 |
Product: Bostitch U/MFN200 Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
Compare Prices on Bostitch U/MFN200
I am a do-it-yourselfer who decided to put hardwood flooring in the living and dining rooms. Point one, I way underestimated how long it would take. I rented an air compressor and air assisted nailer from Home Depot for a total of $95 for one day and was disappointed in how little progress I made (it goes slower than you think).
For the price of renting a nailer for one day this side nailer is yours to keep forever, which means take as long as you want and don’t worry about getting back to the rental store on time. Generally speaking a factory reconditioned unit is given a good quality check before it is released and I had only one problem with this tool and it was one I caused myself by double nailing in the same hole that caused a nail to jam in the chute. The plate and spring mechanism was easily taken apart, jam cleared and back to work. The jamming was my fault. The gun works smoothly, it comes with a hammer. There was one small nick on the one I received indicating it was previously used but at the price comparison of recon vs. new that was not an issue. Even if you are not sure what you are going to do with a side nailer in your tool collection after you have finished the flooring job, the price of buying factory recon vs. rental makes it worth while.
This item looked and performed like a brand new one. We had no problems using it. The metal side of the mallet is angled so that it is easy to tap the board into place without damaging the face. Hitting the plunger both drives a cleat and snugs the board up to the previous row. Even slightly curved boards straighten up without prying if you use a firm swing.
We installed about 1100 square foot of 3/4″ cypress tongue and groove on our floor. This item was indispensable. We used cleats that we picked up at lowes for about $15 a box. We used 3 1/2 boxes of FLN200 qty 1000, placing a cleat at least every 8″.
If you pull out the cleat feeder bar at the back of the tool, you an use the tool on the second row from the starting wall. (5.25 inch boards) The cleats are heavy enough to feed themselves. Because of the space needed to swing the mallet, I had to use a regular hammer and nails starting at the 2nd to last row.
The tool is symmetrical, so it works just as easily for lefties.
It was a complete waste of money for me. I couldn’t drive a single nail fully using this nailer. No matter how hard I hit with the mallet, it never sets the nail in completely.
After trying it for couple of hours, decided to give up. I ended up renting a pneumatic nailer and compressor from the local rental place and that worked like a charm and was able to finish my floor installation very quickly.
I thought I was getting a bargain, but ended up with a $100 tool which doesn’t work. I don’t think I can return it, since it is past 30 days period.
Update (10/10): Customer service contacted me and let return the tool for full refund(even though it is past 30 days). Very impressed with the customer service quality.