Roofing Nailer - Air Requirements

[crokett]

I was looking at this roofing nailer:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93253

and it lists air requirement at 19CFM @ 90PSI. I thought that was extremely high so looked at the specs for my pancake compressor on Porter Cable's website. Looking at all their compressors, you have to go to a stationary compressor to get even close to 10CFM. What am I missing?

[Tom Slick]

I think it is a misprint, nailers require very little air flow. 19 CFM is huge and would require a LARGE hose. Senco doesn't list airflow requirements on their similar models.

[l_e_black]

I have 2 of these exact same nailers and had no problem running both of them from a 3.5 hp 20 gal. compressor. I believe you will be ok with any 2hp or better compressor. The guns work great but be aware you cannot bump nail with them.

[crokett]

Thanks for the reviewe

It may be they left a decimal out? My other thought was there was some weird way they were measuring CFM. I am still not sure I will buy one since I don't do all that many roofs. I know I won't rent, even at that price buying is cheaper than renting for the time I will need it. If I could find one for 50 bucks or so in a pawnshop I would buy it.

[billwmeyer]

I have a nailer from Harbor Freight similar to that. I got by very well with a small pancake compressor that I picked up at a Homier traveling sale. I could get ahead of the compressor sometimes, but I had almost no problems with it.

Bill

[Hellrazor]

A big sand blaster would use 19cfm. Maybe they meant .19cfm? A paincake easily runs my framing nailer using ringshanks of any size without issue, I don't see how a roofing nailer would be a problem.

[cgallery]

The guns work great but be aware you cannot bump nail with them.

That seems like it would slow you down quite a bit, no?

[LCHIEN]

the thing about nailers is that they are not a continuous user of air. So each nail fired uses so many cu ft of air (probably a very small fraction of a cubic foot). The total rate of usage depends upon how fast you actually fire the thing in shots per minute. Shots per minute times cu ft per shot = cu ft per minute.

So the maximum CU ft/minute depends on the maximum rate the gun can fire.

But very few users can actually keep firing at the fastest rate the gun can fire. Every so often you have to put the gun down and line up the next assembly or add nails. So that also serves to bring down the total cu ft per minute, especially if you have a big enough tank to span those interruptions.

So the numbers are sort of meaningless. 19CFM is totally ridiculous.

[Ed62]

I'm with Loring. I've shingled quite a few roofs with a pancake compressor. It got to the point where I could lay shingles pretty quickly. No problems with the compressor.

Ed

[crokett]

I will ask a new question then... renting one costs 45 bucks a day and I know I will need it for more than one day, probably more than 2. Assuming this is the only project I ever do with the roofing nailer, is the 80ish bucks worth spending? Will it speed things up sufficiently for me vs hand-nailing?

[JSUPreston]

I would think it would at least cut down on the hand cramps. I know that in Alabama in the heat/humidity we're about to have, that if I have to hand hammer a lot, I start doing a very bad Bob Dole impersonation.

[ragswl4]

I will ask a new question then... renting one costs 45 bucks a day and I know I will need it for more than one day, probably more than 2. Assuming this is the only project I ever do with the roofing nailer, is the 80ish bucks worth spending? Will it speed things up sufficiently for me vs hand-nailing?

Of course its your money, but just one smack of your fingers with a hammer while hand nailing will make you wish you had purchased the nailer. It will certainly speed up the job and afterwards you could sell the nailer for 1/2 of what you paid for it. Other issue though is that nails for the gun will cost more than loose nails. I would not frame, roof or trim with a nail gun, period.

[RickLab]

What am I missing?

Did you look at the manual on the same page?

"Air Consumption 2.5 CFM @90 PSI"

[Ed62]

Will it speed things up sufficiently for me vs hand-nailing?

A nailer will speed things up a lot. It will take a little practice, but you should see results pretty quickly. How many squares will it take to do the roof?

Ed

[crokett]

A nailer will speed things up a lot. It will take a little practice, but you should see results pretty quickly. How many squares will it take to do the roof?

Ed

Not sure. Between 4 and 5. The building is a 16x24, I figured 18x26 or thereabouts for the roof adding the eaves and gable ends. So somewhere aroud 450 sqft is what I figure. The attached porch pushes everything up to about 6 square but I will worry about that later this summer.

Rags, I do everything I can with a nailer. My 10.00 yard sale framing nailer has been a lifesaver so far on this job.