Customer Reviews

Arrow Fastener ETF50PBN Pro Heavy Duty Electric Staple Plus Nail Gun

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Even though I'd been advised not to purchase this tool, I guess I'm too stubborn and had to find out for myself. I found a new one on an auction site and got it for $26.00. This electric stapler/nailer did indeed load easily, and it did not jam one time. I couldn't find the 5/8" 15 mm brads anywhere and had to order them online.

Regarding stapling into hardwoods: I used 3/8" staples to tack new upholstery onto a solid cherry frame. In order for the staples to actully penetrate fully and be flush with the wood surface, I had to hold the stapler VERY firmly against the wood. This tool packs a wallop when it fires (noisy!), and if you are not holding it VERY firmly in place, the kickback offsets staple alignment and penetration. (Watch out... it's got a hair-trigger too)I guarentee you will have to grab a hammer to finish knocking some staples in anyway.

Regarding using it as a brad nailer, I finally found some soft pine the brads would fully penetrate. It does take only one size: 5/8" / 15mm. I tried tacking some simple hard maple quarter round to a baseboard and never did succeed in countersinking one brad. I read the instructions several times and practiced a lot, because I was determined to make it work. Admittedly the tool never did work well, and about 1/8 inch of the T-shaped brad head remained above the wood surface. I tried to hammer them in and even countersink them with a punch, but it was impossible and extremely frustrating.

Bottom lines:
For simple stapling applications such as reupholstery on soft woods, you might just like it.
For intermediate woodworkers like me, save yourself a lot of time and expense and go for a pneumatic nailer if at all possible.
For profesionals: you already know.

Hope this helped somebody.

I just got this stapler, and it's a good product from what I see. It's no replacement for a pneumatic tool, but for the price it couldn't be expected to be.

It's a good choice for people (...) who's hands are too small to comfortably operate a standard lever operated staple gun. The trade-off is it has to be plugged in ... so when your dog is lost, and you need to post hand-bills on every telephone pole in the neighborhood, this won't be of any use.

We're using it for upholstery projects w. soft wood, and have had no trouble. It would also be great for tacking insulation to rafters, etc.

Like the other review mentioned, the stapler has to be held firmly against the work to be sure the staple penetrates completely. That's because the tool is very light, and this would be a problem with any stapler of similar weight. Consider it a two handed tool... Place the heel of your free hand on top of the tool, lock your elbow, line up your shoulder behind it, and fire away. Lastly, the brads were in stock at my local Sears.
Happy stapling.

I just finished using my Arrow electric stapler. It did its job with no issues. Very happy with it. I am a Pro Carpenter and by no means is this staple gun good for commercial use but for around the house projects, its works perfect. The stapler was sitting in the basement for a little while and got a tad bit of rust on it. I sprayed it with some liquid wrench and have had no problems loading it and no misfires. It is a little loud and it does have a hair trigger. I would buy another one if I had too.

I originally bought this stapler to build a cat scratching post. I have a standard spring loaded Black and Decker which works fine, but my wrist gets fatigued after squeezing the spring loaded handle for awhile. I wanted to use 1/2" staples and figured the electric gun would work better. AAAACK!!! Wrong answer!

The first issue I had with it was the staples don't go in all of the way except in rare circumstances when you manage to get the staple gun held just perfectly flat to the intended surface. I had to pound them in with a hammer to get them flush, and that wasted a lot of time I had figured would be saved by using the electric stapler.

About a half year later, I decided to put some plastic vapor barrier up in the ceiling of the garage so I could insulate it. I figured for this big job, the electric gun was the right tool. After all, I'd used 1/4" staples to make things easy. AAAACK!!! Wrong again. Not only was the first issue still happening where the staples didn't go all of the way in, but I noticed now the stapler began to misfire. In fact, it misfires about three times for every shot it gets right.

To add to this most recent problem, the staple feed mechanism became bent somehow (due to use I guess), and it was resisting travel along the staple path so the staples weren't getting pushed to the end. I fixed this problem so the feed mechanism travels smoothly again, but the primary misfire (which seems to be a motor power issue -- you can tell because there's just a light "dud" of a sound when it misfires) is still occurring.

I cannot recommend this stapler to anyone. It is, at best, a complete piece of junk.

Worst tool I have ever purchased. Insufficient power to reliably drive a 5/16 staple into plywood. Jammed ALL the time. Buy a pneumatic stapler for half the price and ten times the performance. Don't buy this.

I bought this stapler to build a couple of cat houses. After the 3rd cat house I built, it suddenly stopped working. 3 cat houses in 2 years?

When it worked, however, it was ok. Like someone else said, you had to keep firmly or the staples would not go all the way in.

After contunuous use... both of my arrow staple guns...just stopped working.
Really frustrating. I'm shopping around for another brand.

I bought this stapler to put up insulation in my basement. It started jamming halfway through the job and would not staple without jamming at all before the job was finished. Even when it did work, it wouldn't drive in anything deeper than 1/4" staples into soft pine studs. It was always hard to load and nearly impossible to get all the staples out if you wanted to un-jam it. Basically, this is a toy - not a tool. Arrow is not doing their brand any favors by selling this piece of ....