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TOOL TEST
Coil Siding Nailers
Look for a light, compact gun that drives the kind of nails you want to use
by Tim Uhler
A
s the lead carpenter on a crew that does framing and exterior trim,
I’ve learned that it’s impossible to be competitive if you nail siding by hand. My first experience using a nail gun for siding was about 10 years ago, when we blindnailed HardiePlank lap siding with a roofing nailer. The tool worked fine for that application, but there were limits to what it could do, because roofing nails are not appropriate for corner boards, soffits, or anywhere that fasteners remain exposed. We soon switched to coil siding guns, which shoot a variety of fasteners that can be used with many different exterior materials, including wood, plywood, fiber cement, cellular PVC, and engineered wood composites. For this article, my crew tested several of the newest available 100-psi coil siding nailers: Bostitch’s N66C, Duo-Fast’s DF225C, Grip-Rite’s GRTCS250, Hitachi’s NV65AH, Makita’s AN611, Max’s CN565S, and Senco’s SCN49. We also tested Max’s HN65, which until recently had been the only high-pressure siding gun sold in this country. Now Makita has its own highpressure coil siding nailer — the AN610H — but it arrived too late to be included here. We’ll cover it in a future review. OCTOBER 2010 l JLC l 1
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Figure 1. Coil guns are designed to hold a large load of fasteners; this wire-collated coil contains more than 300 21⁄ 2-inch ring-shank nails. Like most siding nails, they are collated at an angle of 15 degrees.
To test the guns, we used them on site for six months to install exterior trim and siding. Here’s what we learned.
About Coil Nails The most distinctive feature of a siding gun is the cylindrical magazine, which holds a coil containing 200 to 400 nails — far more than will fit in a stick nailer (see Figure 1). This speeds production
Figure 2. The 0-degree fasteners in this DuoFast gun are connected by a plastic collation strip, which comes out through the front of the tool as it is emptied. The carpenter can break the strip off if it gets in the way.
by allowing you to work longer without reloading. The nails are between 11⁄4 and 21⁄ 2 inches long, and are available with smooth, ring, or spiral shanks and in stainless steel, aluminum, or electrogalvanized or hotdipped galvanized steel. Wire or plastic. Nails can be collated with either wire or plastic. Each method has its pros and cons. Wire-collated nails are welded to two strips of wire. If the wire doesn’t break properly when the nail is driven, you can
Figure 3. Nails should be driven no deeper than flush to the surface of siding and trim. In the photos at left, the upper nail is fine but the lower one is overdriven, an error that can void the warranty of fiber-cement and engineered wood siding. Makita uses an indexed steel thumb-wheel (below left) to control its depth-of-drive mechanism. Plastic thumbwheels — like the one on the Max CN565S (below right) — are more typical.
end up with flagging, a small piece of wire sticking out from under the head. Flagging looks bad, and the exposed piece of wire can rust and cause staining. Don’t be fooled by wire that looks like copper — odds are it’s steel with a copper-colored coating. Plastic-collated siding nails are inserted into a flexible strip of plastic; flagging is unlikely because the strip remains intact when the nails are driven out of it. Plasticcollated coil nails also feed well, even if the coil has been accidentally dropped (wirecollated nails can be badly deformed by a fall). However, I find the empty plastic strip hanging out of the gun annoying, and the leftover plastic is one more thing to clean up (Figure 2). We use wire-collated fasteners. They have their disadvantages, but they’re less expensive than plastic and they dominate the market. Flagging hasn’t been a big problem for us — possibly because we avoid cheap imported fasteners. We may OCTOBER 2010 l JLC l 2
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have half a dozen instances of flagging per house. Collation angle. Most coil siding guns use a 15-degree collation angle. Duo-Fast uses 0-degree fasteners, which are only available with plastic collation. Duo-Fast is popular in Texas and the Southeast, but the nails may be hard to get in other parts of the country.
Depth-of-Drive Is Critical It’s important to drive siding nails flush, because the heads are usually visible (Figure 3, page 2). Underdriven fasteners are a nuisance — you have to finish driving them by hand — and overdriven nails not only look bad but can void the warranty for fiber-cement and engineered wood siding. (This is why siding guns
Figure 4. The author lined the guns up to illustrate their relative size. Viewed from the front (top), going left to right, they are the Senco, Makita, Grip-Rite, Duo-Fast, Max CN565S, Hitachi, Bostitch, and Max HN65. Viewed from the back, the order is reversed (above).
