Kev Young of Chichester Electricians is in for some target practice this month as he tries out the latest DeWalt Brushless Concrete Nailing tool.
As a self-confessed DeWalt fanboy I was really pleased to get the opportunity to road test the DCN890 Brushless Concrete Nailer, which has recently been added to the company’s range.
The first thing to say is that I’ve really been putting the DCN890 through its paces on a large property renovation which has seen numerous bits added to it over the years and now contains a wide variety of substrates, from soft blocks through to incredibly strong mortar and steels
Due to the size of the DCN890 it won’t fit in any of the TStak range of cases so has its own unique case, which is a shame as all of my other kit stacks nicely together. The kit consists of the DCN890, two XR Li-Ion 5.0Ah batteries, charger and a number of different nose pieces, including a magnetic one. The company also sent me a veritable assortment of nails, cable bows, conduit clips, cable tie mounts and eye clips which have all proved very useful
It’s marginally longer and slightly deeper than my (now retired) gas powered nail gun, but more or less the same weight. The power can be adjusted in three stages depending on what you’re firing into and, much like an impact gun, you start off on the lowest setting and work your way up to maximum power to minimise damage to the surrounding material. The only thing it did struggle with was one of the steels which had a 25mm flange but this was to be expected. It’s always good to test these things out however.
There are two modes of operation: sequential or RapidCycle, with the latter draining the battery quicker. Speaking of which, the amount of use from one battery is fantastic, around 600 shots per charge dependent on the length of nail (13-57mm) and substrate, and the brushless motor helps with efficiency in this respect
In operation it’s slightly different to your standard gas powered gun as there’s a flywheel and ratchet mechanism inside, so you get a high speed whirring as the flywheel gets up to speed, followed by a ‘rattle’ as the driver blade resets itself after the shot is fired; the rattle is akin to the noise a rollercoaster makes as it’s being pulled to the top of the track.
The DeWalt Technical Rep, Ian Harris, very kindly visited me on-site and went through the technical side of the DCN890, which was very useful and helped me to understand the product even further.
In terms of maintenance there isn’t any really apart from wiping down or blowing dust out of the unit ,which saves you time on regular cleaning and lubrication. Another plus side is that it’s purely battery powered; no gas! This again saves money, means you’re able to carry on working and don’t have to wander around site with a can of gas in your pocket when the weather turns cold!
There’s a tool-free mechanism for releasing any jams (I’ve had one so far) or if the unit stalls, two LED lights on the front to light up the area around the nose piece, a removable magazine which is also very easy to reload, and a belt/rafter hanging clip
All in all a very impressive beast and well worth the investment!
For more information about the DeWalt DCN890 Brushless Concrete Nailer visit: www.dewalt.co.uk
