pneumatic tools?

[Jaymes Dec]

Hello Tool Lovers,

My maintenance team is trying to convince me I need a set of pneumatic tools for our makerspace. 

I had never considered it, but I am a bit intrigued. 

Does anyone here have any experience with a pneumatic tool set? Or other thoughts?

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Jaymes Dec
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[Lenore Horner]

We use then a lot with 9-11 grade in our 5-day (all day) Furniture Design/Build class and they are very helpful for getting complicated pieces where clamping would often be a challenge held together while glue joints dry.  I see their plus as being a quick route to permanent products.  

However, in my physics classes where students rarely take the end results of their builds home, I prefer to avoid glue and use screws instead so I can reclaim wood.  While air nails (brads) can be useful in small, thin objects by reducing the likelihood of splitting, they don't hold terribly well (true of all nails) and are too thin to have much brute strength.

Lenore Horner

Upper

Math/Science

7 Hills Cincinnati, OH

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[Jaymes Dec]

Lenore, the discussion started because I have some students working on larger wood furniture projects and I borrowed an electric nail gun from our maintenance department. It did not go well. The nails would only go about .5 inches deep and students would have to hammer the rest. But they are just thin brad nails and they kept bending. It sounds to me like the benefits of having a pneumatic nail gun for larger wood projects and also compressed air for cleaning dust etc. are worth the reasonable cost. 

Does anyone have an air compressor and/or pneumatic nail gun that they recommend?

[Rusty Hopewell]

In our 4th-8th grade wood projects we use our pneumatic nail gun all the time in conjunction with glue. It makes assembly faster when time for clamping is not available, or you just don't have that many clamps for all students. Other than that and maybe blowing out the machines with compressed air, I haven't found much other use for it.

Hope that helps,

Rusty

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[Melissa Anthony]

My high school robotics lab had many pneumatic tools and air lines hanging from the ceiling. It was useful for the metalwork we did.
We used a CNC mill which used compressed air in addition to coolant. We riveted parts together with a pneumatic rivet gun. We had what I thought was a hydraulic press, but looking back, I'm pretty sure it was a pneumatic press. We powder coated our own parts. Rarely, we even welded.

Our robot had pneumatic parts, so it was really helpful to be able to pressurize the pistons and fill the tires.

That's ~6 uses. But, we only needed to do any of it because we were competing in FIRST Robotics at the highest level.

Pneumatic tools have uses, and probably ones your maintenance team really appreciates. Maybe they can clarify what they think they will be used for. In general, I wouldn't choose a pneumatic die grinder over a basic dremel or anything like that for a general k-12 makerspace. 

Best

Melissa

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[Adam Singer]

The thing we use compressed air for the most in our space is driving a sandblasting cabinet (one can be gotten reasonably at Harbor Freight). We cut vinyl templates with a craft cutter and then sandblast things like cheap drinking glasses from Goodwill or small mirrors (as standalone or as decorative elements on wood boxes), or acrylic discs for custom LED pendants.

Sandblasting does require a compressor with a larger tank than for driving a nailgun.

Adam Singer (he/him)

Technology / Maker Educator

Maker Tech Lab

Davidson Middle School

Twitter: @DavidsonMakers

Instagram: DavidsonMakers

Pictures of our class projects on Flickr

Support our class projects on Donors Choose

On May 31, 2024, at 8:28 AM, 'Melissa Anthony' via K-12 Fab Labs and Makerspaces <k-12-f...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[Chris Murphy]

Which brand electric nail gun were you using, and on what kind of wood? Typically there is a power adjustment for the nail depth. My Ryobi 18v 18 ga brad nailer works well in pine.  I also have a compressor and pneumatic nail gun, and I find myself only ever reaching for the battery powered one. 

You will have to consider where the compressor is going to be. They can be very loud when the tank is refilling.

[Katy Garnier]

Hey Jaymes!

I've had a few of these Porter-Cable kits and they were well worth it. The compressor is loud when it is refilling, and might vibrate itself across the floor if not braced against something. The only other issue is they can get jammed if you put the wrong brad size in, which can be easy to do if you have multiple guns. The air compressor is also handy (with attachments) for inflating things or some kind of paint sprayer / air brush application.

An electric nail gun is intriguiging though ...