The Nifty, Hard Working Nail Driving Nail Gun
By: The Working Man


A Nail Gun is a handheld tool that uses compressed air or
another propellant to shoot a nail hard enough to force it
into wood similar to the way a hammer might do so, but much
more quickly. A nail gun can fully embed a nail into a piece
of wood in just a fraction of a second.

Nails are loaded onto the gun in large quantities in
magazines or other feeding mechanisms. One benefit of this
is that the nails are held together in the magazine by a
glue that melts with the friction of the nail going into the
wood and adds another level of sealant, helping to keep the
nail from working its way back out of the wood over time.

With a Nail Gun nails can be driven just about as quickly as
the user can place the gun and pull the trigger. The Nail
Gun has made life much easier for carpenters and
construction workers and has greatly shortened the time it
takes to put up framing, lay flooring and roofing and other
such jobs.

Nail Guns are available for a variety of propellant methods
and nail sizes. Most commercially used nail guns are
pneumatic, meaning that they use compressed air from an air
compressor as a propellant, and are attached to the
compressor by a hose. Air nail guns are good for heavy duty
work as the compressed air provides plenty of abundant power
for the gun, but the necessary air hose can hamper the
worker's movement and creates a danger in the workspace as
the cord stretches from the compressor to the gun.

Electric nail guns can be powered by a battery or by
electric current from a cord. In one type of electric Nail
Gun the motor rotates a gear chain that compresses and
release springs which raise and cock the hammer. As the
trigger is released the hammer drives down with great force
and drives the nail into the wood.

Another type uses a solenoid as the hammer. In these Nail
Guns the piston is magnetic so that when current goes one
way through the coil the electromagnetic field repels the
magnetic piston and pushes it out. When the current is
reversed the electromagnet draws the piston back in. Some
other solenoid-using Nail Guns have a spring mechanism that
draws the piston back in.

Cordless nail guns are of course more portable, but not
necessarily as useful for large jobs. The gas cordless gas
nail gun has attached a small combustion engine and a
disposable gas cartridge. As the gun trigger is pulled a
spark produced from a battery-fired sparkplug ignites a
small amount of the gas and the gas explosion fires an
internal piston to propel the nail. This type of nail gun is
good for working in tight places or for small jobs.


Go Back To:

All About Tools