Gas or powder - choose your weapon

by Tom Hammel

New gas fuel cell tools are dueling with old-school powder-actuated tools for dominance on jobsites. But those old guns still have the firepower.

Like the Hatfields and McCoys, the feud between powder-actuated tools (PATs) and gas-powered tools for anchoring wood and steel to concrete has been going on for decades. Gas-powered fastening tools have been gaining market share on commercial jobsites, but that doesn’t mean PATs are hopelessly outgunned – for now anyway.

Old hands vs. young guns
As you might expect, PATs are older than gas-powered tools. In fact, they date to World War I. The first PATs were used for quick repairs on ship hulls, and this application continued throughout World War II.

After WWII, PATs were adapted for use in the construction industry, which is how Ramset came into being in 1948. Ramset’s ITW sister company, Paslode, pioneered fuel cell technology more than 20 years ago, so both are fundamentally “mature” technologies. However, fuel cell technology continues to advance.

So which is better? It depends on what you need most for your application: speed or brute power?

“The main reason for using a PAT is if you require more power than is available with a gas tool,” says Matt Davis, marketing manager, drywall division, ITW Ramset. “Those applications are typically going to be either where the specification requires a larger-diameter pin than a gas-powered tool can shoot — like a .145" diameter pin — or where deeper embedment is needed. For example, when you are shooting down sill plates through a 2x4 and you need 1.5" of embedment in the concrete, a gas tool will not be able to perform that application, so users will revert to powder.”

That power differential is significant. Craig Pratt, PAT product manager for Simpson Strong-Tie, notes that PATs have up to four times the power output when compared with gas technology.

“Another reason for using PATs is access in tight spaces where a gas tool may be tool bulky,” he adds. “However, when it comes to drywall track fastening, gas has the power to do the job, and is the most efficient.”

Bang! You’re deaf
Then there’s the bang. Without hearing protection, after shooting up to 700 pins in one hour, a PAT operator will be deaf for the rest of the day at the very least. If you’ve ever used a PAT in an enclosed building without earplugs or muffs, you know exactly what this is like. This fact alone gives gas tools an edge with users.

“There is much more physical discomfort associated with PATs,” notes Alan Price, senior staff engineer for Powers Fasteners. “Gas tools are much quieter than PATs and produce much less recoil. Both of these attributes significantly increase operator comfort. However, it is always important to stress safety and proper tool usage.”

Draw!
In the quick-draw contest between PATs and gas-powered tools, well, there isn’t one. A PAT with a 10-pin, 10-load magazine can keep up with a gas-powered tool for 10 shots, but that’s it, pardner. The average fuel cell lasts upwards of 1,000 shots, and a typical gas-powered tool magazine holds between 40 and 45 collated pins. That adds up to serious downtime while you reload a PAT. The wild-west equivalent would be to face off a Winchester against a Gatling gun.

Work speed and operator comfort continue to drive the market toward gas tools, Davis admits. Ramset serves primarily commercial drywall contractors and Davis estimates that 90 percent of them use gas for shooting track into concrete. Even so, he adds, “There are some applications that gas can’t do yet, and for those, powder is still the way to go.”

Badges? “We don’t need no...”
PATs also (and probably always will) require an operator’s license. Compliance is enforced by OSHA and penalties for noncompliance include fines and ejection of offending operators from the jobsite until they can show proof of PAT certification.

So how and where do you get a license? Well, where’s your computer, pardner? Powers Fasteners and ITW Ramset offer training and testing right on their Web sites.

“Our Web site has a tutorial with all the information you need to take the test, and you can take the test right online, too,” Davis explains. “It takes 10 to 15 minutes to go through the tutorial and take the test, which has a true/false section and a quiz on identifying loads by their color. If you pass, you can print off a temporary version of your license.”

Ramset also offers a 15-minute PAT training DVD that covers the operation and safe use of PATs.

Powers offers a qualified tool operator’s exam and an instructor exam on its home page. Instructors can also go online and get certified to train others in the use of PATs. Both online exams are also offered in Spanish.

Simpson Strong-Tie is in the process of offering online PAT training and certification. Simpson also offers face-to-face training at specific training facilities and workshops.

