CO 2 Powered Nailgun

RobertCDF

This thing still works great... I have not had a LOT of times to use because it is not desinged for everyday use. But for when I need to get in and shoot a few nails you cant beat it.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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King of Crown

This is probably one of those times that I should keep my mouth shut, so with that being said...

That looks cool, but is it really more convenient than a compressor?
I have a fifty gallon propane tank on the back of my truck, with a valve to release vapor, and I know that people have inflated tires with atachments, I wonder if I could rig up something to fire a gun?

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dshcontracting

Just for your info. CO2 is not the best gas to use in a nail gun. It's better to run a Nitrogen paintball tank, which is actually filled with just compressed air. When CO2 expands, it gets very cold, and freezes o rings and plastic pieces. Compressed air, which does get cold, is no where close to the CO2. When in college down at Virginia Tech, we made ping pong ball launchers and used paintball CO2 tanks. froze the pvc and all the valves, then cracked apart. Takes a couple freeze thaw cycles. Using the tanks for nail guns is a great idea, just get them filled with compressed air, its safer. Any paintball field can do it too.

Dan

bustedbolt

Robertdf thanks for your posts,

It would be great to get updates on your CO2 system and uses with
different tools/scfm

I am interested to see more user opinions before buying in.
seems like a couple of these small businesses have dropped the products or dropped out completely. quick fire,
I found a chart that shows CO2 expansion at diff temps. seems to drop off fast. 80F= 900psi ...30F=500psi at scubatoys dot com

I also wonder about what happens if you get liquid CO2 in your line or gun- from bending over, under etc..
would the re-expansion of the liquid CO2 cause a gun explosion? or just a freeze jam? or shoot a nail REAL hard? or would it just jam up the regulator and not get past?

brian

kklick

started to play around with this friday afternoon at work. Had a full 20 oz co2 can and found a regulator that would adjust down to nothing. Problem was the regulator adjusts from o to 1200psi so its a little touchy.

At first i had about a 6' section of 3/8 air hose rigged up. Just seems to wasted way too much air when hooking and unhooking. So we finally just screwed the tank to the gun. That worked fine but as mentioned you'll get some liquid that way. If you were doing that all the time you'd need a tank with an anti siphon tube installed.

Really was not a bad set up but I was not impressed with the consistency at all. When the tank starts freezing up your pressure will drop. A good regulator should maintain the right pressure though.

Monday one of the guys that works for me is going to bing in a few of his high pressure air tanks for paintball. I really think this may be the best way to go. I'll let you know how it goes and what parts we used when we get it put together.

Nac

As somebody else metioned Nitrogen is the way to go I use to have 2 bottles on my service truck to rum impact guns and the pnematic greaser any welding supply will have all the equipment you need .

RobertCDF

Understand this system is NOT for building things. This is for when you need to get in and shoot 10-20 nails. This is not for framing a house.

Of course if you tried to frame a house you would freeze your regulators and get lots of water in your line.

This is by NO means a compressor replacement. This is so you dont have to buy an entire line of paslode guns.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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King of Crown

Why not charge a resevoir off of a compressor. It would do it for 1/100 the price.

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kklick

Charging a resevoir off a standard compressor won't get you very many shots unless you have a large tank to pump it in. Then if you're using a large air tank you might just as well carry your small compressor in.

I still think the best answer is the nitrogen or high pressure air (hpa) tanks. Hopefully after this week I'll have a little more insight on that.

King of Crown

yeah, but you could prob. get 10-20 shots out of a resvoir, and thats what he said he was shooting for.

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RobertCDF

I guess I could do that... BUT I would rather know that I can get a few more out than just the 10-20... Example: I framed a basement for a guy finished it all up. The inspector wanted a drop more "defined" (stupid electrians messed up the drop). So I went in and shot about 40-50 nails total in the basement on that drop and one more that needed a "joist" moved for an air vent to be added. As well as putting a stud back the plumber removed. I would rather know that I have 250 shots in my little tank then just 10-20 in a 5 gal tank. Even if I dont use all 250 at one time, I know that its there if I need it.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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Custom Composite Decks

dshcontracting

a small paintball tank will hold enough air when pressurized with a compressor to shoot like 10 -18 gaige nails. 1 12d nail. To buy a paintball compressor costs like 3-8000 bucks.

twlinks

Lowes sells a system from Kobalt (Lowes brand) for $99 that includes a 9 oz. tank. There is a 20 oz. tank available also and a list on the package of what to expect in the number of shots for brad nailers to framing guns. You exchange the tank at Lowes and the refills run about $8 on the 9 oz. and under $10 for the 20 oz.

I'm going to try one. I install a lot of replacement windows and this system will work great for my application.

RobertCDF

I bought that the day it dropped into the store by me. I have used it a few times because it it a little smaller than the setup I have. Now I keep it in my truck for when I have to go somewhere and take care of stuff and I dont want to bring my trailer.

The problem with buying the refills at lowes is that they dont fill the tanks very full. Ex: the 9 oz only has like 7oz in it. The 20 OZ has 16 oz in it. Get them refilled at a paintball place OR you can buy a refill nozzle on EBAY and get a CO2 tank and fill them yourself at home. Then you only have to pay to get your big tank refilled.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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Custom Composite Decks

twlinks

Ok, I bought the Kobalt system from Lowes and I love it...for what I do with it. I've only installed about a dozen windows with it so far...about 10 nails/shots per window using an Hitachi pinner. Chart on the box said something like 720 shots for a pinner with the 9 oz. tank that comes with it. Don't know about that yet, but I think it's great so far.

vincent3000

WOW you guys are way ahead of me. I was going to use a paintball co2 tank with a regulator, but when I read about the lowes kit, I would rather go with that.
Thanks and keep up the good ideas.

WarnerConstInc.

The Prebena system is awesome, I had a chance to demo it and I would say that the roof nailer was my favorite, no more hoses on the roof.
Expensive but if you find someone to split the cost of the compressor with than it is not so bad.