Trouble with Senco finish nailer.

Putting up hundreds of feet of MDF trim. (1/2" casings, baseboards etc.) Using 2" finish nails in the gun. Only about one in nine nails sets below the surface. Pain in the ass to bend and set nails at odd angles, even tho ugh I can swing a hammer with either hand.

Gun pressure set to 90 psi. Any suggestions? Buy a better gun? Would lub ricating the nails help. BTW, the nail heads are proud by about 1/32".

All advise appreciated.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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Using 2" finish nails in the gun. Only about one in nine nails sets below the surface. Pain in the ass to bend and set nails at odd angles, even though I can swing a hammer with either hand.

lubricating the nails help.

I'd crank that puppy up to at least 100psi, if not 110 and see how that works.

Remember, if you start at 90, and depending upon how you have your compressor to kick in, you are probably shooting at a lower pressure than your setting after the first few shots.

Reply to
Swingman

Do you have your gun "depth setting" adjusted to your material, it may have been moved or knocked out of adjustment and is now set too shallow. All my guns can be adjusted to bury the nail if I crank them to maximum depth.

Reply to
EXT

Using 2" finish nails in the gun. Only about one in nine nails sets below the surface. Pain in the ass to bend and set nails at odd angles, even though I can swing a hammer with either hand.

lubricating the nails help.

I set my pressure to 120 and always have on my 20+year old Senco finisher. Depending on the age of the gun, if older like mine, it may be hard to find a better one. If increased pressure does not fix it, might be time for an OH.

Reply to
Leon

In addition to other suggestions, I would check size of airline. 1/4" is often not large enough to deliver enough volume of air for some brands of air tools to function properly. I typically use at least 3/8" line if the run is more than a few feet.

Reply to
Digger

What brand nailer do you need this with? I have used 150', 1/4" with a Senco finish nailer and a Bostitch framer with no problems. These things don't use much air. You may not be able to shoot as fast on this long run but 2 shots per second is fast enough for me when fence building.

Reply to
Leon

Bingo. Betcha that's it. Find out what max pressure is on the gun and put it there. Senco isn't known for its driving power anyway, so it needs everything it can get. The recommended pressure on the gun is probably 100 psi, but it is important to remember you didn't specify anything other than "a gun".

So are you using a brad nailer? A 16 ga nailer (a favorite of mine), possibly 15 ga angle nailer? All work well for baseboards and most other trims.

Better questions will give you better results when you ask.

I had some older guns that had the problem you described and I found that problem when switched to a smaller compressor to use for trim. So that the compressor would not run as frequently, they set the pressure regulator at 85 lbs before it would kick on. So my fix was that I would shoot about 5 times, then would disconnect the coupling at the gun just enough to bleed enough air to get the compressor to kick. Shoot 5 more times, then repeat. The guns finally wore out and were replaced. Some newer regulators have a set screw on them and you adjust the "kick on" pressure up or down as you like.

If your gun is newer, it will have depth control, so check it as Leon says. 1/32" isn't much, so you might be able to adjust that out.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Incorrect. While your compressor may not keep up, the air lines have almost nothing to do with the supply to the gun. We shoot high volume roofing nailers all day long with 1/4" hose and it works fine. Same with our framing guns which depending on their task at the time, may be running non stop.

Not convinced? No problem. Read Bernoilli's Principle (and examples of the practical application of it) about the equalization of pressure and you will find this scientifically proven.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Not trying to start a war here folks, just offered a simple thought and suggestion.

I have 3 different brands of guns onhand and a compressor limited to max

125lbs. I've not used Senco but understand it is an industry standard brand and have no idea what is recommended by the OEM.

I've had good luck with Dewalts and Bostitch using 1/4", even at 85-90, but not so my very old Campbell Hausfields when fed from 1/4" line, unless kept to short runs. Soft 3/4" pine is one thing, MDF is another and 2" treated is another and Oak and... Even the style of nail being shot (coated vs uncoated, etc) can have an effect upon depth of penetration at a given combination of adjustments.

I have also found 1/4" line totally inadequate for tasks such as paint guns, air hammers, impact wrenches, sanders, metal saws and files. And so, regardless of anyone's law of physics, many supply issues of my own experience were permenantely solved with 3/8" line and a larger volume tank.

The original op did not specify air source being used nor much else except MDF, 2" nails and a Senco gun @ 90lbs. Others had already offered good advice and I simply offered a suggestion, not a declaration.

