Nail plater apparatus and related methods

A nail plater apparatus comprising:

• a board magazine configured to hold a
• plurality of stacked boards;
• a pair of spaced apart nail plate magazines, with each nail plate magazine configured to hold a plurality of stacked nail plates;
• a pair of spaced apart nail plate extractor assemblies, with each nail plate extractor assembly associated with a respective nail plate magazine and configured to position a nail plate therefrom to a respective nail plate pressing area;
• a board feeder configured to position a board from said board magazine to a board receiving area, with ends of the board being aligned with the nail plates positioned in the respective nail plate pressing areas;
• a pair of spaced apart nail plate presser assemblies overlying ends of the board receiving area and aligned with the respective nail plate pressing areas and configured to press the nail plates into the ends of the board;
• said board feeder and said pair of spaced apart nail plate extractor assemblies being linked together so that the board is positioned in the board receiving area simultaneously when the nail plates are positioned in the respective nail plate pressing areas;
• an accumulator apron to receive the boards after the nail plates have been pressed into the ends thereof by said nail plate presser assemblies;
• and
• at least one accumulator push arm adjacent said accumulator apron configured to push the boards after a predetermined number of boards have been stacked on said accumulator apron.

A method for pressing nail plates into ends of a board comprising:

• stacking a plurality of boards in a board magazine;
• stacking a plurality of nail plates in a pair of spaced apart nail plate magazines;
• operating a pair of spaced apart nail plate extractor assemblies, with each nail plate extractor assembly associated with a respective nail plate magazine, to position a nail plate therefrom to a respective nail plate pressing area;
• operating a board feeder to position a board from the board magazine to a board receiving area, with ends of the board being aligned with the nail plates positioned in the respective nail plate pressing areas;
• and
• operating a pair of spaced apart nail plate presser assemblies overlying ends of the board receiving area and aligned with the respective nail plate pressing areas to press the nail plates into the ends of the board.