Brad Nailer and Finish Nailer problems

Doug DeVore

Member
Messages
106
Location
Southern, Illinois
Hey all -
Working with white oak and red oak this evening and kept having problems getting either of my nailer's to penetrate. I've got a porter cable (finish) and also a Bostitch (brad). At first I thought it was not enough pressure so I pushed up the regulator and still had problems. Mostly bending the nail or blowing out the side. It was very frustrating. I don't remember having these problems before. Any ideas or just really dry wood or something?

Thanks,
Doug
 
I run mine at 90-100 PSI w/o problems. However dust and dirt may be a problem. Not long ago When my son assembled a swing set for his kids there were some plastic caps to shield the ends of the bolts, thes caps fit the air fittings, I used them to cap my guns after use and when storing. Also a couple drops of light oil (specific air gun oil) in the fitting and shoot a couple shots to get the oil in the cylinder will prevent a weak shot. I do this after each use.

Just this weekend my son used my Framing nailer, when he returns it, I will oil and cap off the fitting and hang it back on the wall ready for next project. :thumb:
 
If the wood is that hard try using a shorter nail/brad. The finish nails and brads don't have the column strength to drive long lengths into 2 pcs. of real hard wood no matter what the pressure.

The brads, not sure about the brand finish nail you are using, have a chisel point. They tend to follow the grain of the wood. So either you are holding the tool at an angle or the nail is following the grain and causing it to blow out the side. Instead of holding the nose of the tool parallel to the edge of the wood try holding it perpendicular. This will orient the chisel point in the center of the board and not the edge. This probably sounds confusing the way I wrote it but hopefully you will get the idea. :eek:
 
I run mine at 90-100 PSI w/o problems. However dust and dirt may be a problem. Not long ago When my son assembled a swing set for his kids there were some plastic caps to shield the ends of the bolts, thes caps fit the air fittings, I used them to cap my guns after use and when storing. Also a couple drops of light oil (specific air gun oil) in the fitting and shoot a couple shots to get the oil in the cylinder will prevent a weak shot. I do this after each use.

Just this weekend my son used my Framing nailer, when he returns it, I will oil and cap off the fitting and hang it back on the wall ready for next project. :thumb:

Those slip-on pencil erasers from the stationery store (about 99¢ for a pack of 24) fit the air fittings, too, and they also make nice caps for squeeze bottles, like glue, etc.

I generally run my nailers at 90~100 psi, and oil them each time I use them. Seldom ever have a reliability problem that way.

Doug, I suspect there's nothing wrong with your tools. That white oak can be very hard, and 18ga brads bend quite easily. My only suggestion would be to turn up the pressure a tad.
 
Went over and picked up some shorter brads today (1-1/4" - instead of 2"). Gonna give them a try when I get home and see how that goes.

Sometimes I just don't have the time to do a cool joint and need to "glue and keep moving".
 
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QUOTE=Jim DeLaney;247641]Those slip-on pencil erasers from the stationery store (about 99¢ for a pack of 24) fit the air fittings, too, and they also make nice caps for squeeze bottles, like glue, etc.

.[/QUOTE]

Not being one who generally makes mistakes, it might be hard to find Erasers here abouts. :rofl:

That is a good hint, My friend screws up a lot, I'll borrow a couple from him...:thumb:

Come to think of it... I did some work for the US Census this past summer and they issue a ton of Erasers, I'll look through my glovebox for leftovers. :wave:
 
Just wanted to follow up to this.

The smaller brads worked perfectly! No problems what so ever. As Bob suggested I think it was a combination of hardwood and long nails.

2" was all I had in the shop at the time, but really only needed 1-1/4". Worked great.

Thanks for the help guys.
 
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