PSA: I hit 50,000 screws in my nail gun last week and here's what happened

I've been building a custom fence around my property in the North Valley and after 3 months of work, I went through exactly 50,000 screws. My cordless nail gun started jamming every 10th shot and I realized I'd never cleaned the dust out of the magazine. Has anyone else hit a weird milestone like this that made you change how you maintain your tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

davis.diana6d ago

Actually, that's a cordless screw gun not a nail gun (they're completely different tools, nail guns use collated nails with a strip or coil). I hit around 30,000 screws on a deck project last year and yeah, the dust buildup in the magazine is a real problem especially with pressure treated wood. I finally figured out that blowing out the magazine with compressed air every 5000 screws or so keeps the feeding much smoother.

nora_park726d ago

Yeah, that "dust buildup in the magazine" bit really hit home for me. I've been using a cordless screw gun for a few years now, mostly on decks and fences, and I never realized how much of a difference blowing it out could make. I mean, I just figured it was normal when it started jamming every few hundred screws, you know? But after reading your post, I tried the compressed air trick last weekend, and wow, it was like night and day. The feeding was so smooth, and I didn't have to stop every five minutes to unjam a screw. Pressure treated wood is the worst for that fine dust, so thanks for the tip.