“The training can be completed in about an hour. The applicant then takes the operator’s exam and, upon passing, can be issued a license immediately,” Pratt says.

Above left: Powers Fasteners’ fully automatic PA351 is designed to work on light- and normal-weight concrete and grouted concrete masonry. Its .27 caliber loads can shoot pins from 5/8" to 1 5/8" long. The tool weighs 8 lbs. Item 167 Above right: Ramset’s T3ss gas tool can shoot concrete, hollow block, pan deck or steel. No licensing is required and it offers less recoil, which reduces operator fatigue. It’s 10 times faster than anchoring and five times faster than a PAT, say Ramset sources. Item 168

Showdown — powder
The quick-draw champion in Powers Fastener’s PAT lineup is the PA351, a fully automatic tool with a .27 caliber, 10-fastener magazine for high-volume applications.

“The PA351 is fully automatic,” Price explains. “It recycles itself automatically so you don’t have to manually cycle the piston every time you shoot.”

Thanks to this feature and a quick-change drop-in magazine, this tool can shoot up to 700 fasteners per hour. It allows one-handed operation and its power adjuster provides variable power choices for driving a variety of fasteners.

Ramset’s newest PAT gun for hire is the Rocket, which fires .27 caliber loads and pins up to 2" long. It features an automatic spring-return front end that eliminates the need for manually resetting the piston. It also boasts a power-adjust feature that allows the user to dial down the impact force up to 1.5 load levels. The tool weighs only 4.9 lbs.

The fully automatic PTP-27ASMAGR from Simpson Strong-Tie fires .27 caliber loads and drives pins from 1/2" to 1 5/8" in length. It features a built-in silencer to reduce noise and fires 10 pins before needing to be reloaded. Item 171

Simpson Strong-Tie’s newest PATs are the PTP-27ALMAGR and PTP-27ASMAGR, fully automatic .27 caliber strip-load tools with fast-loading magazines for “load-and-shoot” ease of operation. Both tools easily convert to single-shot operation for installing pre-assembled fasteners.

The PTP-27ALMAGR fires pins from 5/8" to 2 7/8" long and weighs 8 lbs., 5 oz. The PTP-27ASMAGR features a rotating fastener magazine and fires pins from 1/2" to 1 1/4" in length. It weighs 7 lbs., 4 oz. Both tools feature a cushioned grip, reduced recoil and a silencer for quieter operation.

Above left: Ramset’s Rocket semi-automatic PAT tool has a 2" pin capacity and a spring-return front end that resets the piston automatically, it offers low recoil and a power-adjust feature that allows the user to dial down 1 1/2 load levels. It shoots .27 caliber loads and pins. Item 169 Above right: The Powers C4 is the current heavy hitter of gas tools, generating 130 joules of force. This power allows it to drive 3/4" to 2 9/16" pins with shank diameters up to .145". Item 170

Showdown — gas
To illustrate the growing power of gas tools, Powers Fasteners’ TrakIt C4, introduced in August 2007, produces 130 joules of power, which makes it the most powerful gas tool available today. It holds 42 pins, fires 800 shots per fuel cell and can shoot 3/4" to 2 9/16" pins with shank diameters up to .145".

ITW Ramset’s T3ss gas tool delivers 100 joules of power to fasten electrical accessories and washered pins for the commercial electrician. Its fuel cell drives 1,000 pins.

A loaded question
As the technology evolves and gas-powered tools shoot their way into applications that were once PAT territory, will gas tools eventually make PATs obsolete?

How do Powers Fasteners and ITW Ramset, which produce both PAT and gas-powered tools, see the market shaking out?

“I don’t see a time when PATs will become totally obsolete,” Price observes. “PATs have been around for so long and are so widely accepted that I just don’t see that they can be totally displaced.

“Also, gas tool technology has only reached the ability to shoot .145" pins, but as the technology advances we will be getting into some of the larger diameter fastenings.”

“I think about that. It’s a difficult question to answer,” muses Ramset’s Davis. “For one thing, it will depend on how building specifications evolve relative to gas technology, and we can’t answer that today. Powder may never go away completely, but as gas technology evolves, it will continue to gain share on the jobsite.”

Published in the November/December 2007 issue of Contractor Tools and Supplies magazine.

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