Milwaukee tackers

Product review: Milwaukee staplers

Roger Bisby tries out two Milwaukee Staplers – The 48-22-1010 hand stapler and the  48-22-1020 Hammer Tacker.

Earlier in the year Skill-Builder  was given a preview of the new range of Milwaukee hand tools. It makes sense for a company that has a loyal following among tradesemen/women across the world to build on that customer base and bring in a range of well made hand tools. We have seen this with the merger between DeWalt and Stanley so you can expect more and more power tool manufacturers to introduce hand tools. Does it mean that they will be the same quality as their power tools?

Happily these Milwaukee  tackers seem to be well made. At first glance I thought they looked  a little too delicate for a  rough life on a roof  but beneath the plastic shrouds are steel bodies  and both have a steel striking plate to knock the odd staple down if it hits a knot. You can also pull the staples out with the built in hook. I thought this might be  a gimmick but having tried it I found that it works surprisingly well.

The hand stapler has a two mode power setting to prevent staples being drive straight through the surface and it also takes brads.  On the highest setting you will find that the stapler achieves a  disproportionately powerful action. This is done by altering the lever that re-cocks the powerful spring. The nose of the stapler is chamfered to allow you to staple into corners. It might not always drive the staple fully in at this point but it will stop the sheet riding out of the corner.

Refill
If you are working on a roof and only have one hand free you can refill the staple magazine in either stapler with one hand. Simply turn it upside down and load the staples from the bottom. The brads sit in one side of the magazine but not the other side so you need to get this right and to help you there is a little symbol to show you which side to load. The spring shuttle stays captive so there is no chance of dropping or losing it.

The hammer tacker  is more suited to jobs that don’t require a precise positioning of the staples.

It works very well and keeps working without jamming. This is not something you can take for granted.  I have tested quite a lot of theses tackers over the year and some  suffer from jamming, rust and even, in the case of the Fatmax,  magazine spring shuttle flying out. I kid you not there are unbelievably rubbish staplers out there and you wonder how they can get it so wrong. I doubt that Milwaukee makes these staplers but they have chosen well and may well have had considerable input on the design side. It is good to see that they are looking after their brand.

uk.milwaukeetool.eu

About Roger Bisby

Roger Bisby is an English television presenter and journalist, known for his expertise in the British building industry.

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