Big Air-Powered Nail Gun

Big Air-Powered Nail Gun FARM SHOP Tools 23-1-13 Friesen can drive three 6-in. spiraled nails in 17 seconds with the air-powered hammer he converted this fall when a neighbor asked him to help put up corral panels. He bought the 150 psi Jet jackhammer used at a local rental store for $250 and fitted it with a home-built retractable nail guide and socket. The guide consists of two lengths of pipe that telescope inside each other, thanks to a combination of spiral grooves Friesen cut with an angle grinder in the outer 3/4-in. dia. pipe and a roll pin he installed in the inner 1/2-in. dia. pipe. A 1 by 2-in. steel plate with a V cut in one side to hold the nail welds to the end of the telescoping assembly and extends about 4 in. out from the leading edge of the hammer. The assembly clamps to the hammer housing with muffler clamps. A special socket, built out of a spring-loaded pipe, bolts over the moil to hold nails. As the nail is driven, the plate on bottom of guide rotates clockwise out of the way of the nail head as the guide retracts.

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