Types Of Nail Guns – Their Uses & Which One You Need.

The days have gone when people were using nails and hammer for even petty woodworks but now many types of Nail Guns are in use either for repairs and improvement in a house or for commercial projects. They are providing great help to finish the job with professional perfection.

A great many number of nail guns are available in the market thus makes the task of selecting the right type of tool much more difficult. It may also be noted that a nail gun is not so versatile to perform all types of work in woodwork or carpentry. So first of all you should have a clear idea about your requirements and then buy proper tools as per your requirements.

We will explain the specifications, functions, merits, and demerits of all types of nail guns.However, our special emphasis will be on the working and functions of the tools so that you should have a clear idea about their purpose and utility.

Types Of Nail Guns

1-Framing Nailers:

The first type of nail gun is the framing nailer. Framing nail guns are heavy duty nail guns that play an important role in construction. Framing nailers are among the most powerful nail guns and are used for heavy construction.

In this era, the use of tools is becoming very common and has eased our lives. The use of a hammer is an old fashioned thing and can be dangerous and consumes a lot of power and time. So to avoid the hassle of hammer framing nailer can be used. You can also check the list of best framing nailers.

Framing nailers not only can be used by professionals but also by a common man too. Framing nailer comes with a lot of good features like depth adjustment, anti dry fire mechanism, and jam clearance, etc.

 Application: 

 Types: 

There are two types of framing nailers, one pneumatic framing nailer and other is cordless framing nailer. A pneumatic framing nail gun requires an air compressor for its operation. You can also check the best pneumatic framing nailer.

The second type of framing nailer is a cordless framing nailer. Cordless framing nailer gives you complete freedom, as you don’t need any compressor for its operation. You don’t have to deal with hoses all you need is a battery or fuel gas or sometimes both. Some cordless framing nailers only require a battery for their operation and some require both battery and fuel cell for their operation. You can also check the best cordless framing nailer.

Dewalt DCN692B is one of the best cordless framing nailer. You only need a battery for its operation. It has a brushless motor that can drive nails of 2-3.5 inches into the wood easily.

 Dual speed motor: 
This framing nail gun has a dual speed motor and the speed option 1 is used for nails of shorter lengths while option 2 is used for nails of longer lengths. These options can be selected easily with the push of a button.

 Operating modes:  
It comes with two operating modes. One sequential and the other is bump mode. The sequential mode is used for a single fire while bump mode is used to finish the things quickly. For new users, the sequential mode is recommended.

 Safety feature: 
This battery-powered framing nailer comes with a trigger lock that serves as the safety feature for the users. This trigger lock prevents accidental fire.

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Metabo is the new name of Hitachi company. This Metabo HPT NR90AES1 is made of magnesium and aluminum and weighs 7.5 lbs. The tool operates with a pressure of 70-120 PSI.

Metabo HPT NR90AES1 has a next-generation industrial design and has an open nose design which allows the user to easily clear the jam. This framing gun comes with a selective actuation switch. This switch allows the user a quick transition from sequential to bump mode and vice versa. You can also check the list of best pneumatic framing nailer.

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The tool-less depth adjustment feature of this tool provides users the freedom to shoot the nails at the desired level easily.

 

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2-Roof Nailers:

Roofing is a very tricky and difficult job. As it requires a lot of power and accuracy for doing it manually. So to ease the things, roofing nailers are used. If you are on the roof and shooting the nails into the roof manually then imagine how difficult it would be to maintain your balance and shoot the nail with accuracy.

So roofing jobs require a specialized tool as it is difficult to do it manually. Roof nail guns have helped a lot to do things quickly and accurately. The depth of adjustment is necessary for roofing. roofing nailer comes with a coil magazine that holds more nails and saves the time which otherwise might be consumed in reloading.

 Application: 

 Types: 

A pneumatic roofing nail gun requires an air compressor for its operations. It’s not cordless so you have to deal with hoses. While a cordless roof nailer usually uses battery and fuel cells (gas) as power sources. You don’t need a compressor for its operation. It allows complete freedom as there are no hoses to be used.

