28.6.2016

I finally got the opportunity to use this staple/nail gun for an ancient project, building a bespoke radiator cabinet because no off-the-shelf ones are suitable. I was waiting for a/ the right tools for the job, and b/ the weather to be raining stair-rods. It is made from various softwoods together with an MDF decorative panel. The whole thing will be painted white when it is done, with a natural finish for the shelf part. Trims will be added - glued - to hide the fixings.Although I had nails and brads that I'd bought with the TRE550, I ended up using 10mm staples for the lighter work (6mm pine to the MDF) and 14mm staples for the heavier work attaching pine to pine for the various structural parts.The gun had no problems with any of this job and I used it (my first staple gun)from the box after skimming the instructions. I'd read some of the reviews that complained about the power of the TRE550 and was a bit prepared for disappontment. But I wasn't disappointed. It worked well for the project and I didn't get the feeling that it was struggling for power. About three staples ended up slightly proud of the surface when I applied a bit less pressure against the workpiece, although they were easy enough to remove and I simply did it properly second time around. It is critical to brace the nailgun against the surface with a fair amount of force (too much force, though, and you risk marking the wood if it is softwood) and it is important to squeeze the trigger rather than pull, which risks lessening the pressure just when you need it most.It was a very easy job to do with virtually no effort. If you're adding trims later as I intend to, it is important to align the brads/staples along where the trims will go (using No-Nails or something like that to glue the trims later). One omission I thought was a bit odd was the lack of a marking on the gun head that would let us know exactly where the brad/staple will go - something so simple doesn't seem to be there, so I'll be doing that. If millimetre precision isn't an issue then this is no big deal, but it was important to me and will be for anyone working close to the edge of surfaces or fabrics.I had my doubts about the durability of staples for this kind of work but they seem to do the job just fine, especially the 14mm ones. None distorted as they were fired, and the surfaces stayed joined together even when I decided to give them a bit of a workout! You wouldn't use this for serious structural work, heavy-duty or not, these are 14mm staples or 15mm brads at best, so they have limits. The upside is that you can get strength in numbers by firing in several at structually important places. The mains cable isn't especially long so, for people working in a typical house, an extension lead will probably usually be needed. I prefer the idea of mains to battery because I'd have concerns that if the battery was weakening I could end up with one or two staples going in rather feebly before I noticed, so I like the idea that there will be consistent force each time I fire off a staple.The other thing I noticed was when working onto a surface that is difficult to brace. I wanted to attach staples along the corners of this radiator cabinet and thought carefully about which order I needed to do the jobs to best conceal how it is put together. I ended up having to staple along the sides without a hard surface beyond them for bracing. This needed firm pressure on the opposite side of the workpiece from the TRE550, basically pressing the two things together as hard as I could. If I'd been in a workshop there'd be ways to do this properly, but thankfully the TRE550 drove in the 14mm staples just fine. I made sure beforehand that the staples wouldn't punch right through and get me a visit to A&E!I thought that the safety feature of having a microswitch that inhibits firing unless the gun is put against a surface was a good idea, although it can easily be defeated (make something idiot-proof and nature will develop a better idiot, I guess), and the loading process seemed a little counter-intuitive if you're used to more conventional staplers - you pull out the black slide that is on the base of the gun, lay staples or support brads in the slot exposed on the base of the yellow part of the gun, and allow the slide back in to cover the staples/brads. Don't follow the procedure for office staplers, which in my experience usually means putting the staples on the slide. Better still, read the instructions, they come in lots of languages including English, so there's no excuse. You get two instruction booklets, the instructions are minimal, there's just a load of languages in there. I feel obliged to dock a star because it comes in plastic consumer packaging rather than having its own case, which is something every other power tool I possess came packaged in. It just makes storing it amongst the other tools a right pain in the, er, donkey.Earlier this year I completed a job adding decorative trims to a newly installed wooden staircase. I really wish now that I'd had this nail gun instead of knocking in panel pins the old fashioned way.

