To beginners, nail guns may look intimidating and frankly confusing. Once you learn how a nail gun works and know some of its benefits, you will understand why professionals cannot go without them. Trust me on that!
Pneumatic nail guns work by using a combination of compressed air &pressure to make their piston move, which in turn moves the blades that propel a nail into different surfaces. These nail guns are the most common kind of nail guns you will come across, so we are focusing on them today.
To know the in-depth answer, keep on reading!
What Is a Pneumatic Nail Gun?
We already know that a nail gun drives nails inside a surface. The most popular kind of nail gun, pneumatic, uses compressed air to get the job done. Because they use compressed air, they are called pneumatic.
When looking at pneumatic guns, you might come across pneumatic framing guns and pneumatic brad nailers. The former is used to join two wooden pieces securely. And the latter uses a small head and is suitable for thinner frames than regular nail guns.
How Does a Nail Gun Work
Before we get to the mechanism, you must understand the parts that make up a pneumatic nail gun. Otherwise, you will be left confused when you read how it works.
The part that gives these guns the name ‘pneumatic’ is an air compressor. It is usually powered with electricity or gasoline. The purpose of this part is to supply the gun with compressed air.
You will find a long hose, called an air reservoir, attached to the air compressor. It supplies the air into the air compressor. This compressed air is then delivered to the holding space.
Perhaps the most critical part of a nail gun is the piston. The piston comes with a typical shaft, which is also called the driver. Its job is to contact the pneumatic gun’s head. Also, it places force on the surface you are nailing.
The piston and the shaft are kept securely inside the pneumatic gun’s cylindrical body. You will also find a valve just on top of the piston, whose job is to keep the air in place.
General Mechanism Idea
Let’s get an idea about the mechanism:
- Kicking Things off
Before you trigger the gun, the piston will have less air pressure on top of it, compared to below. Once the nail gun is triggered, the valve is initiated. It opens up, forcing air inside the cylinder body. This incoming air produces pressure on top of the piston, causing the piston to move downwards.
As the piston goes downwards due to the air pressure, the nail gets hammered.
- Releasing Trigger & Its Consequences
Then a releasing trigger is put into effect, which starts venting the air around the cylinder through tiny holes. These holes are located at the bottom half of the cylinder.
Since a lot of the air has been vented out, now the gun’s bottom part has higher pressure again. This pressure drives the piston back to its original position.
Once that happens, the valve opens up again to push out used air through a single port located on top of the nail gun. After that, the valve gets closed as a passage opens to the outside environment.
- Getting Back to Where We Started
By now, the position is such that no air can get into the plungers’ top part. Because of the latest change in pressure, the plunger starts going up. This makes a path for the compressed air to get to the head of the gun’s piston. As a driver pushes the blade & piston downwards, a nail gets propelled out of its chamber.
Now, the sliding piston uses ports to drive air back inside, and simultaneously the airflow to the head of the piston is blocked. Since no downward pressure remains, the piston returns to its original spot. The air located on top of the chamber gets released into the atmosphere.
The Job of a Nail Gun
A nail gun has two main jobs. The first is to concentrate enough force to drive a nail into your surface of choice effortlessly (could be wood, boards, walls, etc.)
And the second job of a nail gun is to simultaneously reload another nail after you are done driving one so that you can continue driving nails.
If you have been paying attention, you must have already noticed how a nail gun’s mechanism is such that a nail is driven into the surface first, and then another gets reloaded. That’s the gun doing its job.
Final Words
We hope we were as thorough as possible in describing to you how does a nail gun works. To clear out any confusion, we suggest that you look up some videos online. Once you get a visual reference, everything will be crystal clear.
And once you understand how it works, you should not be afraid to use these guns anymore. They are very convenient to use and save a lot of time. Try one out!
That’s all from us today. Bye!
