Posted by BillEpstein [ 12.75.71.176 ] on February 25, 2004 at 17:45:13:
Had the pleasure of spending time with a local professional, Boyd Creveling who graciously allowed me the run of his shop. When you want really high end entertainment centers or kitchen cabinets, Boyd is who you see in this area.
In his cutting room everything is hooked up to a big 2 stage dust collection system and there are 4 separate compressed air stations in the assembly area!
I chose a finish nailer and 1 1/2" 16 gauge nails to assemble some MDF boxes. Made a test shot and quickly gave that up. Split the wood right away! Stepped down to an 18 gauge pinner with 7/8 brads and that worked out.
I found I needed a couple of clamps to square things up and spied 4 of those Bessey K-body clamps in the corner. Now, I always thought of them as rich mans toys but was I ever wrong! The square heads meant instant equal pressure and the best clamp I've ever used!
Gotta have some.
Brads are so much quicker and easier than screws. And just teeny little holes to fill. You can buy a complete outfit from Porter Cable and others for $300. Compressor and pinner. A must have.
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