You’d be hard pressed to find a tool more fine-tuned for Aussie carpenters than the Paslode PPN-Master™.
It’s agile, efficient, and most importantly, allows carpenters to easily install metal connectors within installation guidelines. The PPN-Master isn’t a concept dreamt up overnight, even if it’s a chippy’s dream come true.
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With demand for skilled labour and residential housing on the rise, carpenters more than ever need to ensure they are adhering to manufacturers installation instructions, on all products especially structural products that need signing off. Paslode had this in mind when developing its latest tool: the PPN-Master. This tool is unique to Australia, and developed with special features that make it invaluable for local carpenters. But developing a tool like this was no straightforward process, The Tradie spoke to a few of the Paslode team who worked closely with carpenters to ensure the PPN-Master was the right tool for the job.
Pinpoint process
Paslode Innovation and New Product Development Manager Pete Johnston said the overall process for working on the PPN-Master began several years ago.
Across that time, Pete’s team worked with a number of carpentry teams across Australia and New Zealand. The process started by observing the frustration builders were facing in correctly installing joist hangers, triple and multi grips.
“Paslode has tools in other regions that do this kind of job, but they’re much larger,” Pete said.
“We could have just picked up one of those and brought it to Australia, but looking at the type of construction being done here, and the needs of the user, we needed to develop a specific tool – one that had specific requirements around size to be able to get into tight joist spacings.”
Chippies being such a crucial part of the design process meant Pete’s team were regularly checking up on their feedback. Pete said the team went through multiple iterations of the PPN-Master prototype.
“Depending on how much some users were using it, we might have kept the tool with them for the entire period,” he said. “This allowed us to get the most varied feedback we could.”
You could say the PPN-Master was put through its paces well before it hit the shelves, with hundreds of thousands of nails shot between all the development sites.
Size matters not
When it came to figuring out what carpenters wanted, a few factors stuck out the most. Size and manoeuvrability were big ones. Pete said the PPN-Master would appeal to carpenters who care about quality, efficiency, understand the regulations and know the importance of using the right tool for the job. Those jobs are filled with plenty of tight spaces needing brackets, joists or connectors nailed in. A larger nailer in those instances simply isn’t gonna cut it.
Measuring up at 310x345x138mm (L,W,H), and only weighing about 3kg, the PPN-Master is built to handle with maximum comfort. Whether it was the engine, magazine or nose of the tool, Pete said size was a key driver of those parameters.
“This is often a job that’s being done overhead, so we needed to keep the tool as light as possible,” Pete added.
Queensland-based Paslode Trade Specialist Tony Ryan worked on the ground with the end users in developing the tool.
He said being able to angle the PPN-Master into tight spaces, use it with a left or right hand, as well as its left or right belt and rafter hook, made it incredibly adaptable. A magazine size of 25 nails was also designed to keep the PPN-Master compact.
“Your average joist hanger takes 20 nails so they’re gonna get a bracket out of every strip,” Tony said.
“Obviously, you don’t wanna make the magazine cover story – Paslode too long to fit nails in, because that size and weight convenience goes away with a big mag hanging off the end of the tool.”
Simple, yet effective
The PPN-Master’s development really reaches a new level of ingenuity with its exposed-tip design. The crafty piece guides the nail through the hole at any angle with elite accuracy.
Tony said this inventive piece not only allows seasoned chippies to perfect their craft.
“I’m a chippy myself, and I wish the PPN-Master was around in my days,” he said.
“In a majority of these sites it’s young apprentices putting these connectors on. Feedback from tradies has been that they can give the tool to apprentices and know the job’s being done correctly.”
Plays by the rules
Ensuring a job meets the installation guidelines is key for any carpenter. When it comes to work with connectors and joists, there’s no negotiating on delivering a perfect job. This is not only important for said guidelines, but preserves the warranty of the connectors.
Most importantly, of course, correct installation of all components delivers a high-quality job to the client that will last for generations. It’s with this in mind Pete and the team at Paslode developed the PPN-Master.
“The installation guidelines are clear so it was about delivering an efficient and user-friendly way of delivering the nail through the hole for the installer, the work and the effort then is around making the package as desirable for the end user as possible,” Pete said.
Like clockwork
Time is a valuable asset. The PPN-Master’s thorough development process involved trying to make the tool as efficient as possible in this regard. Off the bat, the PPN-Master is a cordless single-shot solution with no pneumatic hose for users to drag around the worksite.
The long fan run time ensures the engine is purring along while carpenters rapidly work through magazine after magazine. The PPN-Master fuel cell has enough juice to last 800 nail shots, and the battery can handle up to 10,000 shots per charge. With a rapid-fire rate of 1000 nails per hour, chippies can get a lot of work done quickly without the need to stop.
Aussie chippies have two specially designed nails for their PPN-Masters: a 35mm nail for day-to-day application, and a 40mm nail specifically designed for securing joist hangers.
“They’re both hot-dipped galvanised steel for durability and to tackle corrosion,” Pete said.
Under the microscope
The nails are also marked on their heads to re-assure certifiers they’re correct for the job. There’s always room for improvement, but in terms of knocking the nail on the head first time around, the PPN-Master does a pretty darn good job.
This is thanks to the years of development put into it by Pete, Paslode’s Development and Trade Specialist teams and the carpenters who played around with prototypes. The process has led to the right tool for the job when installing metal connectors.
You can find more information on the PPN-Master, PPN Nails and other Paslode products at www.paslode.com.au.