# Forum Home Renovation Tools & Products  Coil Nail Gun

## mike_perth

Hi all 
Im looking for a relativley cheap coil nail gun to do the weatherboard cladding on my renovation. I have 860 odd metres of pine weatherboard to put up and would like to use stainless nails (Ive used galvanised in the past and they always rust eventually so want to avaoid that). 
Ive looked at the local air tools shop and they have two cheaper versions for $199 and $299 both take the same size nails but apparantly the cheaper one dosnt have the power of the more expensive unit.  
Ive also looked on eBay at the Demac version which looks very similar to the $299 version available locally. New Pro COIL NAILER NAIL GUN Air Tools Uses Senco Nails - eBay Nail Guns, Air Tools, Tools, Home. (end time 13-Sep-10 13:11:55 AEST) 
So guys really just wondering if anyone has used any of the cheaper guns and what you thought of them. 
P.s. I know that nailguns arnt 100% recomended for weatherboard but after two shoulder reconstructions (sport related) theres no way I could swing a hammer for all those nails - it will be difficult doing the ones at the ends of the boards! 
Cheers 
Mike

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## Stan 101

For the price and the size of the job you are doing it should be fine. I'd just be sure I could get a seal kit for them. It's not common but then not unheard of to have some guns blow a seal early in their life and knowing replacement parts are available. 
Cheers,

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## dib

The other thing is make sure that you can easily get nails that fit it.  Especially in terms of wire/plastic collation.  eg Some of the cheap ones will only do wire collated.

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## mike_perth

Guys sorry to be a pest but Ive been to the shop that sells the more expensive guns and they are now saying that as I have a Jarrah framed 75 year old house that the only gun that will penetrate the Jarrah is the $699 paslode gun!  
Are these guys trying to take me for a ride or are they correct? Ive asked if I can bring in a sample of the timber (I have plenty from the old laundry) to see which gun will penetrate easily and they have said "No we cant use the demo guns as they will be sold as new one day!)  
Im obviously a bit worried as I know Ill probably use the gun in the future but not all that often and a $700 investment for 1500 odd nails seems alot? 
Mike

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## Stan 101

HIre one and see. I have some hardwood in my current reno that a senco framer run at 100psi will only be penitrated 25mm with a 2.8mm nail.  
cheers,

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## ringtail

Bwahahahahaha- paslode gun - bwahahahahaha. Sorry. Mate, for someone to say step up to a paslode gun for really hard  wood is a joke. They perform the worst in hard  wood. Sorry paslode fans, but its true and you know it. Great in pine though. Paslode air framer - different story.

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## mike_perth

Well Ive spoken with them again this monring and I think reluctanlty they are going to let me come down with some timber and let me try the three cheaper guns ($259, $299 and $399) to see if any of them will fire into my Jarah  
Though Ill have to pay for the nails!! As they said they cant sell half coils!!! Hopefully Ill only need One coil type as they all should take the same nails. 
The one on eBay is starting to look very tempting I just dont know that it will make it into the Jarah either!!

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## ringtail

I have a trade tools CN65 coil gun ( not to be confused with the owner builder spec gun). It cost me just under $ 300 and packs a good punch. Its not the best quality gun on the market but its far from the worst either. Parts are a breeze to get in QLD ( not that Ive had to get any). If its really bony timber I'll use my paslode air framer with 50 mm nails.

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## mike_perth

Well when I got to the store the guys there were more than helpful and helped me try out 3 different guns! The moral of the story is the $199 gun wont get through the Jarah but the $299 will using 2.8 x 50mm nails (its exactly the same as the one on eBay for $179 but I cant wait for the 9 day delivery). The next gun up from $299 is a $660 gun and that is very nice a fair bit lighter but I cant justify the extra expense 
So thanks for your advise guys just thought Id update incase anyone else out there is thinking of getting a cheap coil nail gun 
Mike

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## LordBug

Couldn't you hit the seller up to work out express postage?
Because even if you had to fork out lets say $50 extra, that's still $70 you'd be saving yourself, a carton of beer and a nicely framed photo of a job well done  :Sneaktongue:

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## mike_perth

I would have thought so but they said no - Id think because they need to buy the stock in themsleves and then send to me. 
Anyway at lease when if I have an issue with the gun the shop is down the road to take it back and jump up and down! 
Mike

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## ringtail

What brand is the one at the shop ?

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## mike_perth

Its a no name brand unit but its the exact same unit as this one on eBay  New Pro COIL NAILER NAIL GUN Air Tools Uses Senco Nails - eBay Nail Guns, Air Tools, Tools, Home. (end time 16-Sep-10 20:30:48 AEST) 
Which by coincidence looks exactly the same as the Trade Air one sold by the big hardware chain begining with B which retails for $199 so I may even get that one! 
So many decisions So little time!! 
Mike

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## d00biez

mike i have the trade-air coil nailer which i bought from bunnies for around $200ish. it looks very similar to the gun in the ebay link you have.  
the gun has been terrific so far. my neighbour and i have put pine fences around both our properties and used it to fasten some 800 palings with 6 x 50mm stainless nails each (2 nails across 3 railing points). after that i used it to construct a home studio, again it was used on pine and performed very well. i did notice that with some of the bigger 75mm "ribbed" nails, they would not penetrate my hardwood joists by more than about 20mm. i would put this down to the nail design (the ribbing) than the gun as my little aldi brad nailer will fire 50mm brads into the joists no problem. the gun also has a sort of screw mechanism near the barrel where you can adjust the depth of penetration for the nail head. i found this very useful when using on different types of wood to avoid punching big holes in soft wood. i think you could use that function, along with some extra psi, to put nails thru jarrah with this gun. 
however, i am by no means an expert (refer my other posts for examples!!) so take this with a grain of salt.  
cheers

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## ringtail

That gun doesnt look too bad eh.

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## mike_perth

Well that leads us to another question - for hardwood its recomended to use plain shnk nails but the guy at the weatherboard said use ring or screw shank - I can see the value in these nails into softwoods as the grain will relax after the nail enters and the ring/screw will resist coming back out but I cant see that happening with this 85 year old Jarah so I feel the smooth shank is the go? 
Mike

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## ringtail

Traditionally you use ring shank nails into pine and twist shank into hardwood, but smooth into hardwood is ok aswell. If they are wire collated nails a little bit of wire normally sticks to the head of the nail and goes into the job. Gives good holding power. Weather they are designed that way on purpose, I'm not sure. I assume that the nails are gal, which gives a bloody good hold in hardwood anyway

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## mike_perth

Its been recomended by the Weatherboard supplier to use stainless steal nails to reduce the issues with rusting - they said that even galvanised nails will loose some galvanising on the head when they are punched by the pin in the gun meaning the head could be vunerable to rusting and making things look messy in the future. 
Mike

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## ringtail

How far from the ocean are you ? Back in the good old days the weather boards in QLD were fixed with bright steel nails. Pull them out of a 100 year old Qlder and they are still fine. Gal should be fine I reckon

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## mike_perth

Yeah but back in the "Good Old Days" the company making the nails wernt based in China pumping out 4 Million of them a day and they wanted their nails to last 100 years and now I can buy "Stainless Steel" (Well steel that may reasemble stainless steel) for $22 a roll (Galv are $14) and they might last me 25 years (probably 5 years linger than the treated pine) so I cant see the value in dropping back to China Spec "Galvanised" nails 
Mike

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## ringtail

Fair enough

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