Fast Worker
Written: Nov 01 '04 (Updated Nov 02 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Makes trim work fast... very fast
Cons: Can be a little awkward to handle in corners
The Bottom Line: This was eye-opening for me. There now is no other way to install trim.
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| pvreditor's Full Review: Porter-Cable 2 1/2" Finish Nailer FN250A |
I've been building a bathroom in the basement of my home and finally got to the point where it was all done except the trim. I can now say that the trim is done, thanks in large part to a Porter-Cable FN250A nail gun.
I had not used a nail gun before but considered buying one to do this trim job. Of all the carpentry skills, I hate trim work the most. I can just never finish it without splitting a board, bending a nail, putting numerous dings in the trim and managing to get dirty smudges on the clean white surface. (Trim is always white in my house.)
Instead of buying a nail gun, I was able to borrow a Porter-Cable FN250A from my neighbor and proceeded to give it a try. The Porter-Cable FN250A is a professional-quality tool that works with 16-gauge nails from 3/4-inch to 2.5-inches long. The nails go in a long, easy-to-load magazine that runs parallel to the hand grip. The handgrip is covered with a grippy rubber finish and the entire tool is surprisingly lightweight.
The tool arrived in a blow-molded plastic case that neatly fits the FN250A. Other than an operator's manual and a small bottle of oil, I honestly do not know what else comes with the tool, as my neighbor had it ready to roll -- except for nails.
At one end of the handle is an air fitting and this tool requires 70 to 120 psi of air pressure to run properly. My neighbor had a speed fitting on his FN250A that mated perfectly with the fitting on my air hose, so feeding this with air was a piece of cake.
First I had to buy the right nails. A one-pound box of 2.5-inch 16-gauge Porter-Cable nails cost $8 at Home Depot! That seemed expensive to me but what choice is there?
There is an intuitive catch on the nail magazine that slides back to load nails and this thing holds something like 75 nails at a time. Once I fully loaded it, I never had to load it again during my entire trim project.
I really enjoyed using the Porter-Cable FN250A, even if I made a few rookie mistakes. I installed three distinctly different kinds of trim material, including all plastic (in the shower stall), composite material (baseboards) and cove moulding (wood) around the ceiling. The FN250A drove nails through all these with no problem, once I squarely positioned the nailer on the trim. If I tried to catch the plastic trim on its edge, the nail shot off to the side and embedded in the wall outside of the trim.
Using the FN250A is easy; simply press the tip down, which depresses a non-marring safety probe. Pulling the trigger makes a solid "POP" and the nail is driven. There was virtually no recoil, although the burst of air that shoots out for every nail can blow right in your face if you're not careful. The direction of this exit blast is adjustable.
The initial setting for depth was a little deep. The Porter-Cable FN250A has a convenient thumbscrew to adjust the depth and I quickly adjusted it to my satisfaction.
The FN250A was so lightweight and easy to use that I had no trouble using it either over my head or on my knees. It is much easier than fumbling for nails while trying to hold a trim board and a hammer simultaneously. Using this Porter-Cable nail gun eliminated the drift I get when I drive a trim nail in by hand, and the result was corners that had better miters and looked professional.
Having a hose attached to the nail gun did make it slightly awkward but it was actually better in this regard than I expected. The biggest problem handling this tool was that it was sometimes difficult to get it lined up just the way I wanted around cabinets or in corners. If you have ever installed trim manually, you know that this can also be a problem with the old-fashioned hammer-and-nail-set method.
I was very impressed at how quickly the work went with this tool. Using this power nailer, it took far more time to correctly cut the trim than it did to nail it up... which was literally seconds. I know this is not necessarily a feature of this Porter-Cable nailer but I'm completely sold on the concept of power nailers now. They really do make work go faster.
What the Porter-Cable brought to the party was its non-fussy personality. It was easy to unload old nails that were left in the gun, easy to load new nails, easy to maneuver and -- once I figured out the aim -- easy to drive nails exactly where I wanted them. Using this tool made trim work a two-handed job, instead of the three-handed job it is the old-fashioned way. There are probably a few nailers that will do exactly what the Porter-Cable FN250A does, but this is the one I used and it impressed me.
I recommend this tool if you plan to do any reasonably large trim project, or if you need a solid, easy-to-use nail gun for craft projects or even light-production tasks. I enjoyed the time I spent with the Porter-Cable FN250A. Best of all was that my work got done without the usual assortment of dings, smudges, split boards and poor corners that plagued my other trim projects. I just didn't have those problems when I used this nail gun.
I spoke to my neighbor last night and he asked when I would be returning his nail gun. Frankly, I liked it so much that I was dragging out its return, hoping another project would come up that needed its capabilities. Alas... it goes back tonight.
Recommended:
Yes
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