ROMEX STAPLER – any good ones???
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I have the Powerfast Strapgun. Or C**pGun. It will set a nice staple into my workbench. Now, up in that cramped, dusty attic with NM,it misfires and misfires and jams and misfires.
It also takes a great deal of force at an awkward angle to compress the spring.
Does anyone make something that works?
The ToolBear
“You can’t save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice.” Dogbert
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Replies
I'll second the opinion...
If I follow you correctly, I have the GB one from Lowes and I like it. Now I am now an electrician so don't use it everyday but it has worked well for the jobs IO have used it on. The staples aren't cheap so a whole house would be costly but for small projects I think it works well.
f I follow you correctly, I have the GB one from Lowes and I like it.@@@Didn't know GB did one. I'll look it up. Boss gets to buy the staples so that's not an issue. Does it take a lot of force to fire it and how does it work in awkward corners and such.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
Yeah it has to be flush and square to shoot the staple straight and doesn't seem to hard to squeeze. I wouldn't want to shoot 500 in a day as your hand would be quite sore but 50-100 might not be that bad.
As the other reply said, a battery powered one would be awesome. Like on the same platform as some drills and all.....OK, now THERE is a tool idea!!!
Yeah it has to be flush and square to shoot the staple straight and doesn't seem to hard to squeeze. I wouldn't want to shoot 500 in a day as your hand would be quite sore but 50-100 might not be that bad.@@@A bit more freedom vs. flush and square. Often in awkward position and awkward corners. The attic was a delight. One guy had already stepped through to the hall below. I ripped a sheet of OSB into 12" strips for duck boards. Could crawl along with relative security and ease, pushing tool tray ahead.
The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
I'll second the opinion..@@@Another Happy Camper? Arrow makes one, but I don't know if I care to spend $$ to experiment.
I'd like something powered. I need a Santa intervention.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
I've found that the gun will misfire if the nose isn't held to the surface very firmly.
And yea, it's a strong spring that takes a lot of force to fire.
About two years ago I talked to Desa Powerfast, and made the case that there's a market for a powered strap gun--preferrably battery, or even pneumatic. I guess they didn't see it that way.
Cliff
About two years ago I talked to Desa Powerfast, and made the case that there's a market for a powered strap gun--preferrably battery, or even pneumatic. I guess they didn't see it that way.@@@Love one. Battery or gas like a Paslode.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
SOMEONE should make a gas powered romex stapler, like the Paslode gas nail guns. I shake my head every time I see an electrician stapling wire with a hammer.
Most electricians carry little toolbelts with hand tools, and a long neck Klein hammer. Maybe a cordless drill to strip out the mounting screws when they screw down the outlets into the box.It's hard to get most of them to buy tools. Well other than a big hole hawg drill and a reciprocating saw to mangle joists.
Last Ele, I worked around told me staples were verbooten here now. All romex is twin nailed with the plastic saddles.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
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Yes, I believe they are still called a staple. Still hand nailed down.
My dad is a retired electrician. I went over a couple days ago to visit, and when I went to leave the truck lost battery power. The ford style cheap battery terminal was corroded off. I asked if he had some vise grips, no. How about a little clamp, no. He didn't have anything in his myriad of junk piles to temporarily fix it. Mom had some big bulldog clips that I used to hold the hot wire on the battery. Made it home OK and fixed it right that night.
The gun staples have a plastic piece that contacts the wire and I'd guess they'd be OK even where traditional staples are frowned upon.
That said, I prefer the two-nail plastic jobbies, but will use the stapler where it's too cramped to hold the "staple" with one hand and swing the hammer with the other. You know, those places the inspectors can't see anyway?Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
Last Ele, I worked around told me staples were verbooten here now. All romex is twin nailed with the plastic saddles.@@@Makes it harder to short something with vigorous nailing. Like them better than the metal staples. Push one nail half way down and get it started, stick the wire in and then get fingers out of the way.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
I hear ya!
I wish they made a romex stapler that had the reversed handle like my T50 stapler - where you push against the tip instead of the back while you squeeze down.
I'm sure a patent has to run out on one or the others stapler before we see that happen.
Tu stultus es
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Look, just send me to my drawer. This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.
I've never heard of such a thing. Are they new? Do they handle multiple sizes (#1, #2, #3)?
Mostly 12/2, 14/2.Powerfast has staples for 12/2, 14/2 single stack and double stack and 12/3, 14/3 single stack.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
I like the metal staples myself, but hadn't heard they don't care for their use anymore... I'm in MI.Often times, when in a very tight cavity, I've been able to get the metal staples installed with a large pair of slip-joint pliers. Squeeze right into snugness.Works great.JT
I, too, have problems w/ the Powerfast Strap Gun. After examining it, it looks like the driver bar is so flat that it makes slipping off the staple too easy. (And as someone else pointed out, just the slightest amount of tension on the plastic part of the strap cants the staple and makes slipping more likely. Thus stapling on the bench (or in optimal conditions) is fine. But not in the real world.)
It looked pretty hairy to take the strap gun apart, but if I could, I could make the face of the driver bar a little concave and make it work better (I think). To augment this theory, I got one of the GB models (MSG-550), and indeed the driver bar face has a little cocavity. And it does work much better than the Powerfast (so of course, now I'm less motivated to try and fix my original one).
One other bit of good news: the GB straps fit in the Powerfast, and the Powerfast straps fit in the GB (some folks were having trouble finding straps for their older Powerfast models, so maybe this will help someone).
The GB stapler has been working out very well for me, much better than the Powerfast.
I also like that GB has a variety of staples - no need to have multiple tools for handling different wires.
The GB staples will fit any #12 or #14 Romex - flat or round.