Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Power Tools). This thread is read-only.
Hey everyone. First post here, and I’d love some thoughts/help. My wife and I just moved into our first house after spending the last month and a half renovating it. We are now at a point where all of the things that need to be done are items that we can do ourselves. We want to paint the entire interior, and each window has a frame around it. My thought is to pull the frames off, sand then paint them, to avoid having to tape everything off. Then I came across the idea of getting a finish nailer and compressor, to make putting the trim back on pretty simple. I am about a week into reading and learning about compressors and nail guns and lack the knowledge to determine the difference between the following kits. Could I get your feedback? Everything from the types of tools offered to your experience with these brands? Thank you all!
Porter Cable Kit
Bostitch Kit
Dewalt Kit
Are u invested in any 18V platforms??
I have a 12 volt Milwaulkee drill that I love, but nothing 18 volt. Plus the battery nailers are freaking EXPENSIVE. Then again I am asking for advice. Would you suggest battery?
Battery is definitely better than air. I only have air and it drives me spare. Pardon the pun.
Worth having a look at these
The battery nailers are a lot more convenient and better in my opinion but they will be a lot more expensive
all the compressors and nailers you are considering will do the job just fine
I’ve used bostitch nailers and compressors a lot and they have never disappointed me bostitch is really well known for their nailers and almost every pro has one
ive used the porter cable compressor once and it was nice and did the job just fine I’ve talked to a guy that swears by them
ive never had any experience with the Dewalt nailers or compressor but almost all my tools are Dewalt and from my experience with Dewalt you won’t have any problems with them they make good quality tools
dewalt porter cable and bostitch are all owned by the same company Stanley black and decker so my guess is that they are all made some what similarity
croikee wrote:
7 hours ago, croikee said:I have a 12 volt Milwaulkee drill that I love, but nothing 18 volt. Plus the battery nailers are freaking EXPENSIVE. Then again I am asking for advice. Would you suggest battery?
If you seriously want to go cordless, how about Rubio? They make some great cordless tools for little cash and have some fantastic 18v nailers in the Airstrike brand. Just food for thought. Also….shame on you. Don’t ask questions like this here!!!! These guys are like Hollywood wives when it comes to surgically removing money for some poor unsuspecting guy!!!!!!!
Oh and welcome to the forums 🙂
if you are just going to buy this for your window trim project no need to get into cordless, for the money the kits you linked to will do just fine, I myself like a 23g pin nailer over the 16g and 18g with liquid nails. if you have many windows and are going to do them all the same time mark them on the back window1 window2 ect ect otherwise 2 weeks after your ready to install them it will be a puzzle nightmare….
Senco nailers are very nice and last long . had problems with porter cable nailes
Senco nailers are very nice and last long . had problems with porter cable nailers
Do you have an air compressor already? If not I suggest one. They come in more handy than you think. Air nailers will be cheaper as well and allow you to choose any brand to suite your desire and budget. Any of those kits will be fine.
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Thanks for all of the replies! No, I do not have a compressor yet. We moved from a condo, so this is our first home with actual space, and a garage etc. Would you all recommend one of these kits, or going a seperate compressor, nailer route? The one thing I’ve heard about these compressors is that they are not good for much beyond running a nailer, inflating a tire and blowing air to clean up. Then again, it seems like a compressor that would also let me paint with a paint gun, etc, all seem to be around $350 and up. So how about this, if you had a budget of about $350, what would you do?
I know the Dewalt 6 gal pancake compressor is pretty good I dropped that off a 30 ft. roof and still works and looks fine,
[External image (www.homedepot.com), not copied]
This one comes the a brad and hose already…
http://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-6-Gal-Heavy-Duty-Air-Compressor-Combo-Kit-DW1KIT18PP/206577074
180$ is more than halfway to your budget, after this buy you can be a little more flexible and spend the rest of your money on a nailer you need for your next project.
croikee wrote:
Thanks for all of the replies! No, I do not have a compressor yet. We moved from a condo, so this is our first home with actual space, and a garage etc. Would you all recommend one of these kits, or going a seperate compressor, nailer route? The one thing I’ve heard about these compressors is that they are not good for much beyond running a nailer, inflating a tire and blowing air to clean up. Then again, it seems like a compressor that would also let me paint with a paint gun, etc, all seem to be around $350 and up. So how about this, if you had a budget of about $350, what would you do?
