Micro-pinner

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Pat Murphey

Pat Murphey

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
Joined
Nov 16, 2002
Posts
15,073
Loc
Lafayette, NJ
Has anyone out there tried a micro-pinner?

Max Munn from Munn Frameworks recommended this pinner to me for difficult to join tall frames. Max use it on delicate carved frames and the tops of frames where ordinary clamping does not put pressure in the right place. A micro-pinner is a brad gun that uses 23 guage headless galvanized pins, about the thickness of the wire on a small paper clip.

I just finished gluing a 3 inch tall shadow box using a strap clamp. of course the top of the frame did not close up with pressure from the clamp. However, I was able to manually hold the corners closed and shot 1 inch micro-pins into the corners to hold them in place. The beauty of the micro-pins is that they are virtually invisible compared to ordinary brads. This is going to be a very useful tool.

(The Senco version is available on Amazon.com for $129.)

Pat :D
 
I just back-ordered one from Maestri, and I believe that it is made in Italy.

It was ordered over the phone, sight unseen, after I heard 23 guage ss pins

are available. Made sense to me, so I'll give one a try when they come in.

Thanks for the post, this is only the second reference that I've heard to such a tool.
 
Yes the mirco pinners are a very versatile and handy tool for the professional framer. As mentioned the hole they leave is "almost" unseen. Often you can simply touch up the head of the nail with a Chartpack pen rather than with framers putty.

The originator of this gun with the 23 gauge mirco pins was OMER, the Italian company that makes a variety of pneumatic staplers, nailers as well as the excellent line of flexible point guns for the picture frame industry. We sold the Senco micro pinners until we had too much trouble with the nails jamming and discovered that the Omer is a much more reliable, lighter and better constructed nail gun. The Senco mirco pinners are made in the far east and are still not up to the quality of western made tools. The Senco gun drives ½” to 1” pins and the Omer drives 5/8 to 1 1/8” pins.

The Omer model PR28 is an excellent unit and can be purchased through any distributor selling Art Materials Service Inc products. You can visit the Omer web site to look at the range of OMER products - or you can call the Omer distribution centre at 604-876-9909 to find a distributor near you.

http://www.omertools.com/

In our experience the Omer product is of a high quality and trouble free. If you cannot find one in your area we have them in stock.

Alan
 
If you all want a machine that will join, and I mean, hold that sucker together type join, get yourselves a Hoffmann joiner. They are a little pricey, start at a thousand dollars, but they are worth every penny. These things will put together any shadowbox you can dream up, including octagons and hexagons, wide oak, or thin Koa, you will get a perfect miter every time. They are not marketed to our industry, it's more of a cabinet shop tool. Look them up.

John
 
If you all want a machine that will join, and I mean, hold that sucker together type join, get yourselves a Hoffmann joiner.
I've been meaning to check out their site after seeing their ads in 'Wood & Wood Products'. It is web page.
JRB or anyone else - does anyone use this machine ? Feedback?

Re: micro-pinner - does anyone rather just use their air-nail gun to shoot a nail thru the top corners of a shadow-box?

[ 10-03-2003, 04:48 AM: Message edited by: North Framer ]
 
North Framer, I've had a Hoffmann for a couple of years now. I purchased the pneumatic model, cost around $3,500.00.

These machines take a little longer to set up, but the dependability of the join, makes it worth it.

Basically, it's much like a Thumb nailer, except the miters line up perfectly every time. The plastic inserts are much more rugged than the little toy ones Thumbnailers use, they do NOT break. The join you get is so tight, you can even forgo using glue.

I can not imagine running a frame shop without one, now that I have one.

John

[ 10-03-2003, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: JRB ]
 
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