Pins - 1 inch, 23 gage
What uses would call for longer brads, nails, staples or pins ?
Thanks,
Brent
You will find that 1-3/16" (30mm) is a more common maximum length in pinners (though the Porter Cable model is limited to 1"). There are a few pinners out there, such as Grex ($$), that are also available in 1-3/8", 1-3/4" and 2" models. My 23ga pinner is a 1-3/16" (30mm) Bostitch -- if money were no object I'd have gotten the 1-3/4" 23ga Grex pinner. I also have an EZ-Fasten 21ga, 1-3/16" pinner/brad nailer which is nice for when you need a pin with more holding power or for when you need a brad considerably smaller than the more common 18ga.
Otherwise your quoted lengths are largely spot-on. All that said, though, unless you are like me and own a few thousand of every size fastener your guns will handle, the more critical question is what sizes and lengths do YOU need for your projects (e.g. if you mostly join 3/4" pieces then you will want 1-1/4" or 1-3/8" nails for nailing one to the other and perhaps 1-3/4" or 2" nails for nailing corners together where you aren't limited by the 3/4" thickness. Beware that as your fastener length increases so does the chance of your fastener deflecting off a knot or following the grain and blowing out somewhere unexpected -- this is just one of the tradeoffs with using pnuematic nailers, just like missed blows and bent nails when hammering by hand.
Although none of my nail guns have it, a nice feature found in some of the better models is dry-fire lockout, which prevents your gun from firing when it is out/nearly out of nails or pins. I've also tended to prefer traditional oiled nailers/pinners over the newer oilless nailers/pinners -- I don't torture them enough to say for sure, but it just seems that the oiled nailers should be more reliable and need less rebuilds if regularly oiled (nor have I found them to ever harm any of my projects from ejected oil, though I often fire off a dry-fire or two after oilling them to ensure there is no excess oil left in the nailer. Plus, if all your nailers are either oiled or oilless it is easier to remember to take care of them since they all require the same treatment (which in my case is a drop or two of oil before each session).
Also, not always apparent to a new nail gun owner, you generally don't need to be brand specific in your choice of nails. All of my nailers, save for my 21ga pinner/brad nailer, are Bostitch, but I have a mix of Porter Cable, Bostitch, WoodRiver, and Grex nails and pins. About the only area I've found you need to be a bit more careful in is with the pinners since some are really European models (as in metric lengths) vs some models using imperial lengths. Otherwise they are all pretty standardized. Sometimes you will even discover that another manufacturer's nails or pins work better in your gun than the OEM nails or pins do (I find my Bostitch nailer does better with 23ga Grex pins than it does with Bostitch's own 23ga pins -- save for the 3/4" pins which need to be Bostitch because the Grex are 1mm too long).
HTH
PS -- :eusa_booh This thread reminds me that I still need to get around to tearing down my Bostitch compressor -- the pressure regulator knob stripped out a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, I was 4 months out of warranty ($14 part and about $16 in shipping, so I also ordered a spare plus the parts necessary to refurbish the piston, cylinder, and valves should they ever wear out (oilless) since they were only a few dollars more and should be enough to keep it working for years to come. Of course replacing the regulator means tearing down 1/2 the compressor since everything seems to be attached to it! :eusa_naug Have I ever mentioned that I REALLY HATE PLASTIC MECHANICAL PARTS!!! It's fine for cases, chasis and buttons and the like, but not moving or heavily stressed parts -- and never suitable as a 'spring'. :eusa_naug <grrrr>
