Nail gun

Nail gun in use.

A nail gun, nailgun or nailer is a type of tool used to drive nails into wood or some other kind of material. It is usually driven by electromagnetism, compressed air (pneumatic), highly flammable gases such as butane or propane, or, for powder-actuated tools, a small explosive charge. Nail guns have in many ways replaced hammers as tools of choice amongst builders.

Nail guns often do not use individual nails. Instead, the nails are mounted in long strips (similar to a stick of staples) or in a plastic carrier coil, depending on the design of the nailgun. Some strip nailers use a clipped head so the nails can be placed closer together, which necessitates less frequent reloading. Industrial nailers designed for use against steel or concrete may have a self-loading action for the explosive caps, but require nails to be loaded by hand. Nail guns vary in the length and gauge (thickness) of nails they can drive. Smaller nail guns are often called brad nailers, bradders, or pin nailers, and drive nails with no head. Finish nailers drive smaller gauge nails, over a wide range of lengths, with very small heads. Strap nailers drive 1.5" to 2.5" (38.1mm to 63.5mm) nails for metal connectors used to increase structural strength on wood framed buildings. Framing nailers typically drive 8d to 16d nails, and timber nailers drive spikes up to 6.25 inches long. Roofing nailers, almost always coil-loaded, drive large headed nails that decrease the risk of the nail tearing through the material being secured. Nail guns also have many advantages over hammers as they quickly and repeatedly drive the fastener and consistently set the nail head at, or below, the surface.

A variation on the nail gun is the palm nailer which is a lightweight handheld pneumatic nailer that straps to the hand. It is convenient for working in tight spaces where a conventional nailer won't fit and is flexible enough to drive either short nails into metal straps or six inch nails into timber. To drive a nail you place the head in the magnetic nose, position the tip of the nail at the desired spot, and apply pressure from the palm in the direction of nail travel. The palm pressure triggers a repeated hammer action of around 40 hits per second. Once pressure is removed, or the nail reaches the maximum depth, the nailer shuts off.

Safety

In the U.S., about 37,000 people every year go to emergency rooms with injuries from nail guns, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Forty percent of those injuries occur to consumers. Nail gun injuries have tripled from 1991 to 2005. A recent survey shows that foot and hand injuries are among the most common.

All kinds of nail guns can be dangerous, so safety precautions similar to those for a firearm are usually recommended for their use. For safety, nail guns are designed to be used with the muzzle touching the target; they are short-range and inaccurate if a user tries to use one as a projectile weapon.

The most common firing mechanism is the dual-action contact-trip trigger, which requires that the manual trigger and nose contact element both be depressed for a nail to be discharged. The sequential-trip trigger, which is safer, requires the nose contact to be depressed before the manual trigger, rather than simultaneously with the trigger. Approximately 65% to 69% of injuries from contact-trip tools likely could be prevented through use of a sequential-trip trigger instead, according to the CDC. When using a nail gun it is important to note that the safety features above are there for a reason. Actions such as leaving the trigger depressed while just using the tip as the triggering device can lead to serious injury.

Explosive-powered ("powder actuated") nailguns fall into two broad categories:

• Direct drive or high velocity devices. This uses gas pressure acting directly on the nail to drive it.

• Indirect drive or low velocity devices. This uses gas pressure acting on a heavy piston which drives the nail. Indirect drive nailers are safer because they cannot launch a free-flying projectile even if tampered with or misused, and the lower velocity of the nails are less likely to cause explosive shattering of the work substrate.

Either type can, with the right cartridge loads, be very powerful indeed, driving a nail or other fastener into hard concrete, stone, or rolled steelwork with ease. Perhaps the most famous manufacturer of indirect-drive fastening tools is SPIT of FRANCE.

Some areas of the world may need registration, secure storage or other measures to regulate the possession and use of nailguns.

Other uses of term

Various fictional projectile weapons in stories and video games have been called "nail guns", most prominently in the Quake series [2]. When electromagnetically-powered, they sometimes merge into the categories of railguns and coilguns.

Nail guns in popular culture

Nail guns have been featured several movies (and games), some of which are listed below. They are rarely depicted as being used for building purposes.

• The nailgun is a hyped weapon in the Hitman game series. It could be activated by cheats, as a joke, in the first game, but is an actual weapon in the latest, Hitman: Blood Money.
• Quake: Two of the weapons to feature in the computer game Quake are a nail gun and a rotary nail gun. It is likely the term is used here as a fictitious slang for flechettes in a dedicated futuristic military application, not as anything related to the contemporary construction tool described in this article.
• Date Movie: A construction worker shoots and kills himself with a nail gun to avoid seeing an unattractive lady dance.
• Final Destination 3: At a home improvement center, Erin, dies by falling on a nail gun and getting nails through her head.
• Stay Alive: A girl unsuccessfully attempts to shoot the villain with a nail gun she has found.
• Lethal Weapon: Mel Gibson chases down a contractor as he dodges nails being shot from the first cordless nail gun, the Paslode Impulse.
• Casino Royale: During a fight in a collapsing construction site in Venice, James Bond dispatches an opponent by shooting him in the eye with a nailgun. Earlier the same opponent accidentally shot his guard with the same nailgun.
• F.E.A.R.: A nail gun, called the High-Velocity Penetrator, is available as a weapon in the computer game F.E.A.R. in both single-player and multi-player gameplay.
• Nail guns also feature prominently in several episodes of CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY, and also play a very important role in the violent computer game Manhunt.
• Arachnophobia: The use of a nail gun appeared twice. Once to show the poor state of the cellar joists and once more significantly in the death of a large spider.
• The Island: During a chase scene Scarlett Johansson's character uses a nail gun to shoot several nails into a man's hand, securing it to a wall.
• American Psycho: The Nailgun is a favourite of the fictitious serial-killer Patrick Bateman. It is seen once in the film (about to be used in an aborted attack)- but was referenced more heavily in the novel where he uses one frequently 'in anger'. It is considered an iconic part of the character's arsenal; one is included as an accessory with the 7" action-figure.
• The Wire: Snoop buys a fully-automatic .27-caliber powder-actuated nailgun from a hardware store. The gun costs $600, yet she pays the clerk $800 in cash and walks out of the store.
• Color of Night: The villain uses a nail-gun to immobilize a police detective by nailing the detectives hand to a support beam.
• Mark Brandon Read In his first book Chopper Read claims to have shot a man in the kneecap with a nailgun.
• Poke646's protagonist, Damien Reeves is allowed to handle 2 types of nailguns: The brad nailer and fully-automatic nailgun, however, in the sequel, Poke646: Vendetta, theese nailgun-type weapons are replaced by the Par21 rifle.
• Happy Gilmore: In a flashback to his old job on a construction site, Happy is shooting cans with a nailgun. However, his boss walks by and is hit in the head by a nail. Further references to the nail incident are made throughout the movie.

Gallery

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  Pneumatic nail guns require air hoses to fire
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  Nails come in clips for use in nail guns
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  Cartridges, used in nail guns

See also

• Staple gun

External links

• Original nail gun idea started in Winsted
• "Nail Gun Injuries Treated in Emergency Departments, United States, 2001-2005"
• Accidental self-inflicted nail gun injury to the heart