28.1.2021

I have a manual stapler, this Stanley electric stapler, and an pneumatic stapler too!The manual stapler is just tiring, also I find it a little difficult because you have to press down pretty hard when you are stapling harder materials. The pneumatic stapler is the easiest of them all, requiring almost no down pressure to operate and is very fast and powerful. The only thing with that is the compressor is way over the top for normal use, and I only use the pneumatic stapler for major projects. In the middle is the Stanley electric stapler. It’s not the most impressive looking devices, but it works very well.The gun arrives blister packed. It is surprisingly heavy, similar sort of weight to the metal manual guns.The cable is about eight feet long but is standard plastic which is not very flexible, but I guess it's too much to expect a silicon cable on a tool that is this cheap. However, the cable is too thick and inflexible. It's only a double core 5A cable but its too rigid and gets in the way all the time. They really should fit a more flexible cable.The round knob on the back of the stapler adjusts the power of the strike. It’s a good idea to place a few staples where they can’t be seen, while you adjust it for a particular staple and material. A few staples is usually enough. I tested it with standard heavy duty staples I bought some place and it accepted those and of course the Stanley staples. The Stanley staples were pressed out of slightly thinner steel so they drove in to the wood further… so each time you use a different manufacturers staple you need to test a few staples, and of course if you use a difference depth staple you need to adjust it too.Using the stapler for a short while, I came to the conclusion that the setting really depended what you are doing. That may sound obvious, but, what I really mean is are you stapling one handed or two? If you are stapling two handed, in other words can apply a small amount of pressure to the back of the gun, then you get far better penetration with the staple. But if you are doing something like stapling picture canvases then you need to operate the stapler with one hand because the other is holding the canvas taught - so you can't put pressure on the back, which may limit the operation of the stapler. With small staples it's not a problem you just turn the power up. With larger staples this may become an issue though. I used 6mm staples for canvas and everything works just fine.The staple packs are horrible, lol, my staples fell out and getting them back in is like trying to thread a needle with a piece of cooked spaghetti.The one slightly disturbing thing with the stapler is the business end, where the staples come out, it's very wide, so it is difficult at to judge where the staple is going to come out. The thinner head of some staplers is much better.All in all it’s a great device. Very easy to use and very effective. Highly recommended!

22.12.2013

Instead of simply repeating the positive comments of other reviewers, I'm going to address some of the problems that others are having.1) It doesn't come with any staples - think of it like a printer that doesn't come with any paper. You'll need to order the size of staples that you're going to use. This device uses 6-14mm staples - the heavy duty type - 10mm staples are good for general use if you're not sure where to start. See the linked products. This uses only the flat top staples, not the curved ones used for cable fixing. It also uses nails, but I've only used staples.2) This is really a hammer, not a gun. It uses a plunger to force the staples flush with the surface.

30.8.2010

I bought the Stanley gun a fortnight ago and was itching to start using it. Silly me, forgot to order the brads and staples simultaneously so had to wait an extra four days until all my DIY supplies were delivered to me. Finally found something to do worthwhile with the staple gun! **grin**We are having friends over for dinner in a week's time and I really wanted to give my raw pine chairs a face-lift and a padded-bottom. And now, thanks to lil Stanley, I now have four beautifully upholstered chairs with a lovely offwhite seat and the job looks professional enough! And that too at no extra cost (created the padding by layering 1. the ratty old tie-on chair cushions, 2.

5.6.2014

I was working away from home and had 50 squre metres of hardboard to lay over floorboards ready for carpeting. I usually use an air nailer and compressor to do this but didn't have it with me, so I ordered this stapler and some 12 & 16mm staples. I couldn't find any other reviews for using this stapler for this particular job, so was not sure that it would be man enough for the job. It arrived in a timely fashion, the blister pack as usual was a challenge to get into :-) .It is easy to load with staples and the pressure is set with a dial on the top, there is no stop on that dial, it simply alternates between the strongest and weakest settings, turning it many turns clockwise does not continue to increase the power.It worked but only just,

26.1.2015

This staple gun holds a rather special place in my heart. It was a morning like any other: my wife was out of the house, having left me for another woman some years prior, leaving me free to build birdhouses without annoying questions like "When are you going to get a job?" or "I don't even know you anymore". I was just putting the finishing touches on Slumdog Millionaire themed birdhouse when I heard someone smash my back doors in. There was shouting, someone was barking orders in garbled Arabic. I knew at once: Triads. A gang of three ski-masked Russians burst into the room with AK-47s. My Royal Marine training kicked in and I flipped my work station instinctively.