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3-Flooring Nail Gun:

In the modern world, the tools and machines make most of the work easy, involving less manual hard work and help quick completion of projects. The introduction of flooring nail guns has made fixing the floor not only less laborious but efficient also. Since the flooring can not be attached with the frame so it requires a special tool for doing the task, which is flooring a nail gun.

The flooring nail gun relieves the users of bending down of knees frequently which is sometimes very painful and causes physical exertion. It is also important that gun help complete the task within the shortest possible time.

 Application: 

 Types: 

There are two types of flooring nailers i.e one is pneumatic and the other is manual. A pneumatic floor nailing gun requires an air compressor for power and only needs a little strike with a hammer to drive the nail into the floor. While manual flooring nailer operates manually and requires the full force of hammering for fixing nails.

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4-Palm Nail Gun:

Up next is the palm nail gun. As its name is self-explanatory, you can easily hold this nail gun in your palm. It is the smallest type among the 9 types of nail guns. Palm nailers allow you to work in tight places and corners easily where normal nail guns can’t reach. Palm nailers prove very useful at these places. This nail gun can shoot the nails of 1.5 to 3.5 inches.

 Application: 

 Types: 

A pneumatic palm nailer requires the air compressor for its operation. So you must have an air compressor otherwise you can’t use it. The second type of palm nailer is a cordless palm nailer. Cordless tools allow you complete freedom from hoses and compressors. All you need is a battery or fuel gas or both.

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5-Pin Nail Gun:

Pin nailers are the smallest of nail guns used for small projects. It is very useful for work like art and craft, making pet homes, crates, etc. If you like small wood crafting then pin nailer is the tool you need. pin gun use 23 gauge nails with head and without head.

However,  the nails are usually headless and look like a pin so the tool is called a  “pin nailer”. These nails often being headless just leave a small hole that needs not any treatment for covering. Most of the time it is used to fix pins to hold the substance till the glue is dried.

 Application: 

 Types: 

A pneumatic pin nailer requires an air compressor for its operation while the cordless pin nailer gives you freedom from hoses and compressors. You need an only battery or fuel gas or sometimes both for its operation.

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6-Brad Nail Gun:

The brad nailer was manufactured and thrown into the market after finishing nailer. It is used for fixing thin nails. The nails used in the brad nailers are called Brads which are one of the smallest nails of 18 gauge. They are of two types one is angled while the other is angleless. Their small size leaves no hole after fixing and requires no filling or wood putty to cover up. Due to their small size, they are mostly not visible on the surface of the wood.

Brad nailers mostly used at the finishing touches stage in the project. It is a preferred tool in a situation where you don’t like to use glue and avoid splitting of the wood. It is a useful tool for the delicate nature of work. However, it is not fit for heavy-duty work as the nails being small can not hold the heavy substances.

 Application: 

 Types: 

A pneumatic brad gun uses an air compressor for its operation. If you don’t have an air compressor you can not use it. The second type of brad nail gun is the Cordless Brad Nail gun. Cordless brad nail gun gives you freedom as you don’t need an air compressor for its operation. You need a battery or fuel cell or sometimes both for its operation.

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7-Finish Nail Gun:

A finish nailer is an appropriate tool for finishing work which also helps provide enough holding power. The Nailer accommodates nails of 15 or 16 gauge. However, it is clarified the nails disappear in the wood but leave some holes and for proper finishing use of some wood putty is required.

The finish gun is very useful for providing higher holding power particularly attaching heavy or large pieces baseboards, cabinet, and wide crown molding. Moreover, the tool helps to add aesthetic sense in the work.

 Application: 

 Types: 

The first type of finish nailer is a pneumatic finish nailer.  You need an air compressor to operate the pneumatic finish nail gun. While for a cordless finish nailer you don’t need any air compressor for its operation. You only need a battery or fuel cell or sometimes both for its operation.

