing nailers - Ebay have some Silverline ones for £80 odd - not full round head but that's not important really. (I just preferred the aesthetics of the FH nails - plus the clipped version was the same price in the states.)
Not sure if you were saying the compressor was on the pricey side too. You could always try the Axminster 3HP one. But 3HP is the really the minimum if you want to use the compressor for spraying etc.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Shultzy]

Dave, I have the SIP Air Coil Nailer (06717) available here

ebay link

They also have this framing nailer

ebay link

I've used both, the framing nailer was a lot heavier for vertical work and only held about 60 nails whereas the coil nailer has a 400-500 capacity. They also have a 21deg nailer.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for all the help. Looks like it will be hammer and nails as I can't afford the nail gun.

Will have a check tonight to see if B&Q are offering anything particularly cheap.

Cheers,

Dave

 

[RogerS]

Dave

PM sent

Roger

 

[Digit]

My workshop is also clad with feather edge boards Dave and I think you'll find that it is rather more than a hammer and nail job I'm afraid.
As my house, garage, conservatory, metal shop and wood working shop are all similarly clad I have found that the nails driven through the board ends almost invariably cause splitting.
My standard method of doing the job is to drill holes through the cladding first then drive a suitable nail.

Roy.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Digit,

I've done plenty of feather edge in the past. When the wood is dry it does split but at this time of year it's wet enough to nail through.

Dave

 

[johnnyb]

i have found cheap nail guns to be a burden(misfires etc). screwfix currently has the paslode framing nailer for £295 this is an infinitely superior weapon at s reasonable(ish) price. perfect for just that job as their is no hose (or compressor.