Dewalt 20V Cordless Roofing Nailer - Tool Review

DEWALT 20V 15° Cordless Coil Roofing Nailer DCN45RNB

DEWALT 20V Cordless Wire Collated Roofing Nailer Review

We recently got our hands on the DEWALT 20V 15° cordless coil roofing nailer. This is the first battery-powered only nailer we’ve seen, we did review the Duo-fast gas nailer years ago, but it did not stick with contractors.

We’ve been using the DEWALT pneumatic nailer for a few years and like it, but were super happy to see a cordless solution.

First Impression

First impression on the DEWALT 20V 15° cordless coil roofing nailer is that it is heavier than its pneumatic older brother. It weighs 6.7 lbs. and has a fly-wheel windup and wind down sound. I was also impressed with how fast it was at installing nails, and unimpressed by its sharp recoil when fired. We’ll talk more on this later in the review.

The DEWALT 20V 15° cordless coil roofing nailer kind of looks like they reused the casing of the 18-gauge brad nailer. It does have DEWALT’s famously comfortable grip. DEWALT put a lot of time and effort in past years perfecting this grip, and it’s a winning design. The nailers nose is different from their pneumatic nailer – it has a square shape and we found it to have provide excellent stability, and surface contact.

Nailer Capacity
Powered by a brushless motor this battery-powered nailer can drive the full range of wire-collated roofing nails from 3/4 in. to 1-3/4 in. in bump mode.

The nailer has a tool-free nail tray that easily adjusts to accommodate different nail lengths and a tool-free depth adjustment wheel. The nail canister adjusts to allow 3 positions:
1. Position 1: ¾” nails
2. Position 2: 1” to 1-1/4” nails
3. Position 3: 1-1/2” to 1-3/4” nails

Nail Canister
The nail canister housing and the cover is made of thin plastic and is not as rugged as the pneumatic nailers canister. Just moving the cordless nailer around on our shed roof project popped the coil housing open a few times. The thinner canister was probably a trade-off to cut weight off the already beefy nailer.
Additionally, the metal “nail door” clip is different from the pneumatic version. This new clip resembles a spring-loaded, slide-bolt which I would describe a sticky and sluggish to operate. It’s not a precisely machined fit.
Rate of Fire and Runtime
The DEWALT 20V 15° cordless coil roofing nailer fires up to 3 nails per second on a 2 Ah battery. It can install up to 500 nails per charge, or to put that into layman’s terms easily one square (100 sq.’) of asphalt roofing shingles per charge.
We installed 5 bundles of shingles on a single 2.0Ah battery. That's over 100 shingles with 4 nails per sheet and then the ridge cap on the top.

There is NO dry-fire lock out on this tool.

Specifications
• Nail Capacity 120
• Height 11.5 IN
• Length 11.5 IN
• Weight 6.7 LBS
Depth of Drive

The depth adjustment wheel is top-mounted and is a turn-knob mechanism requiring your thumb and index finger to operate. We found it stiff to turn. There are five depth settings and we found that we needed to use the deepest setting to ensure nails installed flush.

Stall Lever

The nailer has a tool stall-release lever to return the driver blade in the event of a jam.


When this happens, it typically means that the nailers' driver blade did not complete the drive cycle and is not reset. When this happens the jam /stall LED light will flash.

To clear a stall, you need to remove the battery [to reset it] and activate the stall release lever on top of the tool. The lever releases the driver blade and resets it for nailing.

Using the DEWALT 20V 15° Cordless Coil Roofing Nailer

We used this nailer on a shed roof installation shooting 1-1/4” nails and it’s super-fast for a cordless nailer. This roofing nailer has a sharp recoil, a lot more than I’d like to see on a roofing nailer.

We also experienced a fair share of driver blade jambs with this nailer.

Note - We were using the correct angle nails, a charged battery, and even replaced the coils to see if that would reduce the jambs, it did not.

We also tried to use the nailer to install Hardie siding over Advantec sheathing. The nailer did not have the power to install the nail into the Hardie siding and punched [recoiled] the nailer back toward us resulting in a half-driven nail.

Improvements

We’d like to see DEWALT Improve two things on this nailer:

• Reduce the weight
• Reduce the recoil

Overall Impression

The speed of the gun is great but the weight is a factor. The DEWALT cordless coil roofing nailer is definitely designed for small, quick roofing repairs or jobs like this shed.

Larger jobs would require a pneumatic gun, but there isn't a doubt in my mind that this nailer could tackle a full roof, it’s just too heavy and the recoil will fatigue you over time.

We can all agree that cordless nailers are convenient and ideal for service repairs and small jobs. The lack of hoses, compressor, or gas cartridges alone makes cordless nailers attractive.