A nail gun is something you’d want to invest in if you’re a fan of doing a bit of DIY every now and again. You can’t live your whole life using a noisy hammer to put nails in a wall, especially if you’re working on a rather large project with just a handful of helping hands. Once you purchase a nail gun; however, you also need to learn how to properly maintain and reload it. If you have yet to learn how to load a new nail clip into your nail gun, this handy guide we’ve prepared will show you the absolute fastest and safest way to do so.
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Some Safety Reminders
Before anything else though, make sure that you practice the following safety precautions. You wouldn’t want to have something as simple as replacing the clip of your nail gun be the cause of a serious injury, right? As with most things in life, it’s better to be safe than sorry. For starters, protect your eyes with a pair of safety goggles every time you handle your nail gun. This prevents any stray nails from causing damage to the area around the eyes. You can get goggles and other personal protective equipment from hardware and home improvement stores.
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Another thing you need to ensure is that you unplug your power tool from the socket before you reload it with a new clip of nails. Switching off your nail gun is a good idea as well. Doing so helps you avoid instances of flyaway nails, which could injure you as well as those around you. Switching off and unplugging your nail gun also greatly reduces the chances of electrocution, which could hurt just as much as getting accidentally pierced with a sharp nail. If you’re using a cordless nail gun, make sure you remove the battery first before reloading it.
Reading the instruction manual that comes with your nail gun also teaches you specifics about that particular model that may not be discussed in this article. Keep your manuals in an easy-to-reach place where they won’t be damaged. Make copies of the important sections of the manual if you can as well. In the unfortunate event that you do lose your device’s instruction manual, there’s a good chance that one can be found online. They’re usually free to download on the manufacturer’s official website. However, this may not be the case for some older models.
Reloading a Nail Gun
Once you’ve gotten those all-important safety checks out of the way, it’s time to load your device with a new nail clip. The best position to do so is with the nail gun pointed downwards and away from you. It would also be advisable to point it toward a hard surface that you don’t really mind getting damaged if your nail gun misfires. This could be a large rock, an old piece of wood, or something else entirely. If you position your tool this way, and if ever it accidentally discharges a nail, you’ll be well out of harm’s way. No trips to the emergency room needed.
The next thing you need to do is to get the right kind of clip for your nail gun. You can easily purchase these nail clips from tool shops or home supply stores, but taking the time to get the right one is very important. Some models have clips that run perpendicular to the body of the device, while others have clips that run diagonally. Each of these clips contains around 10 to 20 nails. Check for which type your nail gun uses. If you can’t figure out what kind of clip your nail gun uses just by looking at it, you can refer to the tool’s manual.
Remove the pusher from your nail gun’s sleeve or magazine and take a look inside. The pusher is the part of the device that ensures the nail clip don’t fall out of place. This is also an important part of the mechanism that delivers the next nail on the clip to the tool’s nozzle. Some nail guns require you to push a button in order to release the pusher, while some only need a bit of a strong pull to get it out. In some cases, you’ll need to connect your nail gun to an air compressor first to access the magazine. For most models that require you to do this, you’ll need to connect the tip of the compressor to the coupler located on the body of the power tool.
If there are any nails left inside the nail gun from your last clip, remove them carefully using your fingers before putting in a new clip. It would be advisable to wear safety gloves when doing this. A loose nail could cause your new clip to jam inside the nail gun, which could make the clip malfunction and difficult to remove. Once you’ve removed the pusher as well as any leftover nails from your nail gun, the next step is to take your new nail clip and place it parallel to the sleeve of the nail gun. Align the clip to the sleeve as properly as you can.
Make sure that the heads of the nails are pointed towards the barrel of the device and are not upside down. Putting them in facing the wrong the direction could cause them to get stuck. Once you’ve done that, slide the nail clip into the notch found at the bottom of the device’s sleeve. Keeping your nail gun in an inverted position allows the nails to fall into place with the help of gravity. Put the pusher back so that your new strip of nails will be locked into place. You’ll hear a clicking sound if you’ve properly placed the new nail clip into the sleeve.
Being confident with using a nail gun can help you conquer even the most daunting of DIY tasks. Just follow the tips listed in this helpful guide and you’ll be able to replace the clip in your nail gun safely and efficiently every time. You no longer have to be afraid of reloading your nail gun.
Sources:
- How to Load Nails in a Nail Gun, eHow
- How to Load a Nail Gun, Do It Yourself
