[Closed] nailgun advice

When they're running right, the paslode is a joy to use. When they're not you can't throw them far enough away to satisfy the rage 🙂

When they decide not to fire (gas low, gas cold, battery flat, battery slipped off its contacts, safety spring not fully engaged etc etc) you are invariably stood on top of a ladder with one foot holding the door closed, one arm on the wall the other holding a nice bit of fascia and 4' of 3"x2" twixt yer teeth. And it's deeply annoying.

But otherwise they're great. S/H is always going to be a bit of a gamble as they're no bound to be ex trade.

I've used Dewalt now for a few years, Never had any problems with them . I would buy new because you don't know how it's been looked after .

I use a hitachi 1st fix. Same gas and nails as passy, but cheaper. Much better battery design but (as stoner mentioned) still same frustrating non fire as the passy when cold. I may have actually accidentally thrown mine sometimes.
And for that reason no I wouldn't buy second hand!
And don't fix decking down with nails, its rough and creaks like ****!

Second hand guns fetch almost new money , and all the ones i looked at were shagged - as stoner says ex trade selling because its passed it.

I ended up with hitachi guns.

Both first fix and finishing guns, 249 and 269 they were brand new.

My dad has since replaced his paslode finishing gun with a hitachi as its lighter and easier to handle.

Most of the guns are paslode copys - for a long time paslode had the only gun of its kind due to patents but they ran out a couple years back now new and improved guns are out there, paslode used to jam because a plastic bit wore - hitachi use metal there.

Fwiw as a diyer id buy hitachi again before i bought a used paslode, if you havnt used one before you might also struggle to identify between a broken or well used and abused and a good one, i was lucky id had plenty time on them while growing up working with my da.

Paslode for the pro who shoots from the hip.

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I've got a hitachi and it works very well (with the quibbles above!)
Wouldn't ever use it for decking though, screws are where it's at there!

also am i better to get electric only gun (dewalt) or gas/battery powered like the paslode?

Depends on who's paying for the nails.

The dewalt battery only ones are more expensive to buy than the gas guns (hitachi make a paslode compatible gun which is cheaper again, its actually the old paslode internals in a gruesomely styled sci-fi exterior). It only takes a few boxes of nails to to save the difference though. So it doesn't take long for the dewalt to be the the cheaper option to own and run if you rather than the boss or a customer is paying for the consumables.

The dewalt makes more sense also if there are other tools you'd want to use the batteries with, as once you've got the batteries and charger other bare tools are pretty cheap.

I've had a lot of milage out of my dewalt with non of the temperamentality of my gas framing nailer, which has to be cajoled back into action if its laid away for any amount of time. You can waste a lot of gas, nails and wood before its firing reliably . But if you can bear the noise and inconvenience then a little compressor and 16g a nailer will be much cheaper to buy, cheaper still to buy nails for, has a greater range of nail lengths available and they are more commonly stocked, is lighter and more balanced in the hand, can get into tighter corners and pack more of a punch and can nail faster.

Paslode user here for years. I've had very little trouble from mine. Once I get anything going wrong, I give it a clean/service according to the instructions that came with it and it's fine again for ages. To be fair though, most stuff I do these days is glued rather than nailed, so it just hasn't been used as much in the last few years, probably leading me to think it's more reliable than it is. Of all the "power" tools I need, a nailer would be the one thing I wouldn't buy second hand. Decking should be screwed, not nailed.

looking at a second hand paslode im350

If it's in perfect working order it'll be nicked. No one replaces a Paslode which is working and not giving them any problems.

Unless of course they intend on coming off the tools, that's a different story.

Agreed

Used to be on maintenance in a huge joinery factory that had a fleet of Bostitch nail guns. One model had a large drum magazine for a belt of machine gun style nail belts. Used to jam the safety nose catch and play 'Dangerous darts' with them and stacked pyramid style WD40 tins.

Good times along with spinning music CD's up on hand grinders then flicking them off the spindle and out of the workshop door and watching them do 100mph through the factory. Cant forget belt sander racing with two Makita belt sanders, two extension cables and a double plug socket. Also belt sander 'roller skates' but that ended painfully.

In my experience paslode guns are brilliant. They go wrong because people don't look after them and can't be arsed to service them. The main issue is that the design encourages you to put your free hand on top of the gun to help push it down. This blocks the flow of air to the internals and prevents the exhaust gasses/wood dust from getting blown away. This then shits all the internals up and the problems get worse. They get harder to fire so you push down on the top and blah blah blah we have a totally shit up gun that continually refuses to fire.
If you service it regularly and don't put your hand on the top to fire it then it will keep on trucking for years. I used to service them for a living and I've never come across one that couldn't be fixed that wasn't physically snapped. Every part is replaceable and parts are pretty cheap. A new gun should even come with a parts schematic so you can go to any dealer and they can order you the part.
The dewalt guns are good but expensive and heavy.
Hitachi guns are paslode guns in a green housing. They just reverse engineered a paslode gun and moved the battery.

large shed building, decking & fencing.

...... basically could i get away with a first fix gun for the above or would a smaller one do the job but then be more usefull for other stuff?

For shed building and fencing you need a first fix gun, a second fix gun would be useless for those jobs.

Because of the nails btw - second fix guns use very thin brads.

thanks for the advice/tips. will have a look around and see whats available new within budget. theres a black and decker/dewalt outlet near me so i'm going to check there too, hopefully pick up a dewalt for a good price, and as i have a dewalt driver i could hopefully use batteries in both

oh and for the decking i meant using the nailgun to fix end panels/trims etc rather than the boards/post/joists as i would screw those but thanks for pointing out 🙂

Where do you live mate? If you are local to Leeds/Bradford/Manchester you can borrow my Paslode IM360, its the new version of the 350 and fires 'screw nails' which can be taken out and 're-used' using a torque head. Also has a new lithium battery which is good for over 5000 shots per charge and a temperature monitor that lets the tool work down to minus fifteen degrees. You also need to make sure you use the right class of nails if they are for outside work, have to be at least galv coated and not bright zinc. Let me know if you're local. Cheers.

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning, I'd hammer in the evening, All over this land, I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out a warning, I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters, All over this land.

But because I've got a nail gun I'm usually finished by about 10 and can spend the rest of the day with my feet up watching Bargain Hunt.

hi chunkymonkey thanks for offer but i'm up in newcastle, but cheers! 🙂