28.3.2021

I am refurbishing my garden shed and wanted to fix some thin sheets to the walls as insulation, and to block some gaps.I have used both 12mm and 15mm brad nails for this purpose and the results are very good when using them in wood/hardboard about 3-5mm thick.Loading them is easy enough; you unclip the sprung-loaded latch and slide out the nail/staple carrier and place the nails (in this case) to one side. Staples would use the full width.Because the nails are fitted to one side they are not central in the machine and as a result you can't see exactly where they will be ejected from, and some care has to be taken to make sure they go in the right place,

30.7.2010

Stanley 0-TRE550 Electric Staple/Nail Gun...This did all I expected of it, light weight and a nice easy balance, easy to load and also easy to alter the pressure, I found that if you keep a good pressure behind the back of the tool with your free hand, the largest nail (15mm) will sink into the average red deal timber, Beware though that you get the correct type (G or type 4/11/140) of staple, as not all Stanley made staples will fit, as I found out. Otherwise, I found it especially helpful on my last project in which I used the largest 15mm brads, the only down sides being,(1) I found it hard to judge the exact point brad would strike despite a mark I made on the gun face,

19.3.2016

I love this for punching staples through sheets of aluminium insulation for the loft, i did half with a manual one and the rest with this electric powered staple gun and what a difference, no hand ache or arm ache, just a case of point and click and the machine punches the staples straight into the battens and joists without much effort at all. I think i did the rest of the other half of the roof in well under half the time, so this certainly does save you time and effort.I've also tried with both sizes of the tacks/nails and it doesn't fire very big ones, if anything they'd be ok for securing a light and thin piece of wood or furniture backing before manually hammering in larger nails/tacks.

9.5.2015

I bought this to insulate underneath a suspended wooden floor. The working environment was cramped, dusty and gritty so I was not expecting the stapler to last that long but it's done absolutely fine. So far I've fired over 2000 staples. I put all this down so you know that I've out the thing through it's paces and am speaking from a bit of experience. I've found it to be easy to load, easy to use and reliable. It doesn't overheat when you get on a roll, or give you repetitive strain injury after your first 100 staples. There has been the odd misfire but generally when it goes 'click' it's because it's run out of staples. Some of the other reviews talk about the stapler not driving the 14mm staples fully home.

4.3.2014

Stanley have nailed it again with this electric staple/nail gun. Unfortunately it does not come with a starter set of staples so you could at least try the unit for damage. I would recommend that you order these along with the gun.As with all other guns, pressure needs to be applied on the gun head whilst stapling, else you could end up with a half inserted staple.The power can be adjusted using the rotating wheel on the stapler head.The quality and finish of the product is what one would expect from Stanley. Performance too is quite good too, considering the price.I have had no problems with this tool. It performs well,

18.10.2010

I bought this to fix 3mm hardboard onto uneven floorboards and despite the 'heavy-duty' name, I was concerned it wouldn't be strong enough for the job. It managed to fire 16mm staples through both most of the time - I estimate 90% staples went in ok, the other 10% needing a 2nd attempt or finishing in with hammer. I found that you need to make sure the gun is straight and still, and it helps to put weight on it when firing, as this reduces the recoil and knocks the staple in better. All in all this handy tool did a pretty good job and saved me hours of nailing. It's very light to hold and handle and perfect for lighter DIY fixing jobs. Very happy with purchase, and I think it is good value,

7.8.2018

After buying a cheapo manual stapling gun (not from Amazon) and finding it really awful - useless almost to the point of being dangerous - I binned it and paid not a huge amount more for this Stanley electric version which I'm happy to say seems to be rather good so far. No manual pressure required except possibly occasionally with the other hand pushing down to give extra stability if required when a solid support underneath is not quite solid enough.I have only used 6mm staples so far so I can't comment on more heavy duty ones.Comes with a 2.4 metre cable which is longer than average which is nice.It does, however, seem a little 'plasticky'

7.4.2013

I bought this to staple canvas sheets onto wooden frames - it does the job perfectly, and its so much easier than using a manual staple gun.Its easy to use and lightweight - the long lead comes in handy for moving around a largeish frame and the trigger requires no force at all to operate. Staples load easily and so far I've had no jams whatsoever.Has 2 power settings (low and high) - I have to use the high setting using 10mm staples into softwood, and you do have to make sure you hold down the top of the stapler very firmly whilst you fire it or the staples don't go in flush, but it does the job well. I would recommend buying decent staples, as the cheaper ones just don't work as well (they tend to be blunt,

19.1.2013

Stanley is a reasonably good make that has been around for quite a while, so I thought this staple gun would would be OK. it is up to a point and for little jobs has enough power to drive the staples home, I have found though that when used on the longer staples it doesn't drive them right home, even pressing down to stop any bounce on the gun doesn't help. My conclusion is, if you want a heavy duty gun then it isn't this one, if you want a normal usage gun to tackle those little upholstery jobs then look no further it will do it all within reason and is OK with the tacks too, as long as the wood isnt too hard. On using this gun I did get the odd misfire/jam but this I think was more my fault and not the gun.

Stanley 6-TRE550 - Reviews

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