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by Peter Brett - April 2009
For more information call Christine
01444 440188
01444 440188
from Arrow – Just Whack It!
This tacker is an addition to the Arrow range, but in the Arrow tradition, it isn’t just change for change’s sake. For example, the traditional tough and well-tried all-steel construction of many Arrow tackers is fully evident. It is bolted, not riveted together, so if something does break, it is possible to consult the parts diagram included in the pack, and order a replacement, and do a DIY repair. What could be greener than that in this throwaway world? The spare parts don’t cost the earth either, so the repair would be economically useful as well. The most expensive part of this tacker is the handle construction at $6.00. Most of the other small pieces are priced in cents! The Pound might have slipped against the Dollar, but it still makes sense of a repair. For the doubters, I reckon if you are any kind of tradesperson, repairing a tacker shouldn’t stress the brain cells.
But Arrow have seen fit to introduce something new, so we should look at it more closely to see what is new and evaluate it to see if it is really a step forward.
The most obvious new feature on the new HTX50 is the rubberized grip in a bright red against the Arrow grey handle. This is a genuine improvement because it not only provides a positive grippy surface but also has a hooked end that the little finger uses to almost pivot the tacker on when using it quickly and continuously. It just means that the tacker is that little bit easier to use and shows that Arrow has done its homework before introducing the improvement.
At the front of the handle is a similar sort of hook, but its function is different - it acts as a knuckle guard when the tacker is used parallel to the striking surface. I have had the misfortune to bang my knuckles by trying to use a tacker too straight on, and in my opinion, this is another worthwhile improvement in the HTX50.
Unlike most, if not all tackers I have used before now, the HTX50 has a very wide head. This may serve well as a striking guide, preventing the staple from being placed too close to an edge or end where it won’t have enough space to grip properly. It also provides a nice little spring-back momentum that really helps the user to get up a good rhythm when putting in a line of staples. If you haven’t used a hammer tacker before, you won’t know what I mean, but if you have ... Well, it just makes it easier.
On the top of a ladder or roof, it is not a good thing to have a complicated method of reloading the staple magazine. Apart from the obvious Health and Safety considerations, it is a pain to have to go all the way down the ladder to retrieve fallen bits and pieces. Accordingly the HTX50 has only one accessible moving part - a spring-loaded plunger that pushes the staple into the magazine. It has a simple hook mechanism that holds it into place, so it is simply a case of releasing the hook, pulling out the plunger, inserting a couple of strips of staples and putting the plunger back again. For the terminally nervous, it would be possible to
attach a thin string to the plunger and
the tacker handle so that they would
not part company during the reloads.
The tacker uses three standard sizes of Arrow T50 staples, the 8mm, 10mm and the longest at 12mm. These are widely available so from the consumer’s point of view should be easy to get. From the retailer’s point of view, they provide valuable follow-up trade whatever the make of tacker sold.
Another thing too - not all staple packaging is equal. Arrow’s packaging is better by far than most others because it works like an old-fashioned matchbox. This reveals the staples in complete rows so it is easy to pick them out and load them. Other packaging, - the kind that usually opens only at one end, often brings out rows of staples that are stuck to each other because they have been so tightly packed. This often results in broken rows of staples (now hard to use because they can be hard to load, and are therefore wasted) Also, it becomes impossible to replace a row of staples in the box, so once again they get broken and wasted.
Rant over, but we all like to get value for money.
Finally, the HTX50 claims to be non-jamming when using Arrow original staples - and I confess that in all the time I used it I had no jams at all. My guess is that there will some end-users out there who will manage to jam it in some way, but my feeling is that they might be the users who think that a wheelbarrow is a complicated piece of equipment to operate or the ones who try too hard to get away with using inferior quality staples. I guess that’s what guarantees are for.
I simulated tacking a roofing membrane in my workshop as well as stretching up as if I were tacking up a poster or notice and found that instant rapport with a tool that really does the job it is supposed to do easily and efficiently. These are the tools that users reach for instinctively when they want to do a good job. Arrow has a track record of making such tools, and this one is no exception.
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications