DANGER - Compressed Air

[sawdustalley]

I had a little incident with my nail gun today
I now have a nasty little red burn on my arm. Thats put me off compressed air and air nailers for life !

How it all happened:
I was about to nail some oak and it didn't want to nail. There was a amount of air being released through the exuhaut - which was not normal. This amount of air is usually released throught the exuast after the nail has be driven in.

So I relesed the nail gun and tried again - the same amount of hissing, but then an almighty POP. Which scared the living s*ht out of me.

Then I noticed the red burn and worried for a bit. Then I proceed in and had a cup of tea while typing this message as a form of therapy.

Now i'm never going near one again. And take my word - DON'T BUY A CHEAP AIR COMPRESSOR AND NAIL GUN. For a £100 I was impressed. But soon after I already wished I had got a better model. Now I advise you don't get one at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Which one do you have :?: ,
I have the B & Q one that was that price , It has been fine so far and I have gon through about 12000 nails, should I be a bit more careful :?:
Did have one mishap I nailed a bit of 2x1 to my finger with a 50mm nail :shock: That didn`t hert, Getting it out did
Mick B

 

[sawdustalley]

Should be fine. Don't let me put you off there great tools and I respect them. Shame I got a dodgy one - I rekon i've gon thru about 500-800 nails. So not many.

I was looking at the B&Q one but didn't get it for some reason.

 

[Anonymous]

A lot of peaple seam to be put off there tools but they can never say what it was that put them off :? I use a lot of there tools mainly power pro, and most have been great I can`t recomend there angle grinders, had 2 and both failed after a very short time :x
Mick B

 

[Anonymous]

James

Whats gone wrong then?
Did the fittins fail, or was it something with the gun itselfe.

Whilst were on about nail gun accidents. My best so far happend whilst using 60mm 16g brads to assemble T-pieces for some display stands.
I was holding the vertical piece of the T whilst nailing through the horizontal piece. The brad shot ot of the side of the vertical piece, into the end of my thumb, and back out again just before the underside of the nuckle.

 

[sawdustalley]

The gun itself I rekon. I guess a valve went.

 

[Anonymous]

:? Strange :?

 

[Anonymous]

Is it possible, some of you might have the pressure too high? I have two brad nailers and the only problem I had was sometimes they wouldn't shoot...I fixed that by taking them apart and oiling down well with "Slick 50"...don't know if you have that in the U.K. Oh by the way, they both work great now!

 

[Woody]

I agree with Hi Ho, I've been using air nailers here in the UK for quite a few years now and have not had that problem. Check the air line regulated pressure - it should be around 70 - 80psi for a 18g brad nailer. The small compressors supplied in those £100 kits are capable of delivering 115psi when fully charged.

Woody

 

[Anonymous]

Quick point if enybody is thinking of getting one ,
B&Q are doing it for £66 in the sale, Its the same one I have had for quite a while now and am very happy with it :lol: :lol: , mind you i payed £100 for mine :x
Well worth the £100 a snip at £66
Mick B

 

[RATWOOD]

I have the same one, I have had it for a good while now and am very happy with it , it's allrigth for my air brush but not my spray gun I have to wait for the compressed to catch up.i got mine for £99.
I got a air nailer & a air stapler

chris

 

[Dewy]

I know this is an old topic but I was concerned about the red burn that James had.
I have worked with various air tools & airlines all my working life & they can be extremely dangerous. As with most others I often played games shooting various things great distance with an air gun but this is safe compared to what can happen. If one bubble of air gets into your bloodstream you have approx 10 minutes to live. This is why the medical profession makes sure all air is removed when giving injections. When I was a lot younger I heard about an apprentice in an engineering works who was shot up the backside with an air gun as a joke. He died 10 minutes later. From that day on I have treated compressed air with great respect & made sure it never gets discharged towards anyones skin.

 

[kityuser]

I have been given this advice by several people on several occasions:

"NEVER EVER blow yourself down with an airline to blow dust off of your clothes/skin"

this can potentially blow oil/water/air under the skin

 

[sawdustalley]

Yes I was worried of death, that was my first reaction as I have previously been informed about the whole bubble in vein thing, took me the rest of the day to calm down.

That has blown my trust (get it :wink: ) right out of the window as far as compressed air goes.

What really concerned me, is that the instructions had no advice on how to safely use compressed air, or how to release the excess or anything like that.

So, I am not going to touch it again, until I can either buy the absolute best money can buy with training, or get a Gas gun.

 

[Anonymous]

whilst not an expert in compressed air tools, or nailers, I have been investigating them recently. I've noticed that a lot of the lower end machines don't have in-built pressure regulators - you fire them up and they go to whatever pressure, and that's what hits the tool. The more expensive ones have in-built regulators, kinda like the valve on a pressure cooker, so you can dial in the pressure that's hitting the tool. On kit like air nailers or staplers, there should be a statement about the max PSI that should be presented at the tool.

Now, if you have one of these lower cost compressors, I recall that Axminster sell in-line pressure regulators, so it may be worth investing in one of those.

Perhaps the more knowledgeable on this subject could comment?