I am looking for feedback on the framing nailers?
http://www.harborfreight.com/10-gauge-3-in-1-air-framing-nailer-98751.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/21-angle-framing-nailer-68028.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/28-angle-framing-nailer-68068.html
I have been pretty happy with all the other nail guns I have purchased from them and hoping these work as well.
Any reason to go with one angle over the other? Any coupons other than the 20% that expires Friday?
First, the 20% is the best to use on them. They may have coupons from time to time but the best consistent price I have seen has been 20% off their 'sale' price of $90.
I have the 21 degree nailer and I had intended to come today to give a pass/fail review. There are some important points for my experience.
First of all, I got mine for $15 from the sidewalk sale. Obvious signs of use, but I tried it the day I bought it and it worked. I didn't have any nails so it went in 'the pile' until I bought some.
Second item to note, I used HF nails. All 3 lengths, to see if their nails were any good, and for testing I didn't need anything expensive. I bought the nails to see if my $15 was well spent. I also got one of the '20% off the total purchase' coupons when I bought the nails so paying less than full price for them helped me think positively about it.
Third, I tested the nailer with $0.50 cull 2x4s from HD. All of them were warped 'torsion wise' so chunks of it would split more than usual if I hit a big grain with a nail. I nailed two pieces to each other rather than just through one board.
Ok so now how did it do? I had a lot of misfire/double fires at first, using only the regulator built into my tank. I added another inline regulator/separator (HF item 68232, does a good job) right at the tank end, and went a lot better. So I tried at least one clip of each of 3 sizes of nails, and adjusted the pressure until it drove the nail's head not too far in and not too far shallow. The biggest issue I found with the variation of the driving depth is the plastic parts that keep the nails together don't always come off the nail, so it's kind of like a spacer. There is a fine line between 'not enough' & 'too much' for air pressure. I kept mine between 70-80 psi with the most success.
The hammer hit some of the nails and just bent them half an inch below the head, or just banged the head all deformed rather than driving. Overall, the reviews on the HF site are correct that the last few nails don't always drive, but I found it was usually the last 2, no more. I could put one loose nail in with a clip behind it and 4/5 times it would drive it correctly. I recommend doing that with your last few nails. It drove the 3-1/4" with the most consistency in depth. I know the nails you use depend on how the material you're using, but it felt like those were the best nails of the 3.
There were enough misfires and doubles that someone using it professionally might be frustrated with it. I ran a full clip of each size after I got the pressure right, and although I didn't count each specific one I had in the range of 'very few' misfires, and no jams. The no jams was especially important to me since it doesn't have a jam clearing hinge. I mentioned double nails, the gun has a bump trigger but works just fine as a single fire. I will grant you that besides the time I was adjusting the pressure, I only double fired once. I think that was my fault for letting it drag on the surface of the wood before I released the trigger. It could happen, but it wasn't a big problem.
Overall I give the nailer a pass, as a $15 investment it definitely is worth the money. The HF nails are not awful, though I have no other framing nails to compare them to. The middle size, It does NOT come with the rubber no-mar on the end like the website pictures. I confirmed that with all of the ones they have in stock my next trip over there. That rubber piece if you have it from either of the other framing nailers fits on the end, but it doesn't have a way to secure it so although it does work, it's a bit much work for a framing nailer since you probably don't care about marring framing lumber.