I have a 16 and an 18 guage Porter Cable gun. Lately, neither gun wants to fire a nail on each trigger pull. The gun fires, but no nail is shot. I thought at first maybe my compressor wasn’t feeding them enough, but I used them on different compressors, and same thing. It seems the nails (I even ran PC nails thru them) do not ‘line up’ correctly in the slotted magazine. I’ve pretty much retired the 16 guage in favor of a Senco 15 guage angle nailer, but the smaller 18 guage gun is only a few months old. I was hoping maybe this was a problem others have had, and maybe some quick fix or mojo was to be learned. If not, I’m off to my repair guy. Argh.
C
Replies
Not sure I understand the exact problem, but often inconsistent feed problems creep in when the gun hasn't been oiled for a while.
I rented a 15 ga Bostitch a few months back and it didn't shoot a nail every second shot. I concluded that the magazine spring was worn out, because I was able to make it work by pushing forward on the reload catch as I shot.
Wally
YUP...I know ALL about what yer sayin..heres the scoop..lube the magazine, that is a start. Then check the flimsy coil spring , oil it too.
The spring don't have enuf ummph to feed the nails..keeping it relativly full helps some.
PC has NO BUSINESS trying to make naile guns,they are a failure.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
.........replace drive pin often.............lol!!
EricEvery once in a while, something goes right!
What Sphere said... oil that magazine ways and the spring. Watch closely as you shoot nails to see if the nail clip is advancing as a nail is fired. When my Senco framer was new it had trouble pushing the nails uphill, when the gun was vertical such as shooting off shearwall. In frustration I poured a bunch of gun oil into the magazine and it's worked great ever since.
Don't know anything about this particular model, but I have seen similar problems when the drive pin wasn't withdrawing all the way up after a shot, so the nails couldn't feed forward.
The best lube for this sort of mechanism is TriFlow teflon spray. Regular oil can gum things up and make them stick.
Correct you are Dan about the teflon type lube. Stay away from the oily lubes for the guns exterior parts, it does nothing but collect dirt. A nailgun is really a delicate tool and must be taken care of with lots of cleaning and correct lubrication. I have had my PC 16 guage nailer for over 8 years in constant use with not one failed part and my PC framer is going on 4 years now with the same track record. PC may not be the tippy tippy top of the line but by my experience it has made a fine nailgun.
One thing you should watch out for with the" do not 'line up' correctly in the slotted magazine. Some nail makers and some gun makers use slightly ditterent lenghts to keep you in Their nails .....
For example I have a 18 guage that shoot 1 and 1/4 inch nails---Porter cable nails are 1 and 3/16. So the heads don't sit it the grooves right and the Magazine spring wont push hard enough to advance the nail clip.
found this out one day I came up short on nails and borrowed a rack from the other carpenter. Carefully check the lenghts. A clean magazine and some lube in the driver guide. Mike