The Development History of The Nail Gun Industry

In order to meet the industrial demand for “a light and quick fastening tool that can be used underwater and connect steel plates”, some factories began to try to transform pistols into nail guns that can push nails into substrates. However, these products were not widely used due to the inability to effectively solve safety and reliability issues. Nevertheless, this attempt eventually led to the development of a method of direct fastening using the principle of gunpowder propulsion. Initially, the world first powder nail gun was developed by imitating the principle of a pistol and using gunpowder as a power source. It achieved great success after it was launched on the market and began to be widely used internationally.

With the continuous development and maturity of air compressor technology, pneumatic nail guns came into being. Pneumatic nail guns are connected to air compressors through air pipes and use the compressed air generated by the compressor to drive nails, significantly increasing the driving speed and reducing operating costs. Pneumatic nail guns have no power source themselves and require an external air compressor, which limits their use to fixed stations. They are mainly used for fastening wooden structures (such as wooden pallets, baffles, wooden packaging boxes, and wooden buildings).

In the 1990s, gas nailers began to appear on the market. These nailers use gas as a power source, provide higher kinetic energy, and are suitable for fastening various substrates, including wood, steel plates and concrete. Compared with powder actuated tool, gas nailers have greatly improved the safety and reliability of tools while maintaining lower operating costs and higher efficiency. They quickly became popular in many countries around the world and gradually replaced gunpowder nailers in various application fields.

With the rapid development of battery technology, the market have begun to launch battery-powered electric nail guns. Compared with pneumatic nail guns and powder nail guns, electric nail guns do not need to use nail cartridges or gas, which is safer and has lower operating costs. In addition, unlike pneumatic nail guns, electric nail guns do not require an external power source.

Due to the limitations of battery technology and mechanical design issues, the market is dominated by small electric nail guns. These tools have low drive energy and are only suitable for simple fastening connections in wood structures. They cannot be used for fastening connections in large wood structures, steel structures or concrete materials.