[Mike Finley]

I'm done with it, I'm sick of lugging my compressor around for 30 seconds of use! Doing a job today, had to sister 2 studs for blocking for a shower and put in three other small 12" blockings. Took me all of 45 seconds to install them all then I was done with needing my framing nailer and compressor for the job. I'm done with lugging it around, carrying it through the house, risking smashing a wall, a door frame, waiting for it to fill, fighting the coiled up air line, then taking it all back outside!

What are my choices for a compressor free framing nailer? Paslode? What do the run? Do they fire full round heads? Can you use anybodies nails?

 

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[Speedy Petey]

I keep one on my truck and love it!
I do know several carpenters/framers who use them day in and day out, with very few problems.
They do now have offset full round head common nails for clipped head guns. The ones I get are Paslode brand and fit my IMCT and FC350 PC gun.

 

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[PipeGuy]

I like my Paslode - it's the only tool I've ever recovered after it was stolen. Someone swiped it out of the back of my truck in early February. About two weeks later I get a call from the cops - they've recovered it. It was in a recovered stolen vehicle that was returned to the owner who subsequently found the tool in the trunk and reported it to the cops. Unbelievable.

 

[Glasshousebltr]

Pasload impulse...all the way, I had one of the older ones, the first ones made where black, around '95 I think, You have to get used to the safty on it as well as the chamber fill speed, you can't just blast away like air, but you can get real dam close.

Bob

 

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[IHI]

I've got 2 Paslode framers/2 paslode finish guns and I like to tell everybody that asks, "these guns are like computers, when they work they're the best thing since apple pie, but when they dont work curse words fly like mosqitoes"

Aside from the cleaning ritual, these batteries suck ass! I get alot of bullets fired on a charge, yes, but the contacts lose good connection after awhile and you find the fan not turning on when you depress the tip...your only course of action is to slam the head onto the wood target harder to jolt the battery contacts into working, or press on the back of the battery trying to push it into the gun to make it seat. I've tried bending the contacts inside the baterry pocket and that works for about 1 day. The actual contacts on the battery will start to show wear so you will see the problem first hand. I've got 4 years on these guns and I use them for all framing projects, but on bigger jobs I let the corded modles do the blunt of the work since they are cheaper to operate.

Framing guns in our area right now are $359 plus tax and shoot clip head nails from Paslode, Senco, and Porter Cable...pretty much any nail clip that's held together with paper and not wire.

Batteries and gas go along ways and shoot lottsa bullets. When it gets below 20* I've found the guns dont like to work particullary well, must be the gas cartridge temp thing. Also, these guns have sunk nails into old native lumber that my big narley Bostich would leave 1/4" of nail sticking above the surface.

 

[Teetorbilt]

I've been lugging my compressor around for so long that it is now second nature. It might be a small hassle but I know that it will always work.
Good exersise for an old dude too!

 

[Jerry T]

Paslode impulse, I got mine a few years back and it works great. I've got 4 Impulse guns now with the latest being the 18ga brad nailer. The brad nailer is my absolute favorite.

 

[Mike Finley]

Thanks guys, especially IHI and cdac, I always find you can get the best grip on how a product will perform from you by how it actually doesn't preform than hearing all the praises of it.

You guys probably will shoot more nails in a week from one of these guns then I will shoot out of it in 3 years. I'm not looking for a day in day out work horse, as stated by others I would probably use a regular air powered gun for that. My main use will be using it on the small job where lugging the compressor and set up time is far outweighed by the simplicity of pulling the cordless nailer out and shooting a few nails and putting it away before the compressor is even powered up.

In that regard do you think the Paslode works well in that type of use- sitting a lot more than being used? Or will the periods of inactivity cause issues with it?

 

[IHI]

Mike, my grandfather bought his Paslodes specifically for that reason. He tried the compressor/hose thing and hated it since he does mostly sub work anyhow and nothing on a major framing scale, it was just a pain in the ass lugging all that around to frame in a larger opening, install new header, etc...

His sit in the truck probably 3-4 days a week most of the time and the framing guns only used once in a great while (the finish gun is used almost daily) and the framer works like a champ.

One thing you'll have to realize is once you break the seal on the gas cartridge there will be some minor -very minor gas leakage when it sits. So if your dont use the gun for a long time and only get a few nails out of it when you do, that will be the reason why. Kinda like my asthma inhaler, as I get older and hardly use it, it still goes dry from sitting.

Once you step into these guns you'll be very happy and wonder how and why you did'nt get them years ago, but you will be cussing a storm when they start to mis fire or dont do anything at all!! LOL, I find the most ideal time they quite working to be when we're setting trusses or doing some kind of heavy labor job when it needs to work....but they never work when you NEED them too I just need to break down and buy a new set of batteries so they fit tighter and start getting on a more religious cleaning scale since I'm very bad at that until they stop working completely.

These gun are VERY rugged too, at least with my experience. I cannot tell you how many roof slides to the pavement they've endured cuz idiots on the roof dont know how to hook a tool, or else the tools fall off ladders or slip off tool belts...they just keep on keepin on so I'm personally impressed with that aspect of the Paslode tool.

 

[boogie]

had used a friends paslode for a while ,thought it was the shiznik till i got to a site and needed to install blocking had no gas,no problem go get some get back to site, damn batterie dead put back in truck got out the hammer and went to town wore me out .

that night took it back and said thanks (under my breath saying never again)

now i have a very tiny craftsman 2 gallon tank works great from framing to finish
small enough that you can run up stairs with compressor in one hand and gun in other no dinging walls or doors

to each his own, i'll never switch

 

[Humble Abode]

I like my Paslode - it's the only tool I've ever recovered after it was stolen. Someone swiped it out of the back of my truck in early February. About two weeks later I get a call from the cops - they've recovered it. It was in a recovered stolen vehicle that was returned to the owner who subsequently found the tool in the trunk and reported it to the cops. Unbelievable.

Wow! Did you buy a lottery ticket that day? It seems highly unlikely that the words "cops" and "returning stolen merchandise" would be found in the same sentance.

 

[PipeGuy]

It seems highly unlikely that the words "cops" and "returning stolen merchandise" would be found in the same sentance.

I don't know about that. I was glad (albeit astonished) to get it back. I figure the cops followed-up on it just in case it happened to lead them to the car thief. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have seen it again.

 

[Mt.High]

They do not work very well at higher altitudes. We are at 6000' and its kind of a waste of time to pull mine out. It is hit or miss. At lower altitudes I love mine.

 

[jproffer]

Can't believe my smart a$$ mind missed this for 2 months, but another option would be to leave the compressor and nailer in the truck AND save the $400...grab a hammer :cheesygri ..I know not very fast, but sistering in 2 studs plus 3 small blocks probably wouldn't break the bank on time would it? If it's much more than that, then go get the compressor.

On the other hand, if I had enough of that type work to justify buying it, I'd have a cordless

 

[Mike Finley]

JP, like the Dodo bird whos wings were still there, yet through evolution became unable to support the bird in flight...

... using a hammer has become a lost skill today. They are mostly used for scraping crap off the bottom of your boot with the claw end or sealing buckets of paint now.

 

[pray1]

Never under estimate the power of your hammer in your hands as some sleezebag is trying to take the way you make your living out of your truck
I had a cordless finish nailer that worked pissa. I had no luck stolen out of my truck never to be seen again.