Here at ITS (along with everyone else it seems) are very excited about the new DeWalt nailer – The DCN690, so we sent a member of our sales team (Steve) over to DeWalt to spend the day getting to know it in a bit more detail… after which he’ll have to train our entire sales department.
Steve: “It was a great day, DeWalt really looked after us and I learnt plenty about nailers”. (And I can confirm that a DeWalt certificate is taking pride of place on Steve’s desk)
The DCN690 is the latest product to enter the increasingly popular DeWalt 4.0Ah 18v XR range and is a cordless 18v framing nailer that utilises DeWalt’s latest XR brushless technology, meaning that there’s far less wasted energy so your batteries last longer. So why did we all get so excited about this new nail gun I hear you ask? Because it’s a world’s first that’s why!
Never before has a framing nailer run off a normal 4.0ah 18v Li-ion battery and not require any gas! DeWalt really have pulled out all the stops with this one.
Because the DeWalt DCN690 uses mechanical rather than gas operation it offers far more consistent performance at temperatures ranging from -15 to 50 degrees Celsius, an experiment involving a fridge proved it! This also means that it requires much less maintenance and where with previous nailers you’d have to spend time and money keeping it in working order, the new DCN690 needs minimal cleaning/servicing which saves more time and increases productivity. This can’t be sniffed at because it also means that you just need to buy nails…. No need for that extra gas cell… Saving more money.
Now how is it sold? Well you have two options (to start with anyway). It’s sold either with 2 batteries, a charger and case, this is the “DCN690M2”, or if you’re already tooled up (yes the pun was intended) with plenty of 18v lithium-ion batteries then you could go for the “DCN690N” which is the body only version.
Steve: “I was blown away by the reliability of it, we tried so hard to create a nail jam and we all failed. I’ve never seen a more reliable tool. The DeWalt guys had to fire a nail directly onto another nail to cause any kind of issue. I’m impressed with the lack of smell as well… my Paslode stank every time I used it, but because the DCN690 uses just batteries it didn’t smell at all…”
This Nail Gun is also full of great little features that should in no way be over-looked; The profiled nose-piece offers extra grip which will provide a stable platform for you to accurately get those nails exactly where you want, and the ‘Tool-Free’ depth adjuster and stall release allows you to work faster and solve those little problems that slow everything down. The DCN690 also boasts a fault indicator light to communicate instantly why your nailer has stopped working, so you know straight away why it has failed to fire.
Steve: “The little extras like the intelligent light are brilliant because it gives you all the info you need if there is a problem, also you can programme it to display how many thousand nails have been fired – so you know if one of your lads has been a bit trigger happy”
If your site needs a H&S certificate then the training programme DeWalt runs is so easy to do, you have loads of options, like the day the Steve went on, or you can go online on a laptop or tablet and complete it within 15mins, and you get the certificate sent to you. Unlike other manufactures, once you’ve done the training then you are trained for life…. whereas some others ask you to refresh the course every year!!
Steve: “Overall I’ve been so impressed with what I’ve seen, I was sceptical but DeWalt really have upped their game, I was very impressed with not just this machine but the whole range”
So that’s the world’s first battery powered 90mm framing nailer; the DeWalt DCN690M2 and DCN690N, with brushless and gas-less technology. Let us know what you think below…