Will this compressor drive this nail gun?

[Louis Brandt]

Hello,

I know that I’ve asked this question before in a similar fashion, but that was before I bought a nail gun for it, so please forgive me for asking it again in a slight variation.

I have purchased a 3 gallon, 1 HP Sears oil-lubed compressor, model 15310, and the specs on it show that it can deliver 2.4 cfm at 90 psi. I have not yet used this compressor.

I have also purchased a Porter-Cable FN250C 16 gauge finish nailer. When I opened the manual for the nailer and looked at the compressor requirements page, it seems to indicate that it needs much higher cfm rates than 2.4. In fact, the lowest rate that it even mentions is 3.2, and it goes up from there.

I haven’t fired up this compressor yet, because I want to make sure that it’s ok for this nail gun. I deliberately didn’t buy the Porter-Cable pancake compressor that I could have bought with this nail gun, but even that compressor didn’t show any higher cfm rates that the Sears one that I bought, so maybe the manual that I’m looking at is misleading.

So, to sum up my question before I fire up this compressor and won’t be able to return it, will 2.4 cfm at 90 psi drive this nail gun?

Thanks again,
Louis

[Jamie Buxton]

The cfm issue really relates to how fast you drive nails. If you rapid-fire as fast as the gun can go, you'll probably outrun the compressor. If you drive only a few nails a minute, a lower-volume compressor can likely keep up.

[Peter Quinn]

I'd say ditto. I have a PC oilless compressor, may have a bit more cfm's than yours, works great for 18 ga, does pretty good with the 15GA angled nailer though it runs a bit, will also push my framing nailer, though the duty cycle is quite high (it runs a lot and I have to take breaks). Its ok for casual use above the stated requirements, but if I were building a house or doing some serious remolding I'd opt for a bigger unit.

[Von Bickley]

Louis,

You should be fine running one nail gun in a one man shop.......

[bill mullin]

I looked up several nailers specs, the only ones I could find that gave air usage per shot were the Hitachi 15 ga. trim and a Milwaukee 15 ga. They listed .042 cu/ft per cycle, and .07 respectively. Your nailer probably falls somewhere in this range.
At 2.4 cfm, your compressor should drive between 35-60 nails per minute at full usage. Under normal circumstances, I doubt you'll be going nearly this fast.
Btw, I just bought this compressor as a backup/small job unit.
I think it will work just fine for you.