HF Flooring Nailer - Comments Anyone?

[Red Green]

May have to get a nailer in the future for a one house job. At that location in another state there is no Harbor Freight outlet. May consider buying it in advance.

The only time I used a nailer was the manual kind on some 3/4 T&G like 25 years ago. How do these work? I see they are air but include a "slugging hammer" as the HF description calls it. I assume hitting the black button with the hammer is what triggers the nail driven by air? I mean if the air is driving the nail why do you need to "slug" it? 25 years ago the long hours of bending and fully swing slugging to drive were bad enough. I can imagine at 2x+ that age. I mean I'm pretty limber and conditioned but I certainly prefer to work smarter, hence air, so what's with the slugging hammer?

Anyone have this particular tool? Pros and cons appreciated. Jams?, will it use widely available nails/cleats like Bostitch?, fully drives fasteners?, anything else? I have a pancake 150psi compressor which should be fine since it states "Maximum air operating pressure: 100 PSI".

[benick]

The reason you still use the hammer is to make sure the piece of flooring is tight to the piece next to it though you don't have to hit it as hard..Never used the HF one but for one house I'm sure it would be fine....Perhaps others have???

[ransley]

I bought the cheap menards nailer, it jammed so I returned it for bostich. HF is good for many things, but of you have any issue an exchange wont be worth the trouble and would stop the job, you would just go buy a new one to keep working. If you were going to put it to continous use immediatly then it might be different, but let it sit and the warranty could be lost by the time you use it.

[HeyBub]

1. The nail is not driven directly by air - else you'd essentially have a pellet gun. The nailer drives a piston which in turn drives the nail.
2. PSI is one of TWO necessary qualifications; the other is CFM (cubic feet per minute). Your compressor might not be up to the task in that it can't provide sufficient volume of air. Even the little tire compressors that plug into the cigarette lighter could probably reach 100psi but obviously won't work as a nail driver. If your compressor cannot provide sufficient volume, you might drive one nail then have to wait for a couple of minutes for the compressor to catch up.
3. If you're worried about jamming, dependability, etc., buy two. When you finish the job, return one for a refund. My guess is that the tool will work swell out of the box - and deficiencies it has will be because of wear-and-tear.

[dpb]

Red Green wrote: ...

Yeah...

Unless you will have plenty of time in case there does become a problem, I'd recommend renting while you're there rather than risking the HF possibility of the particular one you get being trash; always a crapshoot w/ HF ime.

As for interchangeability of fasteners, one would presume likely but again, it's taking a chance unless/until you can get verification.

If you'll have time to swap it out if it isn't satisfactory and have some other potential use down the road, sure go for it. Otherwise, if you intend to do the job and be done, renting locally may be the smarter choice...

$0.02, ymmv, etc., etc., ...

OBTW, the compressor should be plenty to run any nailer. You'll want to start at 70-75 psi max and work your way up until you find the right pressure setting for depth for the specific flooring/subfloor, of course. Also, you don't indicate what you're laying; if it's 3/4" t&g I'd consider the 2" mandatory.

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[Red Green]

ransley wrote in news: [e-mail]:

True.

Guess I could always check eBay. That's where I got my Porter Cable roofing nailer. It was certified factory reconditioned and sold by that authorized dealer. Came with full warranty of a new one. About half the cost of new.

[Red Green]

"HeyBub" wrote in news:zKqdnZLLr-emZ_fXnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

The pancake compressor I would assume sufficient. Works fine for me alone on a roofing nailer. Maybe two pros on one at the same time might tax the duty cycle. Also, if I recall when doing compressor research/education prior to purchasing, SCFM is even a more accurate rating.

[Red Green]

dpb wrote in news:h4fio1$luu$ [e-mail]:

Thanks for the input.

It's a future project and just doing some way ahead research. The flooring I will be using is still in tree form I suspect. Most likely it will be 3/4 t&g. Wood type unknown.