Problem with nail gun & compressor

[JimD]

A somewhat different comment. It is not clear to me that you understand that the reason the nailer works over a fairly wide range of air pressure is because it also works with a fairly wide range of nail lengths and in many different materials. You set the air pressure at 70 psi for short nails in soft materials. You might have to set the pressure up to 120 psi some day to drive the maximum length nail it will drive into something really hard. I hardly ever go over 90psi - I usually leave my compressor there really. When I want to drive a shorter nail, I grab a smaller nailer (I now have a 23 gauge, an 18 gauge, and a 16 gauge). If you gun works well at 70 for what you are doing, great, but I suspect you may want to use a bit higher pressure. All my nailers will drive their longest nails into hardwood at 90 psi (except for the HF stapler I commented on above).

Jim

[lcm1947]

Thanks guys. It's just a little confusing at first but thanks once again to this site I am learning. I guess I'm just one of those guys that have to have things spelled out to him. Just like what Jim just cleared up for me. More pressure more power to drive the nail. Makes sense now. Thanks.

[Andrew Benedetto]

Mac,I have 3 DeWalt nailers all work great even with a a small airless hotdog tank DeVelbiss) I use for small jobs. If you tee the 5 gal tank off the pressure manifold base(unregulated it will pressure up more,same as the onboard tank, and work better),increasing recycle intervals which will allow cooling.
I have a small clip on fan desk cooling the head too on my twin tank Hitachi oil lube[ that I use much more] . B/c on the oil-less head ,it is covered,I can see little value to a fan there. If you head is exposed I would add a fan.
Use a QD female on the compressor and tank hose too and 2 male plugs back to back. Close the valve on the tank to keep the air in it(if you have some left) as you connect the tank ,open the valve and go. That is also good set up if you want to use the tank alone to add air to a tire so you can connect a chuck too.
Check the QD for restriction(put a plug in and blow into it,there is quite a difference on the cheap HF ones and a better quality QD female) b/c they can vary, Amflow is good @ Lowes,Husky @ HD.
You will see much better performance. I run all my guns at 100psi. The Dewalts have a great depth control and lower pressure and excessive oiling are causes for problems. Remember there is line drop with dia. and length.
I have the 18,16,15 ga. finish nailers. I use either Senco or PC brads/nails to avoid jams. Never had a jam over 3 years,unless I hit a nail in a stud directly. I would use a 3/8" hose also not 1/4".

PS. I drilled and tapped a drain on the 5 gal. tank to let H2O out. I used loctite on the tapped threads for safety and a good seal on the drain. I used a tapered punch to get the final dia.,prior to the tap, as to increase the amount of threads b/c that will push more metal inward for the threads.

[lcm1947]

Thanks for the great reply Andrew but I think I've solved my problem but the info was interesting and may be useful in the future so I do appreciate you taking the time to explain it out like that for me. What I did was I purchased a 22 gal digial Kobald compressor the other day. I got such a good deal on it I couldn't past it up. It was a customer return due to one of the base supports being bent in shipping. I can fix that but the guy paying full price for it didn't see it that way of course so lucky me. Anyway, I will be picking it up tomorrow as I needed to borrow a pickup to tote it home.