Staple Woes

[jojo]

So, I'm recovering jetski seats, and the seat is made out of hard black plastic. When I try to staple the cover to the plastic, the staples rumple, like this:





I've tried to turn the pressure on the compressor up, and then down low, nothing helps. Is it my gun?? I've stapled through plastics before with no problem, and when I test the gun on wood it's fine.
Also, the original cover was stapled on.
What gives?

[sofadoc]

Those staples look kinda long. Are you hitting metal underneath the hard plastic? Could you drive the staples at an angle?

[jojo]

Hi Sofadoc, thanks for responding. The staples are 3/8" long, the plastic seems to be 3/4" thick...It doesn't seem like there's metal in there, although I guess it's possible.
My gun is crappy; I had to get a Harbor Freight gun for an emergency substitute when my Bea gun kicked the bucket, and never got around to getting a good one. But it's been fine for the last year or so, and like I said, works fine on wood. The original staples on the seat were thinner than mine (I'm using t-50).

[Mojo]

What is your pressure set at JoJo ?

[timtheboatguy]

I was having the same problem a while back and I switched to the gun that is sold on this website. It uses 22gauge 3/8 crown staples. I never use the T-50 anymore and seldom have any staple problems. Those little fine wire 22 gauge staples work much better in plastic than the T-50's and they are cheaper too.

[Darren Henry]

I'm with Tim on that. T-50's just can't compete with fine wire staples.

Short of getting (borrowing ??) a fine wire stapler, the only thing I can think of is to try heating the plastic pan and seeing if it will then accept the wide staples.

[Mike]

I use fine wire SS shoot fine in the last waverunner seat I did 3/8"from Miami in my rainco
shot  fine in the last waverunner seat I did.

[MinUph]

You might try pressing harder on against the plastic so the gun won't pop off it when shot. This helps when a material is very hard. Might just be the staples like all other comments but its worth a try. Press real hard

[jojo]

Well, I just ordered the EZE TC 08 staple gun and some 22 gauge staples. (probably should have a backup gun anyway). We'll see how it goes next week. Thanks for your help guys.

[scarab29]

Been there done that , 71 series fine wire only for the dense abs plastic. t50 is a joke and 1/2 is the same . need the fine wire for sure.

[jsquail]

I did three jet ski seats this past summer and used the Harbor frieght 20 gauge staple gun and stainless steal staples from Manart. I had no issues stapling the vinyl to the plastic. I did use 3/8" stainless staples. I had my air pressure regulated at about 80 PSI. That gun sucks, no doubt, but I had limited issues with it. I did notice that I would get the same staple issue that you have when i didnt hold the gun tight to the plastic.

[jojo]

Js, maybe the difference is stainless staples? Because I tried leaning on the gun too. Nothing worked. Seemed like the harder I pushed, the more wrinkled the staple was. I was using galvanized though.

[jsquail]

Quite possible. I'm no metallurgist, but stainless steel is a very hard metal. However, it is also more brittle than regular steel. Since galvanization is nothing more than a coating to steel or iron I would be willing to bet the stainless staples would drive right into the plastic. Personally, no matter the application of the water craft, I only use stainless. Galvanized will eventually rust because the zinc coating will wear off.

[Mike]

I use fine wire stainless. is seems it would be hard for a fat staple to penetrate a hard surface therefore bend staples.

[Peppy]

When my fine wire gun has problems shooting through stuff I use the fatter 'gimp' gun. I was using it today to shoot into a formed fiberglass back rest. I'd have to look to tell the gauge (18?) I think it's 3/16" crown? The legs are way thicker then the fine wire staple. I think the beefier leg has the power to get through whereas the thin legs just tie knots in the fabric.

We use galvo not ss.