Depends on what you want to do with the compressor. I have a 20 gal plus a more portable husky 4 gal. The smaller one will run air tools like impact, die grinder, and ratchets but will cycle more. Even with my 20 gal it will cycle a lot when sanding using the die grinder.
I got both of mine from home depot for discounted pricing. Try using a harbor freight 20% off coupon at home depot. They accept them at ma you stores but not all. Would save you a good amount of money depending on what you get.
Only way to see if the kits are a good deal on if they suit your needs. Price around to see what you want/need now then add later. Hitachi 18ga nailers I think go down to $59 on sale and are highly regarded. I have menards brand masterforce 18ga nailer and am very happy with it. I like the jam release better and has a light.
To do trim I would look at a 15 or 16 GA nailer. I use 15 for mine.
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Is a Brad nailer the right guage to hang window trim and do baseboards? Or is that 16 guage? Still learning all of these numbers.
bigger the number the smaller the nail if you are doing finishing stuff the smaller the nail the less you can see it or less work covering it up
croikee wrote:
2 hours ago, croikee said:Is a Brad nailer the right guage to hang window trim and do baseboards? Or is that 16 guage? Still learning all of these numbers.
I would recommend a 15 ga finish nailer for that. I do trim quite a bit and am always angry at the result of a 16 ga finish nailer. With the 16 ga. I’m always having the trim pop out when it comes to butting up the 45 degree cross cut. The nails just aren’t as strong as the 15 ga.
I own the Milwaukee 15 Ga nailer kit and it is amazing! but price is a doezy… :mellow:
croikee wrote:
1 hour ago, croikee said:Is a Brad nailer the right guage to hang window trim and do baseboards? Or is that 16 guage? Still learning all of these numbers.
I do a lot of finish work so of course I have all the nailers, but if I could only keep two of them it would be the angled 16 GA for hanging trim and the 18 GA brad nailer for outside miters. A lot of trim is mdf nowadays and 15 GA creates a mushroom around the head that is a pain to fix and while much less with a 18 GA it just doesn’t have the holding power for the long haul. While some people have gotten away with 18 GA in this situation, I do not want to have to come back after I leave 🙂
Also, you should check out the air compressor thread here.
those 3 compressors are all the same, all made by Stanley Black & Decker, all 3 are very decent, I have the Bostitch and it has ran everything I’ve ever needed, I roof and frame with mine.
What color you like better? All good tools in different ways. Matters what format you like.
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We use the Bostich pancake at work and they do the job. I think we go through a compressor around once every 2 years.
I have not used any of the battery nailers yet and I’m not really interested in them at this point. I have 16,18 and 23 gauge air nailers. With a light weight hose I’m happy with them, the battery nailers just seem bulky and pricy. I bought a Porter cable kit that came with 2 nailers and compressor about 14 years ago and they all still work fine.
SetBuilder wrote:
I have not used any of the battery nailers yet and I’m not really interested in them at this point. I have 16,18 and 23 gauge air nailers. With a light weight hose I’m happy with them, the battery nailers just seem bulky and pricy. I bought a Porter cable kit that came with 2 nailers and compressor about 14 years ago and they all still work fine.
I prefer air, I have the cordless ridgid 16g and i find my self countersinking with a hammer more times Than not
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I would recommend a minimum of 16 ga. for this, 15 ga. if possible. I have this 15 ga. Ryobi cordless that I got for less than $150 (the price has apparently increased since I bought mine) , it was allegedly pre owned but looked pretty much new to me. If you go with that you can even get a sander since Ryobi also has a variety of cordless sanders. That is what I recommend, the gun plus 2 4 Ah batteries (which can be had for about $100) would not be much more than some of the kits you listed and you can use those batteries for any other tools made by that brand.
I would go wit Ryobi,whole kit for 200 or less and better then the Milwaukee.if you like to do any kind of car work or want to get into some woodworking I would get a bigger compressor.the ones you are looking at are fine for finish nailers and blowing up tires but that’s about it.a bigger one you could use impact gun,spray paint with them etc