NM cable stapler

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John120/240

Senior Member
Location
Olathe, Kansas
Every tool has its place. I just can't see me using one. Another tool to carry around. You already need your hammer to nail up boxes so that's what I would use for staples
 

Canton

Senior Member
Location
Virginia
Occupation
Electrician
Save your money....I've used others like it. It seems I always go back to regular hammer and staples.
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
I bought one of the manual staple guys and one of my guys likes it. The staples are expensive but it can really reduce your labor if you do a lot of roping especially in attics and crawls. Of course you have to be careful not to miss and get the wire
 

George Stolz

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
Occupation
Service Manager
It has always amazed me that in this day and age, with all of our technology, that we still use old fashion hammer in staples.

How about this: http://www.quikstrap.com/quikstrap-stapler-kit/

Any body familiar with it? Seems like a good idea. I'm not aware of any others out there, but you would think that Greenlee and others would be all over this.

$370:
QuikStrap__56335.1335358391.1280.1280.png


$10:
hammer.jpg


...and I never forget to plug it in overnight. :)
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
I have this one and really like it.
41LGyQ-1BSL.jpg


Before that, I don't remember the brand, but I had one that was made of metal and plated. It sucked. About every 6th shot it would jam and it would take several minutes to pry out the jammed staple.

I have made 1000s of shots with the GB and only have had a couple jams which only took a second or two to clear. They cost about 30 bucks.
 

renosteinke

Senior Member
Location
NE Arkansas
I have both of the manual staplers available, the PowerFast and the GB.

The PowerFast was OK, but I had quite a few misfires or jams. For a while it was a challenge finding staples for it, but Home Depot now has them in their system.

With my staple supply uncertain, I got the GB. It works much better.

Why not just use a hammer? Well, it seems I'm always either stapling overhead (crawl space) or in tight places where there's no room to swing a hammer (attics, near the eaves).
 

texie

Senior Member
Location
Fort Collins, Colorado
Occupation
Electrician, Contractor, Inspector
Gee, I'm a little surprised at everyone's negative view on this. While I have not done an NM job lately I would be one to try something like this. I'm always one to try new things that may save labor and/or do a better job.
A couple of things interested me on this tool. The staple is kind of impressive as it is insulated (there is a close up of it on the site) and the combination of battery power with a capacitor to fire the tool is kind of interesting.
Well, to each their own....I'll just slink back into my cage and maybe try it one day in secrete.
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
Gee, I'm a little surprised at everyone's negative view on this. While I have not done an NM job lately I would be one to try something like this. I'm always one to try new things that may save labor and/or do a better job.
A couple of things interested me on this tool. The staple is kind of impressive as it is insulated (there is a close up of it on the site) and the combination of battery power with a capacitor to fire the tool is kind of interesting.
Well, to each their own....I'll just slink back into my cage and maybe try it one day in secrete.

Hey, I think it's a great tool. It's just that I really would have a hard time justifying spending the same amount for one as I did for my Chicago Bender.

If they were 75 bucks or less, I would buy one in a heartbeat.
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
I have this one and really like it.
41LGyQ-1BSL.jpg


Before that, I don't remember the brand, but I had one that was made of metal and plated. It sucked. About every 6th shot it would jam and it would take several minutes to pry out the jammed staple.

I have made 1000s of shots with the GB and only have had a couple jams which only took a second or two to clear. They cost about 30 bucks.


That is what we own also. Lowes
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
I have both of the manual staplers available, the PowerFast and the GB.

The PowerFast was OK, but I had quite a few misfires or jams. For a while it was a challenge finding staples for it, but Home Depot now has them in their system.

With my staple supply uncertain, I got the GB. It works much better.

Why not just use a hammer? Well, it seems I'm always either stapling overhead (crawl space) or in tight places where there's no room to swing a hammer (attics, near the eaves).

Don't you wish there was a way to 'cock' the GB so you could fire it with a trigger pull, instead of having to squeeze the lever all the way down? There are some positions where your hand is at such an angle it's REALLY hard to do that. It would be nice if you could hold the stapler comfortably, squeeze the lever, then put it into place and fire it.
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
Don't you wish there was a way to 'cock' the GB so you could fire it with a trigger pull, instead of having to squeeze the lever all the way down? There are some positions where your hand is at such an angle it's REALLY hard to do that. It would be nice if you could hold the stapler comfortably, squeeze the lever, then put it into place and fire it.

I agree I tried using it in an odd spot and I couldn't squeeze it but my hand strength is not what it used to be
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
I agree I tried using it in an odd spot and I couldn't squeeze it but my hand strength is not what it used to be

Even if you were as strong as ever, certain angles will inhibit your ability to squeeze. One of the fundamentals of wrist locks and arm bars, techniques used in karate and the like, relies on the fact that strength diminishes when our range of motion is pushed to it's extreme.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
It has always amazed me that in this day and age, with all of our technology, that we still use old fashion hammer in staples.

How about this: http://www.quikstrap.com/quikstrap-stapler-kit/

Any body familiar with it? Seems like a good idea. I'm not aware of any others out there, but you would think that Greenlee and others would be all over this.

the kiss of death is it's ANOTHER battery system, and the batteries don't fit anything else.

i have one of the arrow type spring staplers that i use, mainly 'cause my wholesale house
always has the staples. it does an ok job, doesn't jam on me, and doesn't need a battery,
or the loss of $400 to own it.

if i did a lot of romex, i'd be looking at it, but i'd probably pass 'cause its another battery... :rant:

almost all of my stuff is 12 volt milwualkee. the 18 volt stuff (drill and jigsaw) is festool.
 

junkhound

Senior Member
Location
Renton, WA
Occupation
EE, power electronics specialty
I use this one, T75.. Probably easier to squeeze if I were 60 years younger, but can still driv'em home. Got mine for $12 used on ebay, so apparently not everyone like them.

0060611_400..jpg
 
I will say that I do own the (I think Powerfast) manually squeezed low voltage cable stapler for about 10 or 12 years now.

I have stapled spools of coaxial, bell wire, TT wire, cat5, etc. It has never jammed on me or stapled through a wire. (Knocking on wood).

Staples come either with a round spot or a flat spot. It has definitely saved a lot of labor time. Probably cost me $20-$30.
 

texie

Senior Member
Location
Fort Collins, Colorado
Occupation
Electrician, Contractor, Inspector
the kiss of death is it's ANOTHER battery system, and the batteries don't fit anything else.

i have one of the arrow type spring staplers that i use, mainly 'cause my wholesale house
always has the staples. it does an ok job, doesn't jam on me, and doesn't need a battery,
or the loss of $400 to own it.

if i did a lot of romex, i'd be looking at it, but i'd probably pass 'cause its another battery... :rant:

almost all of my stuff is 12 volt milwualkee. the 18 volt stuff (drill and jigsaw) is festool.

Ah, yes, the battery. I had the same thought about a proprietary battery as that also is a big negative for me.

Uponor/Wirsbo got it right when they developed a battery powered Pex expander for their products. They teamed up with Milwaukee and came up with a tool (made by Milwaukee) that uses the standard M12 battery system. Since I have a Wirsbo Pex system in my house I bought the bare tool for some remodeling of my own house (even though I'm not a plumber) as I already have M12 stuff. I would not have bought it if it had a proprietary battery.

I can tell you from experience that this Milwaukee Pex tool is a vast improvement over the manual Pex tool.....kind of like I was hoping the fancy dancy battery powered NM staple gun would be over a stone and chisel for stapling NM cable:D.
 
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