were among the first tools to be equipped with adjustable depth-of-drive.) Every gun we tested uses a thumb-wheel attached to a threaded rod to extend and retract the contact element and thus adjust depth-of-drive. Most of the guns have a small plastic thumb-wheel with a threaded metal insert inside; the Makita gun has a large metal thumb-wheel that is indexed to a series of stops. We found no advantage to the indexed stops, but we did like the larger wheel, because it makes it easier to work the mechanism free if the threads become clogged with grit. Using the guns in the field, we were able to drive nails flush in fiber-cement siding
Figure 5. Duo-Fast’s stout metal hook (above) is bolted onto the back of the tool. The Bostitch hook (right) is better because it can be rotated to either side of the handle.
and soffit panels, cedar shingles, wood trim boards, and engineered wood mate-
try to make subsequent adjustments — as
particularly consistent; once adjusted for
rials. It’s not as simple as setting the mech-
we change materials — with the thumb-
the material, it set nails the same regard-
anism once and never changing it again,
wheel alone. This method worked with
less of how fast or slow we cycled it.
because depth-of-drive is also affected by
all of the guns except the Grip-Rite and
the compressor, outdoor temperature, and
the Senco; with those two, we also had to
Weight and Size
the type of material being nailed.
reduce the air pressure when switching
The penalty you pay in weight for load-
from hard engineered siding to soft cedar
ing the tool with a large coil of fasteners
shingles.
is offset by increased productivity and
Our approach is to get as close as possible to flush by adjusting the compressor, then using the thumb-wheel to fine-tune
Consistency. It never happens in prac-
the fact that these nailers are lighter than
the depth. Once the compressor is set, we
tice, but ideally, every nail would be set to
the framing guns you may be used to. The
avoid changing the pressure setting and
an identical depth. The Grip-Rite gun was
guns tested for this article weigh 4.4 to OCTOBER 2010 l JLC l 3
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Tester’s Comments
Bostitch N66C
Duo-Fast DF225C
Grip-Rite GRTCS250
Hitachi NV65AH
bostitch.com The N66C is our favorite 100-psi coil siding nailer because it’s more compact than most other guns and has a large sturdy hook that can be switched from one side of the grip to the other without the use of tools.
duo-fastconstruction.com The DF225C is lighter than average and has a sturdy metal rafter hook. It takes 0-degree plastic collated nails, which are less widely distributed than the 15-degree fasteners used by other siding guns. We had occasional problems with the gun double-firing, and the magazine broke after a 6-foot fall — something I’d never had happen before with a coil nailer.
grip-rite.com The GRTCS250 has a small adjustable plastic belt hook that allows the user to hang it from a set of nail bags. The most notable quality of this tool is the consistency of its depth-of-drive — each nail is set exactly the same as the one that came before. Less impressive is its bulky size and above-average weight.
hitachipowertools.com The NV65AH is the lightest and most compact 100-psi siding nailer. It does a good job fastening trim and siding but feels slightly less powerful than the other guns in this test. We wish it had a rafter hook.
Makita AN611
Max CN565S
Max HN65
Senco SCN49
makitatools.com The AN611 has an oversize metal thumb-wheel that turns easily, even when fouled with grit. A sturdy metal hook bolts to the left or right of the grip but cannot be switched without a wrench. The gun works well but is larger and bulkier than most other siding nailers.
maxusacorp.com The CN565S has an anti-double-fire mechanism but no belt hook. Although it does a good job on siding and trim, it cycles more slowly than other nailers, so it would not be our first choice for nailing sheathing.
maxusacorp.com The HN65 is our favorite coil siding gun and the only high-pressure tool in this test. Designed to operate at 320 psi, it is lighter, slimmer, and more powerful than any 100-psi model. The only downsides to this tool are that it sells for a premium price and it requires the use of an expensive high-pressure compressor and hoses.
senco.com The SCN49 is a solid gun with sufficient power to do the job. It works well but is heavier and bulkier than other siding nailers.
