If you are an owner of a house (not necessarily), chances are you have got a brad nailer in your garage or storage compartment. Brad nailers come in very handy in a different home and DIY tasks whenever required. These nail guns offer great advantages for woodworking, building, and roofing applications. Like other nail guns, brad nailers are also designed considering speed, accuracy, and efficiency in mind. Air pressure is also among the important considerations when you go for a brad nailer.
How Much PSI for Brad Nailer is Required?
PSI stands for “Pound per Square Inch”. It is important to respect the PSI rating as the tool will not work properly if you don’t supply enough air volume. Too much air pressure can also damage your brad nailer. Brad nailers are ideal to use when inconspicuous fasteners are desired. They use 18 – 23 gauge fasteners that are up to 1-inch long.
Brad nailers are small in size so, they operate well on lower pressure of 60 PSI – 100 PSI. It is better to conduct some testing for determining the best air pressure for each project at hand.
Some Other Pressure Calculations
Apart from PSI, some other pressure units are also important for nail guns especially brad nailer. These are:
- CFM and SCFM
- Tank Volume
- Air Fittings
1. CFM and SCFM
CFM is the airflow volume that a compressor can supply. It stands for cubic feet per minute. Pneumatic brad nailers generally require a CFM of about 5 but that varies from device to device. When you have to use a brad nailer for longer periods, you need the one with more air volume and a high CFM. A constantly spinning sander might have 8 CFM requirement @ 90 PSI.
On the other hand, SCFm is a more accurate measurement method that rules out factors like air temperature and humidity. It stands for “Standard Cubic Feet per Minute”. The standard conditions used for SCFM calculation are 14.7 PSI, 68° F, and 36% relative humidity.
2. Tank Volume
Tank volume plays an important role when you have to use the brad nailer for long. It also depends on how many tools you are using at one time on your air compressor. Tank volume determines how long the air compressor can work before you need to re-pressurize the tank. Normally, tank sizes range from 1 – 80 gallons. If you have only 1 brad nailer in your storage, a maximum 5-gallon tank is more than enough.
The compressor emits 3.5 CFM @ 90 PSI that is enough to power most nail guns. The tank volume also depends on the number of tools you need to connect to the tank at once. If 3 nail guns are connected with a rating of 5 CFM @ 90 PSI, you need a minimum 15 CFM output from your air compressor.
3. Air Fittings
Air compressors have different options when it comes to air fittings. Fittings are needed to connect the air hose to the compressor and have two variations, i.e. FPT and MPT. FPT has internal threading while the MPT has external threading. The fitting type needed depends on the type of connection setup you have.