This is my first post here. What a great forum! I am happy to have found this website and appreciate those who are willing to share their experience and expertise with others.

I am not a pro but a "longtime" DIY'er. I am now retired and about 5 years into a 2 year remodeling project on the raised ranch house that I built myself about 30 years ago. I haven't done a lot of hardwood flooring but did install 60 sq ft of 3/4" Bruce prefinished flooring in the original foyer and more recently, after completing the first room of our current project, another couple of hundred sq ft of 3/4" bruce prefinished hardwood.

The original foyer was installed with predrilling and hand nailing through the tongue side of each board. The latter install was done with a rented Bostitch pneumatic floor stapler and was definitely a lot less labor intensive. Now with another 1000 feet or so of HW to install as our project progresses, and no telling how long it might take, I bit the bullet and purchased my own MIIIFS.

Bostitch's setup instructions specify a 3/8" npt air fitting be installed on the tool with a minimum internal diameter of .275". I have a good compressor and use a number of other pneumatic tools which all use a 1/4" npt quick disconnect (Milton) air fitting. I had some difficulty finding the larger 3/8" fitting at the local big box stores and so checked out the rental floor staplers at Home Depot to see what they used. The rental units all used a 1/4" Milton type fitting with a 3/8 to 1/4 bushing installed in the tool.

My question is for other MIIIFS users. Do you use the larger Bostitch specified 3/8" fitting or install the more common 1/4" fitting with a reducer bushing in the tool?

For anyone who has done both, did you notice any degradation in tool performance when using the smaller 1/4" air fitting?

Thanks for any replies.

I've been using that tool since it came out in the mid 80's. And have used numerous fittings. They will all work. The M111 FS does have that 3/8" thread that can be hard to find an air inlet nipple to fit. They used to be around but I haven't seen them in awhile. So I switched to 1/4" with the 3/8" reducer bushing and my tools still work just fine. No difference in performance. The M111 FS really doesn't require as much air as a framing nailer. My little 1&1/2 HP twin tank Emglo keeps up just fine.

Thanks for the info Gary. That's one less thing I have to worry about!
I appreciate your reply. ZT

I did the same thing. Used a reducer and the 1/4" npt. No problems !!