Nail guns/staplers - advice please

[Lindyboo]

I could do with a nailer but there are so many available. Any advice please on which is worth the money? I need it for nailing plywood/hardboard/mdf up to about 4mm thickness. I don’t want to spend more than about £60.

I know that on another thread the advice was essentially not to bother unless you were willing to spend hundreds, but does anyone out there have experience of the cheaper end? The Screwfix catalogue lists umpteen types, from about £30 up to several hundred. Also it has combined nailer/staplers? Are these combined types any cop?

I’d also appreciate advice on what size and type of nails I should buy for a nailer. And forgive my girly ignorance, but what are ‘brads’?

Ta.

 

[MdB]

And forgive my girly ignorance, but what are ‘brads’?

I didn't know either. The following from here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_%28engineering%29

Nails are made in a great variety of forms for specialized purposes; the common everyday kind of nail is sometimes called a "wire nail" to distinguish it from nails in general. Some kinds of nails are referred to by other words, for example "pins", "tacks" or "brads". Very long nails are known as "spikes".

Nails under 1¼ in., often called brads, are sold mostly in small packages with only a length designation (e.g. ½" (12 mm), 11⁄8" (28 mm), etc.).

 

[CHRIS]

Lindy

There are a few cheapo types that are ok for what you want, the Paslode ones are the best ones but cost 250 ish but you can get the ones that fire the small brads (look like small bits of thin square section wire) or staples (good for fixing up wire mesh etc), also ok for fixing softwood T ang G paneling etc to battens. They are plug in types which dont need charging up.

I got one from Machine mart for 35 quid

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/181el-electric-nailer-230v/path/19-heat-guns-staplenail-glue-guns-access

 

[Gervase]

Plaslode are excellent, but expensive. You can hire them, though.
Avoid compressed air guns, unless you're assembling stuff like crates and boxes in one place, as you'll find the air line gets in the way, coils itself around everything and generally drives you mad!
And treat them all with respect - even a £30 one will shoot a piece of metal through a finger if you're not careful.

 

[michael]

I thought "Brads" were the flat floorboard nails

 

[chuckey]

The flat floor naills are "cut nails", I think "brads" are flat pins used for holding glass into window frames before the putty is put in.
I have no experiance with nail guns though the Yanks seem to like them, they are good for crude framing. I have had furniture fall apart because the ends of the square staples are not pointy but flat. They shear off the grain of the wood and compress the bits in the bottom of the hole so there is no friction on the sides of the staple, so they pull out. My question is will a gun knock a nail in about 1mm below the woods surface, or does one have to punch every head down?
Frank

 

[Nemesis]

Glazing sprigs...

 

[CHRIS]

Chuckey

The cheapo ones do normally need to be puched unless you push into the wall very hard, my nice 1st fix Paslode one is the nuts and using ringshanked nails stuff aint moving at all, you are right about furniture as some pins have no friction at all.

The cheapo ones are good for holding things whilst glue etc dries.

Cut nails are old fashioned nails "cut" from strips of metal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_(engineering)

 

[alice]

In the states, brads are short (about 1.5 inch max), rather fine wire nails with a minimal head. I've used then for picture frames and fine carpentry.

alice

 

[NT]

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/nailer.htm

 

[Lindyboo]

Thanks all - plenty of food for thought. The link sent by NT was very helpful.

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/nailer.htm

Cheers

 

[michael]

I'm sure B&Q sell a bag of flat nails about 2 1/4 or 2 1/2 inches long labeled “Floor Brads”

 

[alice]

Probably just a UK/US definition thing. At what point a brad becomes a nail, I don't know.

One thing I would like to know, while we're on the topic of fasteners is this. My father has asked me to bring him a pack of 1.5 inch (#10) hex head blue cement screws when I come over next week. Now surely there's an equivilent in the UK he can buy. He want's to fasten some shelves into a cement wall in the basement of my house and needs some good anchors. Here the screws are really blue. They're coated with something; it's not a bluish steel and they're made specifically for masonry and concrete.



Link to screws

alice

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Lindyboo:

For fine work like yours an 18 gauge nailer would be good. The 'gauge' refers to the size of the nail - 18g is about 1mm thick, good for fixing architrave, beading, panelling etc.

The term 'brad' is currently used to describe the collated (stuck together in a strip) nails used in small nail guns. The nails are square section and have rectangular heads, unlike wire nails which are round.

I don't have experience of electric nail guns, but rutlands (rutlands.co.uk) have a very good selection. I use an air-powered 18g nailer which is excellent apart from the hose getting in the way and the compressor noise. Great for putting up t&g panelling and suchlike.

Chuckey: my air nail gun will sink the nail head about 1mm in hardwood, more if you crank up the pressure. Sorry, but I don't know if an electric gun will do the same.

Once you've used a nail gun and experienced the many advantages you'll never go back to those tins and jars of rusty nails lurking in the shed.