120 psi close call

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Willie14228

Willie14228

Member
Jul 16, 2015
1,648
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TX, United States
Today at work I was almost shot by a nail gun.
We were putting a deck up when a nail gun safety catch didn't engage and a fellow worker who was at least 15 feet away bumped the trigger climbing a ladder. A nail wizzed by me and buried itself halfway into a pine 2x4 next to me.
After getting my heart rate back under control I began to think about the amount of power it would take to eject a nail at such force.
It amazed me that the max pressure of the compressor was 120 psi.
Can anyone tell me what is the chamber pressure of most airguns at each shot?
 
"Willie14228"Today at work I was almost shot by a nail gun.
We were putting a deck up when a nail gun safety catch didn't engage and a fellow worker who was at least 15 feet away bumped the trigger climbing a ladder. A nail wizzed by me and buried itself halfway into a pine 2x4 next to me.
After getting my heart rate back under control I began to think about the amount of power it would take to eject a nail at such force.
It amazed me that the max pressure of the compressor was 120 psi.
Can anyone tell me what is the chamber pressure of most airguns at each shot?
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If you are talking about the pressure inside the "valve", then with a regulated gun (as long as storage tank is over regulator pressure) the pressure is whatever the regulator is set at. (My regulated guns are set anywhere between 1000 and 2100psi) With an un-regulated gun it is whatever is in the cylinder/bottle. If charged to 3K then it is 3K.
 
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My understanding is that it is a lot to do with the volume of air in terms of what causes the power vs the pressure the air is stored at. 

A higher pressure cylinder just stores a greater volume of air so you get more shots but, with a pneumatic nail gun that runs off a compressor, it can probably build up a good volume of air at 150psi. Still, the trajectory probably wouldn't be that impressive if you tried to fire the nail 50 yards though. 

I remember reading on another forum a while ago about someone who was getting more than 100 or 200 fpe from his custom Co2 gun. Each shot was using a large volume of co2 at 800psi. If he can achieve such enormous power from co2 at 800psi, firing a nail into some wood at close range doesn't sound like much of a stretch. 

Even in an unregulated gun, if it is well tuned, the power doesn't change much from 3000 psi down to 1500 psi (or even lower). Similarly, shots fired from your average 9mm with a 3000 psi fill put out twice the energy of your average 25 cal starting from a 3000 psi fill. Why? Because the valve is set up to release a larger volume of air when the hammer strikes 




 
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PSI. Pounds per square inch. Take the surface area of the base of a pellet.....its a mere fraction of a square inch. The piston in a nail gun is HUGE......has a very large surface area......and its all transferred down to a small point on the nail head. Thats how a huge framing nail from a nailgun can penetrate all the way into oak from just 120 psi or so. I saw my cousin break a large clay pot on someones balcony with a framing nail gun.....from about 40 yards away. He said.....hey watch this. Then we were like oh sh-t. When I was doing framing/carpentry work fresh outta high school. That pot was large enough to have a small 10 foot tree in it. Framing guns are scary in the wrong hands....especially if the safety is disabled.....which alot of people do. Glad you werent hurt man.
 
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"Marksman3006"PSI. Pounds per square inch. Take the surface area of the base of a pellet.....its a mere fraction of a square inch. The piston in a nail gun is HUGE......has a very large surface area......and its all transferred down to a small point on the nail head. Thats how a huge framing nail from a nailgun can penetrate all the way into oak from just 120 psi or so. I saw my cousin break a large clay pot on someones balcony with a framing nail gun.....from about 40 yards away. He said.....hey watch this. Then we were like oh sh-t. When I was doing framing/carpentry work fresh outta high school. That pot was large enough to have a small 10 foot tree in it. Framing guns are scary in the wrong hands....especially if the safety is disabled.....which alot of people do. Glad you werent hurt man.
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The air powered ones aren't even the most dangerous. They have those nail guns that use gunpowder. It's hard to think of a power tool with greater potential for accidents than a nail gun.
 
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zebra
"Marksman3006"PSI. Pounds per square inch. Take the surface area of the base of a pellet.....its a mere fraction of a square inch. The piston in a nail gun is HUGE......has a very large surface area......and its all transferred down to a small point on the nail head. Thats how a huge framing nail from a nailgun can penetrate all the way into oak from just 120 psi or so. I saw my cousin break a large clay pot on someones balcony with a framing nail gun.....from about 40 yards away. He said.....hey watch this. Then we were like oh sh-t. When I was doing framing/carpentry work fresh outta high school. That pot was large enough to have a small 10 foot tree in it. Framing guns are scary in the wrong hands....especially if the safety is disabled.....which alot of people do. Glad you werent hurt man.
Click to expand...
The air powered ones aren't even the most dangerous. They have those nail guns that use gunpowder. It's hard to think of a power tool with greater potential for accidents than a nail gun.
Click to expand...


I forgot all about that. Right as I was getting out of carpentry....about 2001....I started seeing framing guns that took a small butane tank or something. I cant remember the gas.....but it was a small tank in the handle of the gun. Those things were very powerful.....I do recall that.
 
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Yes we used them when I would load pipe out in the boonies no electricity so the guns used propane. I guess another difference is the fact that a nail gun doesn't actually use the air to propel the nail but instead it shoots a ram into the nail.
Still it's an impressive demonstration of the power of air and of course why safety devices should be left alone. I found out today that the guy had clipped the spring going to the safety plate so it wouldn't be so hard to pop nails.
I then compared his intelligence with some not very flattering animals and told him that if that gun ever misfired again I would test it by nailing is ass to the roof.
 
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