Kobalt CO2 system ???

[Doug M Jones]

I was walking through Lowes yesterday and saw a Kobalt Tools CO2 system that is a little regulator that you attach a CO2 canister to on one end and your air nailer on the other to improve portability.

Anyone have any experience with this unit?

I'm not sure how many shots you would get from the CO2 cartridge but a 20 oz cartridge was over $30. Seems pricey to me. The starter system was a little over $100 if I remember correctly.

Would the CO2 damage tools?

More curious than anything, I don't mind dragging an air hose along.

[Jim Becker]

A small nailer would get a reasonable number of shots off of a portable tank, but that CO2 sounds 'spensive!! (Not to mention non-renewable in your own shop from your own compressor)

[Joe Hardesty]

The cylinder is reusable. You are buying the regulator, not the CO2.

[David Wambolt]

My Millermatic Passport uses 12oz CO2 tanks to supply shielding gas for MIG welding. I'm surprised how much weld time I can get from a single 12oz fill. I bought a 20lb CO2 tank with a DIP tube, fill station, and a scale. It cost me about $250, but now I fill my own tanks and it makes it very reasonably priced for my needs. I'd have to look at the Kobalt to see if they could be refilled and if so, it might not be a bad investment if you needed something portable. If I had to drive 10 nails I'd rather run CO2 or cordless, rather than dragging a compressor along.

[Matt Day]

I'm not familiar with the Kobalt system and I didn't find anything on a quick Google search, but I'm curious. I used to play a lot of paintball years ago and a friend of mine was pursuing a patent for a system to use paintball style tanks with nail guns; wonder if this is his? I wonder if this Kobalt system can use paintball style bottles? At any rate, a 20oz CO2 bottle should cost no more than $20 (you can get them for about $13 online), and any paintball place can refill it for a couple bucks. IIRC you can get something like 1000 shots per 20oz tank, but I'm not sure how much difference there is between propelling paintball to 300 fps and a shooting a nail.

I'd be interested to learn more though. Does anyone have any more information?

[Doug M Jones]

The starter system came with one tank , the regulator and a short hose to attach to the tool. It did say something about the tanks being returnable so you may get a deposit back, I don't know. Just thought it was interesting.

Here is a link for the base system.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=166441-61735-J-6901-100&detail=desc&lpage=none

[brian gallagher]

there is another one of these 20 oz CO2 systems for sale called "nico pneumatics" their site has a lot of info including a chart of expected nail shots per tool/ cylinder. (astronomical with a stapler, not so hot with a framer gun.) a couple other products like this are floating out there, jac pac in canada is one, another is quick strike.

Off road jeeper types use bigger tanks to run air tools!!(high cfm) to make emegency major repairs on the trail and also to raise and lower tire pressures on monstertires. you can go along way with a 20 lb tank, there is a site/ product that is for this called wheelers offroadair and another called outbackair.

also you can redneck it. there is a discussion of this at the JLC tools forum with lots of info and pictures.
of course everywhere there is paintball you can get refills for very cheap (2-5$ for these small tanks)

there is a maintenance factor since there is lots of moisture going thru the tools from the frozen liquid CO2 expanding into gas in your regulator and then going right into your tool. Not exactly recomended for daily use or some really expensive air tool. but can be very practical for normal situations and incredibly cheap air nailer/ compressor kits.

one issue is that CO2 is less expansive at lower temps (60 or below), and the efficiency drops way off when compared to say, 85 degree. this is worth looking into, and kind of kills the deal if you do outdoor work in the other three seasons. but so does paslode.

another issue is that the bottle of CO2 always has to be standing up (so you are using the gas as it expands off the liquid) and not the liquid which will superexpand. this is one reason why the paintballers go to HPA which is 2500 to 4000psi air. like scuba tanks. also has no drop off in performance at lower temps. only draw back is, well, having 4000 psi anything attached to your belt for one. and the set up is just on the expensive side. think scuba hobby gear. there is some european tool company that makes air nailers that use portable HPA tanks and have a companion HPA compressor that can load the cylinders. Nice.

plenty of people just use regular pressure nitrogen tanks from weld shops etc. and these will last a long time running staples. and you can exchange your tanks, have them delivered, etc. welding is even more popular than paintball. Your practical use would depend more on which is closer and convenient for you.

what did I do after the intensive research process I went thru?
doh!
bought a paslode framer and finish nailer!
In the end the amount of gear needed (regulator, tanks, fill station,) the extra trip to paintball shop to refill,.. etc. just didn't beat snaging a paslode fuel cell when I am buying everything else at the lumber yard.
And didn't beat the small package and convenience of using a gun without a hose, tank, compressor. My emphasis was portability. I still might use a CO2 for stapling or brads tho.