OCTOBER 2010 l JLC l 4
Contents | Home | Search Siding Gun Specs Bostitch N66C
Duo-Fast DF225C
Height (inches)
12
12.6
Length (inches)
11.25
12.5
Grip-Rite GRTCS250
Hitachi NV65AH
Makita AN611
Max CN565S
Max (HP) HN65
Senco SCN49
12.6
11.8
12.5
12.6
11.9
12
10.7
10.5
13.1
10.75
10.6
12.25
*Weight (pounds)
5.0
4.8
5.3
4.8
5.1
4.9
4.4
5.4
Nail length (inches)
1 1 ⁄4 to 2 1 ⁄ 2
1 1 ⁄ 2 to 2 1 ⁄ 2
1 1 ⁄4 to 2 1 ⁄ 2
1 1 ⁄ 2 to 2 1 ⁄ 2
1 1 ⁄4 to 2 1 ⁄ 2
1 1 ⁄4 to 2 1 ⁄ 2
1 1 ⁄4 to 2 1 ⁄ 2
1 1 ⁄4 to 2 1 ⁄ 2
.080 to .100
.080 to .105
.090 to .099
.090 to .099
.080 to .099
.092 to .099
.083 to .131
.092 to .113
Collation type
wire weld or plastic inserted
plastic inserted
wire weld or plastic inserted
wire weld or plastic inserted
wire weld or plastic inserted
wire weld or plastic inserted
wire weld or plastic inserted
wire weld or plastic inserted
Collation angle
15
0
15
15
15
15
15
15
Nail diameter (inches)
Street price Place of manufacture
$299
$399
$319
$379
$369
$378
$575
$415
Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan
Japan
China
Japan
Japan
Taiwan
*By JLC; includes air fitting
5.4 pounds empty and about 11⁄ 2 pounds
Firing Mode
heavier when loaded. Max’s HN65 is the
All of the guns can be set to work in con-
Bostitch and the Makita, come with plas-
lightest, and the Senco and the Grip-Rite
tact-actuation (bump-fire) mode. The
tic storage cases. Max’s HN65 comes with
the heaviest.
Bostitch, Duo-Fast, Grip-Rite, and Hitachi
two different nose pieces, one for stan-
Some guns are more compact than
tools come with a contact-actuation trig-
dard-size siding nails and another for
others, a good attribute because it makes
ger installed. Switching to the sequential
fasteners up to .131 inch in diameter. The
maneuvering under the eaves and at
(single-shot) mode requires the installa-
Grip-Rite, Hitachi, Makita, and Senco
gable-end overhangs a lot easier. The
tion of a different trigger. Makita and Max
guns have transparent plastic strips in
Max HN65 and the Hitachi are the most
have equipped their tools with selectable
their magazines so you can tell at a glance
compact, followed by the Bostitch and the
triggers that allow users to quickly change
how many fasteners are left.
Duo-Fast. The rest of the guns are some-
between sequential and contact mode or
what bulkier (Figure 4, page 3).
lock the gun so it won’t fire. A two-posi-
Favorites
tion switch on the Senco trigger can be set
Choosing a favorite from this bunch was
to sequential or contact actuation.
easy. If I had to buy a siding gun today,
Power
Other features. Two of the guns, the
It’s hard to review nail guns without
Both Max guns have an anti-double-fire
it would be Max’s high-pressure model,
mentioning power. But in the case of sid-
mechanism. If you pull the trigger and
the HN65. It’s smaller, lighter, and more
ing nailers, there’s not a lot of difference
then bounce-fire the gun, it will shoot only
powerful than the other guns we tested.
among the 100-psi models — they’re all
once. The gun won’t cycle until you release
The price might give me pause, though;
sufficiently powerful to drive nails in
the trigger. This can be useful around win-
not only is the gun itself more expensive
exterior trim and siding. The Grip-Rite,
dows and other delicate materials.
than the other models, but you also have
the Makita, and the Senco feel slightly
Belt hook. A belt hook is handy because
more powerful than the others, but not
there’s not always a good place to set a gun
so much that it would affect my buying
down (Figure 5, page 3). The Grip-Rite
Second place goes to the Bostitch N66C
decision.
and the Bostitch have adjustable plastic
and third to the Hitachi NV65AH. These
The clear winner in terms of power is
belt hooks that can be switched to the left
two guns perform on par with the other
Max’s HN65 high-pressure nailer. Pow-
or right without the use of tools. I like this
100-psi tools but have the advantage of
ered by a 400-psi compressor and operat-
feature because our crew has both left-
being lighter and more compact. We pre-
ing at up to 320 psi, it clearly packs more
handed and right-handed carpenters. Of
fer the Bostitch because it — unlike the
punch than heavier 100-psi tools. While
the two hooks, I prefer Bostitch’s because
Hitachi — has a nice rafter hook.
testing the guns, we used this gun for wall
it’s bigger and beefier. The Makita and
sheathing as well. The other guns can
Duo-Fast guns have sturdy metal hooks,
Tim Uhler is lead framer for Pioneer Build-
also fasten sheathing, but the job goes
but they’re bolted on, so it’s inconvenient
ers in Port Orchard, Wash., and a JLC con-
faster with the high-pressure nailer.
to switch sides.
tributing editor.
to buy the costly high-pressure compressor and hoses.
OCTOBER 2010 l JLC l 5
