How to nail Easycraft VJ panels using Ryobi nailer?

[brownz]

  

Hi workshop!

my hubby and I are putting up easycraft vj panelling in our bedroom. We went down the route of liquid nail and brad nailing boards to wall to secure during dry time.

our issue: we are using the standard bradnails that came with our ryobi nailer and the nails dont go through the panels. They seem to crumple and bow. 
we have tried nailing from behind the board which doesnt have the prime on it and the nail goes through no problem.

help! Please can someone help me figure out whether ive got the wrong bradnails or if theres something weird happening with our bradnailer.

thank you

[CSParnell]

Hey @brownz welcome to Workshop.

There are a couple of reasons your nails are doing this.

1. Not enough air pressure at the gun. ( check the required pressure for the nailer and make sure the compressor is pumping that constant pressure)

2. Nails are to thin or incorrect nail type for the panel. (Have a look at link below)

3. The nails are bouncing off something behind (doesn't look that way).

Alternatively you can find and mark out all the studs of existing wall and transfer them onto the sheets as you go to apply them then you can pre drill, countersink and screw the sheets then go back and builders bog over and sand.

https://www.easycraft.com.au/specification/installation/

Hope that helps some.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @brownz. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about brad nailers.

What type of wall do you have there? Do your nails fire perfectly into the wall without the panel present?

I suspect those crumbled nails have a straight section that has driven through the panel just fine. I often experience this issue when I'm driving brads through two materials of different hardness. I find the brad drives fine through the first softer material, but then when it hits the harder lower surface, I believe it is still travelling at a high velocity and then abruptly slows down, causing it to fold on itself. This also often happens to me when there is an airgap in between the two materials. In your case, you have a soft MDF panel, presumably soft plaster and then a harder stud frame.

I'd suggest trying everything @CSParnell has mentioned. Jump up to the next gauge brad thickness, turn the power up/down until your brad heads sink only a few millimetres below the panel's surface, and ensure the panel is pressed firmly against the wall when securing. 

I recently secured a whole heap of weatherboard cladding with brad nails. One in every three brads would crumple like this. I believe it was most likely due to driving through the soft cladding into the hardwood wall frame beneath and that there was a slight gap between them.

The most likely solution here is that something is halting the nail abruptly or it's too thin. Typically if the power is not high enough, the nail won't drive fully in, and you wouldn't experience this crumpling issue. Although you've picked up on the nail firing fine into the non-primed side of the board, I don't believe that the prime is necessarily the issue.

Please let me know how you go and if you have questions.

Mitchell