Rapid BTX530 Cordless Tacker
Independent Review by Peter Brett
I have not been a fan of some Nicad cordless tackers as they just didn’t seem to have enough oomph. But perhaps that trend is going to be reversed with the almost universal adoption of lithium ion technology in the battery department. This technology is not only more powerful, weight for weight, compared to other types of batteries, they have better discharge and use characteristics. The lightness and smaller size of li-ion batteries means that the design of the tackers themselves can be made more compact, lighter and more user-friendly. The Rapid BTX530 cordless tacker is in my opinion, a perfect example of what a good design team can do with an improved technology. It is light, compact and certainly meets its specifications quite easily. Starting from a slightly different place this time – with the custom case. This is
as compact as it can be so is quite easy to store. Inside each piece has its own place, including a place for storing a few brads and staples. Being a small battery, with a relatively unsophisticated charger, the time taken
to charge the battery is about two and half hours, but with li-ion you can top-up charge after use without really suffering the “memory effect” of earlier battery types. The battery is surprisingly
small and light, and slightly wedge shaped, in a black plastic casing. It slides onto the tacker on two plastic rails and clicks into place. It is also easy to remove without any serious tugging by pushing in the two lug switches on each side of the casing. The body of the tacker is a
bright red-orange colour and is very well put together. The plastic is slightly textured but also has a black rubber overmould on top and bottom of the ergonomically designed handle. My hand fitted comfortably, but users with very large hands might feel a bit restricted. The balck trigger is perfectly placed and feels just as comfortable for left or right handed users. A black knob switch on the
top of the machine is graduated with an arrow indicating increasing power to be dialed in. This seems to have four click-stopped settings. Loading the tacker with
staples and brads is very simple indeed. A spring loaded catch on the rear of the metal rail is released and the rail is released. Staples from 6mm to 14mm can be used in this tacker, so clearly this is not intended for heavy duty trade work, but it is certainly good enough for most kinds of upholstery work or general purpose duties around the home. Some care needs to exercised in loading the brads as they need to be loaded
on the left hand side of the magazine (looking from the top with tacker upside down) and the points of the brads facing out. The spring- loaded rail is then pushed home to hold them securely in place. Brads up to 15mm long can be used in the
24 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE
BTX530, so again this is a good enough general length to be useful even for light trade use at a push. On each side of the body is a rectangular aperture that will show the user whether staples or brads are loaded and how close you are to getting to the end of a strip of brads or staples. A handy feature. As part of safety legislation all tackers, nailers and staplers, industrial or
otherwise, seem to need the safety yoke on the front of the machine. This has to be pushed firmly into the intended spot where the staple is to be fired before the machine will fire. Since there is no on/off switch on this compact tacker, this safety yoke becomes very important for user safety. Since the battery pack and tacker body are separated in the carry case, it is easy for the user to remember to load the staples/brads before inserting the battery pack – just in case of accidents. The safety yoke has no plastic pad to prevent blemishes on the work piece, but even using it on some soft, softwood there was no serious marking from it. I used the Rapid BTX530
on my usual suspects for tacker testing, namely, hardwood, softwood, plywood, MDF and some combinations of these with other manufactured boards. Since it clearly has a role in furnishing I also tried to staple a neat strip of thick corduroy furnishing fabric to a birch plywood seat base. In common with many electric tackers, there is a slight delay after pulling the trigger as the electrics build up charge, but then there is a firm “clack” as the hammer fires the staple. The hardest materials I used for testing the staples were a piece of black walnut and a piece of hard maple. I found that the tacker had no trouble at all in driving a 14mm staple
flush with the surface of the timber at the full power setting. However, 15mm brads, even with my hand pressed hard over the top of the tacker to counter any recoil (very little in fact) always remained a bit proud in these two, admittedly hard, materials. When I tried nailing into softwood and MDF there was no problem at all, the nails were driven home quite easily without any marking of the surface. Rapid claims that more than1300 staples can be fired per battery charge. I can
believe this as I used up all the staples Rapid sent me without the battery showing any signs of giving up. It is also true to say that the tacker will fire staples as fast as you can position the tacker on the material. Because of its quality construction, compact size and ease of use the Rapid BTX should definitely be in the running for consideration if you are thinking about a small (and light) tacker. With enough oomph in the stapling department it would be great for those useful night school classes in upholstery and furnishing. It is priced at around £87 excluding VAT and spare batteries are available for about £33 (ex VAT).
Reply No. 229
www.toolbusiness.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36