Senco's

Paulie

I'm not a drywaller by trade but seem to do a lot of it. Never got around to buying a senco. My question to you rockers is should I get a battery or corded one? Do the batteries last for a full basement job? Do they jam up?

JDavis21835

I wouldnt bother. I got a battery one. Screws are expensive. You better make sure that screw is all the way home, once you let off, the next screw is ready to go. It seemed underpowered. The main reason i got it was because it had a cordless router with it. That burned up after a few months. All in all, not the deal i hoped it was going to be.

Paulie

I googled senco's and I saw there is a 14.4 and a 18v Which one do you have. Do ya think it would make a difference.

Thanx for the info

JDavis21835

Im sure the 18 would last longer than my 14.4. It may even spin a little faster. But if your looking at doing any decent amount of work, get yourself a good corded screw gun and a drywall lift. Either that or find yourself someone to help out part time.

Paulie

Thanx, I've run some of the corded screw guns and they work OK, what I was wondering about was the self feeding senco's. The one guy I worked with that had one wouldn't let me play with it. I thought some of the hangers in ct here would have some input.

I'm to old to do it on my own anymore. The last job I did that killed me, 5/8's on attic space ceiling, I think the roof pitch was 12 12.

valleyman

I'm not a professional drywall guy, but I own the 14 volt Senco and like it very much. If you work very fast, I can see where you might need a third battery. I work by myself and I'm not that fast so I don't run out of batteries. It's true if you don't sink the screw you can't use the Senco to finish it off, because the next screw is loaded. For that I keep my little Bosch 12 volt driver on my belt. It's also difficult to drive screws into corners and you will pay more for the collated screws. The thing I like most about it is you always have a free hand while driving the screws.

Joining_heads

I am not an everyday hanger, but the senco guns drive me nuts. They are underpowered (the 14.4 at my work is the worst), too slow (driving), and are a pain in the corners.

I get much better results with my Milwaukee.

Paulie

Hey I really appreciate the info.
I use a young guy that hangs fast. We got a basement job coming up and I"m trying to buy a new tool per job. I have tools to do the job but have lot's of room for improvement.

So I'm thinking no battery senco.

Maybe corded.

72chevy4x4

the Senco would be a fine little unit for small stuff like bathrooms. I bought one for a room remodel and it really got the job done quickly. never ran out of batteries. the screws ARE expensive...if saving $$ by not having another hand or by moving quickly enough, the $$ works out. Good for small stuff :-)

valleyman

That is another negative about this gun. I don't have problems with lack of power, but the rpm's are on slow side.

Tradesman

I faced the same quandary a couple years ago. Cordless or corded? 18v or 14.4? Senco or some other?

I ended up buying the corded Senco and I really don't have any regrets. Every now and again when my RotoZip cord and the Senco cord and the drywall lift get tangled up, I wish I had bought the cordless. On the other hand, I won't ever have to buy an overpriced battery for it either.

Yeah, the screws are more expensive, but I got an excellent deal through FantasticTools.com. I felt bad when I received the screws and saw they were made in China, and thought maybe I should have sprung for the more expensive Senco screws. Guess what? The Sencos are made in China, too. Oh, well.

I think the extra money spent on screws is offset by the time savings. The corded Senco can drive screws as fast as I can move. In addition, you can screw off the ceiling from the floor (if you're tall enough) with the added length of the gun. Doesn't do corners well, though.

When you look at the difference in the material cost, it really is a fairly small percentage of the total job cost. And of course, it is an opportunity to buy a new tool.

Happy decision making!

Greg Di

I have the 18V and I don't use it much for all the reasons above.

If I bought another one, I'd get the corded version. The cord is not a big deal, but the batteries are Ryobi batteries and they suck.

Actually, I'd probably buy the Hilti auto-feeder. It's light years ahead of the Senco in every respect.

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Paulie

Really, Hilti? I'm googling as we speak!

Paulie

do you mean the sd 4500 with smd 57 screw magazine? That's the only thing that I could find. Kinda looks like a clusterf***k. But I've never seen one so I don't really know.

A+ Texture

Hey paulie, go take a look over at drywalltalk.com. I believe they went in some depth over there on the subject. And Hilti was mentioned a lot. I think they may be the caddy of screwguns.

Greg Di

Not sure of the model number. It's a regular gun with an autofeed nose attachment. You can use it both ways and it is nearly impossible to jam.

I'd buy it in a heartbeat over a Senco.

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Paulie

Thanx for the tip, I figured it was covered somewhere but wasn't sure where to look.

So you can use it as a regular screw gun and put the attachment on and self feed drywall screws, huh. Cool.

Thanx again for the info, it's really been a help.

d's

I just bought the hilti sd4500 and the smd 57 attachment. Pretty happy with it - a very sturdy bit of kit. Screws are reasonably priced at 12.00 per thousand and not having to dip into your pouch when hanging has many ergonomic and productivity benefits. The whole thing was $219 up here in Canada. I got the 50ft cord and at first I though argh that's a lot to pack up but it's great plugging it in and then not having to worry about it again. The attachment comes off pretty easy if you need to go back to non-collated for tight spots or odd size screws. I have a cordless dewalt too but it runs at half the RPM's, great for small patch jobs, as a second gun, or to carry around while spotting screws, but can't touch the autofeed on volume. I did some math and figured it saves $30- per day based on 3000 screws per day, gets the job done faster, and more ergonomically. To get even more technical it may do a better job of countersinking as well because the nosepiece distributes the pressure of the drill onto the board rather than through the screw.

my 2cents,

D's

Paulie

OK now i'm thinking I'll go get a Hilti. I got a question, What are the min. and max. screw leghths you can buy in the self feed clips. Sometimes I put 3/8's over existing and you need 2" sometimes more!

I went over to drywall talk.com last night, spent 45min. looking for the thread mentioned above. Never found it.

d's

The longest collated screw they make is 55mm which is just over 2". Wish I had those today for a lam job.

D's