Is buying worth it?
 

So i am going to be needing to nail a lot to put up my beadboard ceiling. would it make sense to just buy a nail gun and rent the compressor? i can get one for cheap, like $30 or so.

also, would it be worth it to buy a compressor?

Buy yourself a small compressor and nail gun---they use very little air--if you rent--you will wish you bought---see if there is a compressor/guns combo set on sale---

Not going to find a nail gun worth buying for $30.00.
A combo set is most often the best value.

With a small air compressor....you can air up tires....air up the kids balls....air up the kiddy pool.....blow out the ports on a carb....blow off the work bench....

And use it to drive in nails.

Shop CL...there are some good deals to be had....either a guy bought it for a project and no longer needs it or he is upgrading....

My wife uses my compressor during the summer all most as much as I do.

I bought a compressor on sale at harbor freight for $30. Its a small crappy pancake compressor. I can only shoot a half dozen nails before i need to wait and have it recharge.
That be said it was a decent buy.
I will be buying a bigger used one soon, but for occasional homeowner use, the small size is ideal and worth the hassles of use.
I only rent tools if i cant justify storing it

lowes has this set

http://www.lowes.com/pd_331410-67702...sor&facetInfo=

or the porter cable's equivalent kit.. cheap and effective

I think that 6 gallon one in the Lowes link is about right for an air nailer. If you might have to carry it up stairs, you really want something portable.

Mine is a tiny, light-weight 1 gallon; the smallest one they sell at Home Depot. I wouldn't use it to run an air nailer, but it gets all my household chores done -- filling tires and blowing dust out of tools and electronics. Its only feature is that it is tiny and light-weight!

a 6 gallon works fine for finish nailers, it can run a framing gun or roofing gun provided it has a rating of cfms also.. it needs to recover quickly for bigger guns..

now using a compressor and blow tool to blow dust out of electronics is a bad idea.. the tank collects moisture which then goes through the line and out the blow tool. you should be using canned dry air sold in the computer section or electronics department

I was concerned about moisture in the compressed air also, but I tried it on a few things and found the small amount of water evaporates quickly. I've been cleaning computers and audio amplifiers with it for a couple of years and haven't had any trouble.

The "canned air" can cause condensation on parts, too, because it cools the parts. If you use canned air on a humid day you'll get condensation.

So I don't do it on humid days. :)

I considered buying a water separator for the compressed air, but after asking several colleagues, they all told me it was unnecessary. If I ever buy a larger shop compressor I would probably set it up with water and oil separation for cleaning, though.

thank you so much gents!

yea so doing the math, its $24 per day to rent a gun, and 24 for a compressor. so at $50 per day, say 2 days of work thats $100 easy. better to buy and keep!
this is what i am looking at:
http://www.amazon.com/Factory-Recond...zg_bs_552692_2

is this ok? 6 gallons. the Lowes one is nice but too expensive

sorry joe i should have said it retails for $130 the $30 price tag is because its a used one.

i never buy used tools, you dont know how it was used and whats been fixed on it. i have friends that have bought used tools only to spend 2x on repairs shortly after buying it

well its from amazon,and its factory restored by bostitch. so its certified to work i think.

theres less chance but even still a repaired tool never works the same as it was when it was new much like a car after its been in a accident