Framing Nail Gun

[Charles Webber]

All.....I appreciate all the responses. I got a couple of photos so you can see what they want me to build. It is for a company I work for and I am going to do it on the side. These are shipped internationally and the crates will never come back to us. The company is purchasing all the material and I will be paid a fee per crate I build. I am building between 10 and 20 a month. The guy that was building them before me said he would use about 100 3" nails per crate. He said about 15 deck screws per crate. I hope this helps on any alternative feedback! Again, much appreciated.

[George Yetka]

All.....I appreciate all the responses. I got a couple of photos so you can see what they want me to build. It is for a company I work for and I am going to do it on the side. These are shipped internationally and the crates will never come back to us. The company is purchasing all the material and I will be paid a fee per crate I build. I am building between 10 and 20 a month. The guy that was building them before me said he would use about 100 3" nails per crate. He said about 15 deck screws per crate. I hope this helps on any alternative feedback! Again, much appreciated.

Are you building on site they look pretty heavy. I would get a Pneumatic setup

Paslode is also an option but I would setup to do 10 a day so you you may need a spare battery. Basically 500 for the gun and 50 a day in hardware and gas

Metabo compresser/framing nailer set with hose $350 and $30 a day in nails

[Cameron Wood]

Definitely get an air compressor.

I've had really good result with this- very quiet, not quite the capacity for continuous nailing, but not far off, lasts forever (don't get oil-less), surprisingly heavy but small and low current draw.

https://www.amazon.com/Makita-MAC700...49&sr=1-7&th=1

Any old nail gun will work for that- start with a cheap one.

[andrew whicker]

Did you add in the cost of audiobooks into your pricing?

: )

[andrew whicker]

Have you built one yet? How long do they take?

I picture a short table on a lazy Susan so that I can turn it around and nail it from one spot. Idk man. This could be both a good contract or a bad one. 20 seems like a lot on top of a 40 hr job plus commute etc. Maybe I'm just slow.

[Charles Webber]

I haven't built one yet. I am hoping once I get in a groove we can start cranking through them. Lazy susan ID is great. Thank you. I am doing it from my garage on weekends. Really took it as my 14 year old son wants to make money and he is doing it with me (it will force us to spend time and work together as he never wants to do anything with Dad!).

[Charles Webber]

It is in my garage on the weekends. What size of a compressor should I get?

[Tom M King]

With two helpers, or one good helper, I would build 20 of those before lunch one day without having to get in a hurry. Cut all the parts first, and then assemble them. When you get materials, load so that what you need first is on the top. I would use a lighter pneumatic framer for that job. I have an old Dewalt that would get the call.

Look at cfm, not tank size. For minimum compressor out of the ones I have, I would use a twin tank Emglo.

[George Yetka]

https://www.aircompressorsdirect.com...or/p70264.html
5.3 cfm portable

Get them to lend you a pallet jack. I would build one on the floor then build the second right on top of it and roll them out stacked. Less bending and less handling.

[Jim Dwight]

I do woodworking as a hobby, it is not how I make money. But I've done some fairly major house remodeling and I made most of my furniture. But crate building is not furniture. I have a HF framing nailer, pneumatic, and a Milwaukee cordless battery framing nailer. I've probably only put a couple hundred nails through each of them. I would rather use the Milwaukee, however. I have multiple compressors so that is not the issue. The hose is a hassle. It springs leaks that have to be fixed and gets in the way frequently. No similar issue with the cordless. The Milwaukee also adjusts easily for depth of drive and at least on the softwoods I've used it on it had plenty of power, including for the occasional knot. I have a bunch of Milwaukee 18V batteries and they charge in an hour so that is not an issue for me. If you have a quick charger a could batteries should probably let you work continuously. The cordless is a little heavier which can be an issue but wouldn't seem to be so much for crates. Might be for a 14 year old. But he would probably manage fine. For high volume daily use pneumatic is probably the way to go. They last a long time and most are pretty easy to reseal so they can be returned to work quickly if they quit. I suspect cordless are not that simple but neither my Milwaukee, which has seen limited use, or my 18V 18 gauge pin nailer (a Ryobi which has driven at least 15000 pins, mostly 2 inch) has needed anything. I would be confident a cordless would finish the crates and still be usable. If you think the compressor would be something you would use for other tools, the pneumatic could be the way to go. But purely for this framing nail project I would get the cordless.

[Jim Becker]

Charles, if you're amicable to a pneumatic framer, join SMC as a Contributor so you can PM me -- I can help you out there, but I see you don't have a compressor, so the battery version may be the better bet. Be sure that any gun you choose shoots full round head framing nails which are generally required by code pretty much everywhere.

[Bill Dufour]

If these crates will go out of the country be very careful of what wood you can use.
Bill D.

[Jason Roehl]

A little rabbit trail here:

For those of you struggling with double-fires from your pneumatic nailers, there is some technique involved. I had problems at first, too, because I was “squeezing” the trigger like I would for a firearm. You can’t. You have to yank that trigger and release it. Second, you have to allow for some kickback—if you try to hold the nose safety to the wood all the way through the nail being driven, it will double-fire before you get the trigger released.

Even better is to install a sequential-trip trigger. My framing nailer came with one 20 years ago, which I promptly installed because I wasn’t going to use it for nailing off sheet goods for a living. A sequential-trip trigger does not allow the nailer to fire by holding in the trigger and then compressing the nose safety—for each nail, you have to compress the nose safety, then pull the trigger.

As for compressors, I’ve had a California Air Tools unit for a couple years. It’s very quiet, and you’ll find lots of other uses for it over time.

[Steve Eure]

While building an addition on my shop, I bought a Milwaukee framing nailer, 18 volt, since I already had the Milwaukee battery platform. For me it was a big mistake. It did the job required of it, but climbing up a ladder and trying to use it one handed was a major pain. Even sitting or kneeling down to nail the frames together was not too pleasant for me. The gun is too heavy for long term use for me. I have a very large compressor in a nearby room that would not have been too noisy to use, but I listened to too many utubers who are in the trades and much younger than me. Live and learn.

[Ken Krawford]

I was all ready to "ditch the hose" and switch to a cordless framing nailer and then I compared the weight differences ! It certainly depends on how many minutes/hours per day you'll be using the tool but don't underestimate the weight differential.