No more smashed fingers!
Written: Jul 25 '02 (Updated Jul 25 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Reliable, durable, compatible with desirable nail types.
Cons: Sequential trigger should be standard instead of contact trigger.
The Bottom Line: Great entry level nailer for the home handyman or light professional use. Reliable, durable and compatible with desirable nail types. Highly recommend the sequential trigger option.
|
|
|
| mjgroff's Full Review: Stanley Bostitch Framing Decking Sheathing Nailer ... |
With a power nailer, you can get a job done faster and with more precision. With a hammer, I find a lot of the energy goes in to moving the wood instead of pushing the nail into it. With a hammer, it is a struggle to do toe nailing and drive nails from odd positions like sideways over your head. Even though I am just a home handy man, I thought it was worth the price for a power nailer to eliminate these frustrations.
Because I am not a full-time contractor, my requirements were light. I did not need the convenience of a cordless nailer. I did not need an extra large capacity. So, the entry level N80CB-1 suited my needs perfectly. The only less expensive framing nailers I came across were the stick/straight kind. I chose to pay the slight premium for a coil model because it is shorter. It will fit into smaller space.
This nailer is easy to load and has sufficient capacity that I almost never need to reload it. Coils of nails are available in different lengths and finishes. I typically use galvanized spiral 3" nails for my framing and there are 250/coil. The coil nails are just like a normal nail with full round heads. With many stick nailers you are forced to use nails with small square heads, no spiral and limited coatings.
Nails are driven very fast and efficiently. This means the wood you are nailing into does not shift around. But it also means that if there are gaps, like form a warp in the wood, it may not be forced together so you may have to use a regular hammer afterwards if you don't align your pieces tightly together in advance.
This nailer is very reliable. It has never jammed. It requires no maintenance other than regular oiling like all pneumatic tools. It is also quite sturdy. Most parts are steel. Those that are plastic are very durable - the kind of plastic that doesn't crack.
If you are a bit timid of power tools, a power framing nailer might get some getting used to. Driving a three inch nail requires a lot of force. You feel it in the nailer. There is a kick back so you have to have a solid stance or the nailer will get pushed away and the nailer will only be half in the wood.
In terms of speed and power I have no complaints. I use about the largest nails (3") this model accepts and drive it into standard framing wood, either pine, spruce or fir. The nails always goes in unless I don't have the PSI on the compressor high enough. I typically set it around 80 PSI for the big nails and 70 for the smaller diameter 2.5" mails I also use. The maximum recommended is 90 PSI so there is plenty of extra driving power available. In any use, the nailer is ready to drive another nail immediately. Your compressor's CFM rating is what matters there and nailers are not very demanding of CFM.
My only concern with this model has been safety related. The model comes with a contact trigger that allows you to hold it in and shoot a nail with every contact of the head. This is good if you want to shoot a lot of nails in a row, like if you were applying sheets of plywood on a roof, but for my mixed use it was hard to master. What often happened is the nailer would push of the surface when fired, and my pressure to hold it firm would force it back down causing it to fire a second nail as I would not have time to release the trigger. It is not the best thing to be shooting 3" nails unintentionally. I immediately solved this problem by purchasing a sequential trigger conversion kit which changes the nailer so you have to fully release the trigger before firing each nail. I highly recommend this. I think it should be standard considering this nailer is likely used by more weekend contractors than experienced framing carpenters.
I would recommend this nailer to anyone needing a light use framing nailer because it is reliability, durable and compatible with desirable nail styles. Whether or not it is suitable for medium to heavy use is something I can't say but I certainly would not rule it out.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
mjgroff
|
|
Member: Mike Groff
Location: Kitchener, Ontario
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.