Any recommendations on brand? Do they work as well as you hoped, do they save as much time as they appear to? Can you find nails for them easy enough that are compatible with the new pressure treated wood? Am I correct in assuming that most if not all building codes will accept them? Thanks
dug
Replies
I bought a Paslode Positive Placement gun, the newer model.
It paid for itself after two or three jobs.
We don't have seismic conditions here but we have to install simpson straps 2.5's on every rafter and truss. As well as all the joist hangers that go into a home these days. It speeds up the process alot.
Nails are readily available for ACQ lumber and they also have regular hanger nails for less than half the cost of those. So buy the right ones.
As far as complying to codes I have never been called on them by a BI and neither has any other framer in the area that I know of.
Edited 1/21/2007 6:35 pm ET by Stilletto
Thanks, Thats the one I was looking at.
Nailed up about 60 some odd hangers today and although it prab'ly took less than an hour it seemed like half a day. Wish someone made one in cordless!
dug
I have shot on countless hangers and straps with mine and haven't had a problem yet.
Just keep telling yourself this is alot better than hand nailing.
Buy it your fingers will thank you :)
w have two Bostich RH88 with the switchable nose....... takes about 30 seconds to change the nose
the RH88 is a great framer & a great positive placement nailer....Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike,
I bought the same Bostitch with the switchable nose at JT's a few months ago.
In positive placement mode, do you find that the clip needs a little nudge now and then in order to advance (near the end of a clip)?
And have you had a problem with the gun in cold weather?
I want to like it but these problems are making want to get rid of it.
Diamond, those issues drive me nuts too.
blue"...if you just do what you think is best testing those limits... it's pretty easy to find exactly where the line is...."
From the best of TauntonU.
no, haven't noticed any problems..
but you know, we're half fast.. so if it hesitated.. how would we know ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I have the Bostich sure strap I think it's called.
Love it, never had a problem. Well, the guys love it, the only time I ever fired it was when I bought it. My nail guy stocks the nails for ACQ or not, no complaints. Have been thanked by the guys many times for buying that gun."Education is that which remains when one has forgotten everthing he learned in school"........Einstein
i'm a hitachi fan myself, far superior to the paslode or bostich.
try it you'll see. i also swear by the hitachi framing nailer, i have used many others and it is clearly the best. i have to confess i have not used the MAX guns yet, they look nice, but the hitachi track record is unbeatable for durability, and it works better than paslode or bostich.
also price the nails, if i am not mistaken you must use bostich nails with bostich gun. the generic nails don't work as well but at least you have a choice if you don't have a bostich.
Bostich N88 w/ Positive Nose Attachment works great and has the power to punch into old lumber. Does a great job when replacing old 2x2 ledgers with hangers during a basement conversion... and soo many reinforcement/remodel projects.
BUT
It's big and heavy. The 50th hanger in a run will show the forearm who's boss. You also have some space issues that the dedicated gun won't because of it's smaller size and angle of attack.
Troy Sprout
Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it."
-- Thomas Sowell
I use the Hitachi NR 65AK, and my guys like them so much I now have four of them. It has a good balance of power and weight. Paslode used to market a cordless positive placement nailer, might be worth a look. The best on the market is probably the Max brand nailer with the 400 psi compressor but you may need a second mortgage to finance it.
I have the Hitachi also. The AKS model might be smarter--it has a short magazine and would be more maneuverable in tight spots. There is a learning curve to this tool--for instance, with typical joist hangers, the nailing tabs near the top hole (you drive in one tab on each side of the hanger to hold it in place) interfere with positioning the tip somewhat if you don't drive it in. It can be hard to get the gun at an angle so that the safety is depressed. Of course with the gun in one hand and the hanger in the other you do not want to reach for your hammer to set those tabs. For many things it's just blam-blam-blam as fast as you can go.
They make 1-1/2" and 2-1/2" nails and they go up to .162 I believe, which is what you need to meet spec on some hardware.
Once you have one of these you'll never hand-drive a hanger nail again. I do keep a palm nailer on hand for those really tight spots.
I agree, one of our guns has the short magazine. It does come in handy once in a while, but the gun's head length is the same and sometimes you just need the palm nailer. The .162 nails only come as 2-1/2 inchers. The strap-tite nails marketed by Hitachi work the best in my experience.
Check out the article.
http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/articles/showarticle.asp?articleID=2466&position=1&type=article&partID=1
Crew used to have a Rap-A-Nail gadget, that things was a POS. Compared to driving nails by hand, yeah, a bit better, but then vibrations started the thing to fall apart. After fixing it a few times, finally bought the Hitachi...and never looked back. That nailer brought a smile to my face about every time I used it, comparing it to that orange gun. You won't regret it, but that Tools ofthe Trade article does a good job spelling it out.