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8-Siding Nail Gun:

Siding nailer is the latest tool in the nail gun family. Its soft tip performs the siding job with perfection on soft as well as hard ones such as oak or cedar and would keep the siding material intact. It is a useful tool for joining larger pieces of wood. It uses shorter nails between 1 ¼ to 2 ½ having wider heads.

The areas where frequent bad weather and natural disasters are common occurrences covering all of your walls with siding is necessary for protection. Thus the siding tool makes the job of siding very much easy.

 Application: 

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9-Staple Nail Gun:

The staple gun is mainly meant for furniture making. But it can be used for the construction of kennels, birdhouses fixing carpets on floors, and even on the walls for soundproofing as well as to attach pieces of fabrics on the frame of a sofa.

Since no oil is used in the tool so there is no question of splattering of oil on the surface of the substance on which work is performed. However, it can not be used for finishing carpentry work.

 Application: 

 Types: 

A Hammer staple gun is just like a hammer. You have to apply power and strike it on the object you want to staple. It is commonly called a Hammer Tacker.

An electric staple gun requires electricity for its operation. A pneumatic staple gun uses an air compressor for its operation. You can not operate a pneumatic staple gun if you don’t have an air compressor. And the last one is a hand-actuated staple gun

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Buying Guide – Things To Consider Before Buying

 Pneumatic Nail Gun: 

It is a heavy-duty nail gun which operates with compressed air. It is useful for driving thick nails and hard metal. But it needs the big size compressor for supplying power to the gun which makes it difficult to carry. Even then, it is a more useful tool due to its efficient working.

 Electric Nail Gun: 

It is lighter in weight so one undergoes less fatigue while working with that tool. It is a better tool for the beginners and produces less noise therefore its use in residential makes it handy. However, the length of the cord connecting the tool with the power source makes it less attractive.

 Cordless Nail Gun: 

Cordless nail guns give the user freedom from hoses and air compressors. You neither need an air compressor nor to deal with air hoses for its operation which sometimes annoys you. You only need a battery and fuel cell(gas) for its working. Some nail guns come with a very good battery and have a quick charging feature which facilitates the user. However, it may be less powerful than pneumatic ones.

 Requirement: 

There are many types of nail guns but each one of them performs specific work. So before considering the buying of the nailer, you must have a clear idea about your requirement to avoid selecting the wrong one, you may lest you may waste money as the tool would not cater to your needs.

 Triggers: 

Some of the nail guns come with two triggers. These two triggers are for selecting two modes. One sequential and the other is bump mode. If you are a professional then you are familiar with these two modes and know their importance. The sequential mode is used for a single fire while bump mode is used to finish off the things quickly. Some nail guns have a selective actuation switch which allows the user an easy transition from sequential to bump mode.

 Depth Adjustment: 

This is a really great feature in nail guns. This feature helps the user to sink the nail into the thing at the desired level. Some of the nail guns come with tool-less depth adjustment, which usually has a dial to adjust the depth of the nail sink.

 Jam clearance: 

Jamming can be annoying and breaks the rhythm of the work. Jamming is a common issue in nail guns. But the good nail gun is that one which provides an easy solution to clear the jam. There are nail guns in the market which have a tool-less jam clearance feature and you can easily clear the jam without using any tool and can continue the work with the full flow as you don’t need anything to clear its jam.

 Rafter Hook: 

The Rafter hook helps the user to hang the tool when not in use. It is very handy when you’re in an abnormal position and can’t hold it with your hand.

 Air Exhaust: 

Air exhaust is the point from where the air is discharged. Most of the nailers come with adjustable air exhaust which helps the user to keep the air away from the face

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There are many types of nail guns which will certainly confuse the user which one he should buy. But our article covering almost all the aspects of different nail guns may provide sufficient know-how about the tools and will be a great help in choosing the right nail gun to cater to your requirements.