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| Description The R150FSA Narrow Crown Stapler is one of the new line of air tools recently introduced by Ridgid. It drives 3/8" to 1 1/2" long, 1/4" wide 18 gauge staples from a 100 count magazine. The kit includes the stapler, a box of staples, the best looking pair of safety glasses I have ever seen, and a carrying case. In Use I usually run my guns with about 80 psi of air. With that, I've never had a problem driving any staples with this gun. At 2.6 pounds the stapler is light and well balanced. The top of the grip is covered with a non-slip rubber coating. The magazine is a bottom feed unit which I believe is not the norm but it works well. It opens quite easily. |
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Trigger selector show rotated half-way between settings, Normally it sits flush with the assembly. |
Air guns have triggers
that fire in "bump", single fire, or both modes. This unit has a mode selectable
trigger mechanism. If you were using this tool for light construction, the bump fire mode
would probably be quite useful because it is fast. This could be used on more exacting
work as well but in this mode the risk of a double -fire is present which has at least the
potential for causing a blemish in the work. Double -firing happens when the gun bounces
after being fired and the user still has the trigger pressed when he forces the gun back
down. It's an operator problem, not a gun problem. I've yet to encounter a double fire
with this gun. First they don't happen too often and some guns may be more susceptible to
it than others. Mainly, I'm relating why one may want to use the single fire mode. |
| I am a firm
believer in using safety glasses when operating air guns. It doesn't happen all the time
but sometime a small piece of wood or piece of nail can come flying out posing a risk to
those in the vicinity. To that end, Ridgid includes a very good looking pair of safety
glasses with the tool and I highly recommend using them. The R150FSA is an oil-less design. This means it is a little easier to maintain,no need to put oil down the air inlet before using it. It also means it will not contaminate the work surface. The R150FSA also has a lockout feature that will prevent the gun from firing when the magazine is empty. |
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| I don't actually use a stapler for
installing crown moulding so I can't speak to that use. I feel it leaves an easily
observed blemish in the material if it is stain grade work. I do however use a stapler for
many other tasks. I think that a stapler is more useful than a brad nailer. A a
stapler does a far better job at pulling material together and in my experience it less
prone to side blow-out. I use a stapler quite a bit just in home improvement and
shop projects, these are typically projects that don't merit real joinery. Brad nailers
certainly have their place, if I could only have one however, it would be a
no-contest win for the stapler. In addition to the selectable mode trigger, the R150FSA has other notable features. One is the ball mounted air coupling. This relieves leverage caused by the air hose and makes the gun easier to handle. I always install a flex-coupling on my guns, it's really good to see this as a standard feature. |
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| Located at the back of the grip is a rotating exhaust port. This is nice because any blow-up caused by the exhaust is happening further away from the work area. Guns with the exhaust on the top may blow back at the operator when used at unusual angles or when near a vertical surface. Anther feature is the rotating belt hook. A stapler is quite often used during the project assembly stage and needs to be used, set down, then used again. The belt hook can keep the tool handy ready for use. | |
| Summary I consider a crown stapler to be one of the most valuable and useful tools in my shop. The R150FSA is extremely well made and jam-packed with features; I consider t to be the best stapler on the market. Ridgid has obviously decided to enter the air tool market with a top-notch design. Woodworking purists might balk at using any metal fasteners in a project but these tools are handy and are quite useful for a multitude of projects, i wouldn't want to be without one.
In the interest of full disclosure Ridgid provided this product to facilitate this review.
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