Reply to
Digger

No war intended. :~) I was indeed curious what gun would require that large of a hose. I have been on and worked on a bunch of job sites with nailers working on 1/4" hose.

From what I understand Senco invented the nail gun. It apparently is not the gun of choice these days. My Senco nailer was apparently the gun of choice in 1989 when I bought it.

FWIW I have used that nail gun with a portable 7 gal air tank and

25',1/4" hose to shoot 10~15 times in quarter round in a house with no electricity. Strange job. I made sure the hose was full before going to the job.

Continuous use tools like those you mentioned above do need less restriction for longer runs to operate more efficiently but if the hose is 50' or shorter the 1/4" still worked fine in the automotive business that I was in for 20+ years. The 1/4" hose was mainly used for air drills, impact wrenches, air ratchets, zip guns, and in the body shop for painting and sanding. Now the Coats tire machine did have a 3/8" supply line as the bead expander would release enough air to inflate a a tire in a split second. That machine however did have it's own air reservoir, not even the 3/8" supply could keep it filled for more than several seconds if the bead expander was in continuous use on the difficult tires.

Reply to
Leon

Leon, apparently your experience has been vastly different than my own...I do also hold great respect for your knowledge and contributions to the forums here and spend considerable time gleaning little tidbits of useful information.

Although having been a lurker for many years, rarely a contributer, once-in-a-while I do poke my head up and take my chances... :-)

I run a 20gal tank w/ single head @ 125lbs max feeding about 150' of

3/4" buried & overhead lines @ 100lbs. The lines are tapped with above ground connectors & shutoffs at various locations around the property. In theory at least, the 3/4 lines should multiply available tank volume and serve as medium buffer for sustained output in high demand ops.

However, I cannot push enough air through through a 1/4" line at more than 25' to sustain a typical non HVLP paint gun for more than a few seconds, much less most other high volume air tools. But I would agree that in most apps, even 50ft of 1/4" line should not be an issue for any nail shooter I have used either.

Granted though, if I stuck a vertical 60gl iron horse 240v double-head, pushing 150lbs to a regulated 100lb main, I could solve those problems and maybe get back to using 1/4" line as you have.

Unfortunately though, I simply do not have the room for a high capacity rig nor can I justify the expense and wiring change enough to support infrequent usage.

Quite a few of us here are not professionals, and don't do a lot of this stuff for a living. The kinds of tools and equipment many of you here use are way out of the normal range of weekend garage warriors like myself....Festool? R U kidding me? :-)

I am not totally inexperienced, and do myself have a 12x36ft fully equipped woodshop, minus a turning setup, that I have likely invested about $30,000 into, for equipment, over last 4yrs, but even this is rather atypical for an average DIY'er and still not on par with a proshop. Literally every tool in my shop is mobile, out of necessity! :-)

Keep those tidbits coming cuz I would be lost without them...

Reply to
Digger

In my shop I am using a 20~25gal tank at something like 125 lbs max about like your set up except a single 50', 1/4" hose for normal daily use. I have an extra 100', 1/4" hose for fencing jobs, and and emergency 20' 1/4: hose for the unexpected. But again, this for running nail guns which only use air for a split second at a time. My air operated abrasive wheel cut off tool gives my compressor a run for its money but it simply can not keep up after 5~10 seconds. Same goes for my other continuous use tools.

Every high volume tool is different. In my old automotive days we had

6, 120gal + compressors running continuously. The lines coming from the compressors were 2" diameter, that was required for the vehicle lifts, that taped off to 1" lines that went all over the dealership to supply the individual bays in the main shop and body shop. The individual stalls T'd off to hose reels with 50' 1/4" hose and to manifolds on the walls over the work benches. Many of the mechanics used the 1/4" stretch coil hoses for their air ratchets straight from the manifolds at the work bench, 10~15 feet. Impact wrenches ran off of the hose reels.

I still have the mechanic air tools and they run fine off of the 1/4" hose at home but the compressor can't keep up after 3~4 lug nuts. ;~(

I let the dealership or tire store rotate the tires now. ;~)

Reply to
Leon

Hard lines with hard 90 degree turns will slow flow more so than a hose that only has gradual bends.

Reply to
Leon

No, if there's too much pressure drop along the way, it doesn't matter how big the compressor itself is (unless you can raise it's pressure enough to compensate but until go to really large the upper tank limits are generally roughly the same).

Reply to
dpb

That is what I am thinking, Pressure would have to go up so that it never dropped past acceptable after all of the restrictions.

Reply to
Leon

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