Thanks for all the replies. I’m going to have to try the blue tape/CA glue. I don’t think a pin nailer would be the answer, even if I had the space within the Nomad enclosure to use it. In order to keep the thin wood flat would require quite a number of pins; I would have to be very careful to make sure no toolpath intersected where a pin is located. In addition, thin wood would be easily pierced all the way through, which would not give any hold at all. Lastly, my spoil board isn’t very thick and is attached to the metal table of the Nomad.
As to the polymer nails, will they work in a standard nailer (of the correct guage)? I have a Ryobi 18-guage brad nailer.
The way I would use a pin nailer w/ a Nomad is to secure into an MDF wasteboard outside the machine, then bolt that into place — it’s just 5 bolts.
The nice thing about the polymer nails is that they can be cut by carbide tooling w/o damage to the tooling, so one just has to be careful of the part.
I use carbide endmills all the time to cut metal. When the cutting is done with proper feeds and speeds and sufficient cooling, there is many cuts that can be made before the endmill gets dull. So, if anyone is running carbide endmills, a small brad nail shouldn’t be an issue if the move across them isn’t too fast. But run how you feel comfortable in running.
I just cut out a 24x36 picture frame from .365 HDPE. Used four strips of 2" blue tape with CA glue and it held great. First time using tape and CA glue for me, but worked fine. This project was large enough that I couldn’t use my standard clamps. Looks like I need to surface my waste board though, just barely skimmed the blue tape on one end but cut completely through it on the other end. lol
I’ve contacted a vendor of the composite brads and they are sending me some samples. In our email exchange, they warned the brads are unlikely to work on oak and may have trouble getting deep enough into MDF to much in the way of holding. I will try them with my Ryobi Airstrike brad nailer and have promised to let them know my results. I will also post the results here.
I received the polymer brads in the mail today and gave them a try in several types of wood.
Specifics: I used a Ryobi P321 Airstrike brad nailer; it had no problems with the polymer brads. For my test, I used some of the 3/4" sample provided to me. I also receive some samples of the 1" brads, but for 1/2" wood being held to 1/2" MDF, it’s probably too much and I did not test it at this time.
Wood: 1/2" poplar, 1/2" oak, and 1/3" bamboo (cutting board).
For poplar, the brads worked very sell holding to a piece of MDF. I ended up having to pry the test piece off the MDF with a screwdriver (I didn’t feel like going out to get my hammer) and the brads broke off without pulling out.
For oak, the brads just couldn’t make it through. Only one of about 5 poked out the other side but certainly not enough to hold it down. In addition, some of the brads shattered when being driven into the oak.
Similar to oak, the bamboo cutting board did not work well. None of the brads made it through.
For each of the tests, I did both the minimum force (the tool is adjustable) and mid-range force when driving the brads. This didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
Hopefully, this will help others.
The brad nailer is a battery-operated one (the 18 volt system) and it doesn’t have a PSI setting. You get a 180-degree indicator that allows you to select the minimum up to the maximum setting, but no equivalent of PSI.
I don’t have any thin MDF (1/2" is the thinnest). I did try to put the brads into the MDF alone and they did not make it all the way through, so I don’t think going from underneath will be an option. They MIGHT make through something like 1/4" MDF, but, again, I didn’t have any to try.