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While this tool is one of the most expensive I've purchased, its price is only a small percentage of the cost of the flooring being installed. Later, I picked-up a 20 gal, 150psi, single stage compressor and set it up 3/8 inch and found no difference. It's a little tough to find a small compressor that produces the air the specs call for, so for a few extra dollars I figured a little extra in the storage tank would go a long way.If you are unfortunate enough to jam the nailer, figuring out how to clear it does take a while to figure out (basically take the foot off and come up from the bottom). The nailer also came with the finished floor foot that I installed. I was able to do the job with a flat screwdriver, but after doing it the first time I understood why there's a special tool for it.The only thing this unit didn't come with was a way to store it. The instructions were understandable and it takes driving about three nails to get the hang of using it.There was alot of bad internet talk about the air consumption of this tool and bad performance because of it. While I did have the option of renting this tool, I chose to purchase it so that I wouldn't be influenced by the "meter is running" thoughts and took my time with the installation.The nailer requires some assembly and the appropriate allen wrenches were included. I'd be a little hesitiant to run this nailer off of a pancake compressor.
This tool has a 3/8 inch air fitting and does use quite a bit of air. Since I borrowed a portable compressor (30 gal, 120psi, single-stage) with a 1/4 inch inlet hose set-up, I put a 6 inch 3/8 brass pipe on the tool then used a 1/4 inch air fitting off that with no problems at all. With that minor work I've done on it, I get the sense that this nailer is built to be put together one way and I'm not afraid to do any major service disassembly if ever need be.I did notice someone offering a nail set tool for the cleat nails and regret not purchasing it. This tool is certainly a "keeper" and since I plan on using it a couple more times over the next few years, I'm looking into finding something like a large ammo can to keep it nice.
The only time that you cannot use the nailer is when you are too close to the cabinets or walls. It is simple to position correctly and use. The Bostitch Pneumatic Floor nailer is great. The angle of the nailer that is needed to position it for nailing the floor also means that it cannot fit in tight places. Just make sure that you don't let the nails run too low or it will misfire. We laid a hardwood floor in the kitchen, dining room, and hallway in one weekend. When you get too close to the walls etc. you can use a finish nailer and angle it to set nails.This tool made laying the floor a very easy project for us.
One was last year with a rental nailer; the latter was with the Bostitch. But when Home Depot salesmen can't figure out the problems, that indicates something wrong with the brand. To be fair, rentals receive a lot of punishment and the jams I experienced might have been caused by abuse and neglect. It came with all attachments for different floor thicknesses - all I had to buy was an air hose hook up (to the nailer) and nails. The ease of hitting goes a long way to help you finish your job and not be worn out doing it. This is a great nailer; I highly recommend it.
Loading was extremely easy - drop the nail strip in and close the loader. I won't mention those brand names here, but this one made by Bostitch is far superior to the others I've tried. Also, the loader moves with the last nail in the strip so you can see when you are running out of nails. You don't even need to pick the loader up off the floor to reload - just drop in another strip (like a paper stapler) and go for it. I've rented other nailers but because of problems with rentals I decided to buy this one. that is when you strike the nailer with the mallet (again, provided with the nailer) snap it back up - do not let it bounce as that can cause the nailer to jump away from the board and drive another nail into the top of the board. I suppose all nailers can experience this problem, but it seems to be more severe with easier to use nailers like this one.
The high design means you don't need to be on your knees to use it. Comparing this to a rental, I did two rooms with the same area dimensions(both were rectangles with no special cutting). No other problems have occurred. Also, these other brands are extremely difficult and complicated to load. Last year's floor took 13 hours to complete.
I did have one jam, I believe caused by a defective nail which broke into two pieces and one piece got caught in the "delivery chute." I merely removed the bottom plate (with the allen wrench provided with the nailer) and extracted (let it fall out) the broken nail. It doesn't take much of a whack to make this gun drive the nail, so be careful to avoid "double tapping". The floor I just finished (with the new Bostitch) took 5 hours (including the 10 minutes spent on the broken nail). Now if the can just invent one that nails close to the wall.
I.E. As others have mentioned just be aware of how many nails you have left, and be sure you're placing the foot correctly on the piece of flooring. I'm a residential remodeler. I've used both a small 5 gal low CFM compressor, as well as a larger 26 gal high CFM, and both worked great with this tool. Great tool. I don't subcontract much work. I've used this nailer on at least 5-6 jobs, and probably close to 10,000 s/f of flooring, and it's still running like the day I bought it.
The difference in labor between these two is amazing. Most of the projects I do are all taken care of in house. Prior to this I used a Porta-nails 402 manual nailer. I bought this nailer about 3 years ago, and have yet to have an issue with it. I've used this tool with, and without the additional finish flooring foot, and both have performed. I can do jobs at least twice as fast with the Bostich. Well worth the money.
I thought I had some contamination in my compressor set up and switched out my hose and fittings but that did not work. I dutifully installed this thing after having had to hand file out the misaligned screw holes to fit it. I am no flooring installation expert but consider myself reasonably handy around the house and have learned that following directions is usually the best approach. Of course that did not work either.
It is wider than the original base and has a couple of rollers on it and is meant to provide a more stable platform that also prevents marring of the pre-finished flooring surface. I took a couple of vacation days to install some pre-finished red oak Bruce strip flooring in my home. I then thought I would just overpower the problem and jacked up the regulator pressure to a whopping 120 psi. It worked like a charm once that foot kit was removed.Burning half a vacation day to figure this out really made me unhappy. The hand filing requirement should have told me something.Anyway, I then tried to install my hardwood.
That is the upper limit of Bostitch's recommendation on their website. I can't believe that Bostitch would make this accessory without testing it fully which is really quite frightening. This nailer comes with the MIIIFOOT-KIT which is basically a piece of black plastic that replaces the white base on the nailer. I thought I had a defective unit and was ready to send this in for repair, but then thought I would deinstall the foot kit and try again and hope I would luck out. Unfortunately, I could not get the nail cleats to seat flush in the tongue of the strip flooring for the life of me.
Those things stuck out like a sore thumb and did not allow the groove of the adjoining strip to cover over them without pounding the heck out of the flooring. Bingo. If I had to do this again, I would certainly look at other options.
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