Howz your Porter Cable compressor doing?
forestgirl
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
For those of you who have bought and useda Porter Cable pancake compressor with the brad nailer (the ‘kit’ they sell for about $200-250), how is the compressor holding up? I’ve heard some scare stories (from dealers) about how bad they are (because they’re oiless) but am wondering if the ones that broke did so because they were being used much too heavily (like in a major fast-paced production sort-of way). Reports?
Replies
I've had mine for three years. Moderate use. No problems. Runs like a charm.
TDF
I've had mine for about a year and have had no problems with it. And I got it and the 18 guage brad nailer for $199.00!
I've had mine for about a year and a half. It gets light use, but I also loan it out to my friends occasionally. It works very well.
I looked very hard at the Porter Cable kit because I'm truly a PC junkie. In the end went with the Bostitch CPAK100. It is not oil less and does require oil changes etc. I've run about a thosand brads of different lengths through it and it has never jammed. The compressor is a 6 gal and rarely cycles when using the brad nailer. Doesn't have much poop when blowing out the shop but it works. It also runs my 3/4" impact wrench and my 3/8 air ratchet just fine. I havent tried it with a spray gun yet, I think it would take a bigger tank for that.
The other thing that caught my eye was the fact that it comes in several versions so you don't have to settle for the brad nailer, you can order it with a finish nailer, or a framming nailer. Same compressor just different guns which told me right off the bat that it could handle the bigger guns without any problem.
Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
My PC pancake and brad nailer are about a year old, and I have had no problems. It gets light use, I oil the nailer when used and it does just what I want it to do.
Compresser works fine. Had to replace the driver pin in my PC finisher nailer. It jammed and bent the pin. Pulled out the jammed nail- straightened the pin back out and used it about a month until it finally broke. $99.00 plus shipping to fix. I like the nailer and would have bought another if that one would have been too expensive to fix.
BT
I bought the PC finish nailer compressor combo kit about 2 years ago and use it for finish carpentry work, trim etc., and I use it to build frames for paintings. I have used it alot and never had a problem. I always have enough punch to drive the brads, the compressor runs like a charm, and I love it.
A note to be considered though. I use this set up for finish work. I haven't ever run the compressor for a framing gun, sprayer, or other pneumatic tools. I think that if I was going to step up the use of the compressor for those other tools I would go with a larger compressor. The small pancake compressor cycles alot and I wouldn't want to listen to it run continuously during heavier duty projects.
The PC combo pack is a great deal though. I priced finish nailers and compressors separately and this combo saves you about $150.00-200.00 over buying the two separately. If someone is just getting started I think that this is an excellent way to go.
Matt-
These replies confirm my suspicions that the "bad" compressors this dealer exhorted me with were probably abused. I bought the PC brad nailer kit at Costco a couple of weeks ago (for $199 :) since they were down to 4 units, and I wanted to grab one. Haven't used it yet, and could still return it, but based on the testimonials here, and the fact that I would use it very lightly, I will keep it and not worry.
Thanks y'all!
f_g... (down to initials now, how quaint)... LOL... It's a good choice. I just changed horses in the middle of the stream because of what I had heard about oil-less compressors in general. I'd bet the Bostitch and the PC are about the same. The prices are comparable. Now watch, mine will blow up on me and yours will keep on truckin. Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
Hi Steve! I'm looking forward to using mine, but until I can get my *^& table saw right-side-up and running, I've nothing to brad! :-( Am taking one more shot at it tonight.
PS: A couple of other people used initials for me. I've thought about formalizing them to "fog." which is fairly accurate about my state-of-mind a good part of the time. :-)
Edited 3/27/2002 4:02:33 PM ET by forest_girl
f_g..
Whats wrong with your table saw...?
Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
Hi Steve, how's it going? I just got back from work.
Background on the saw: A well-used Jet Contractor's saw that I got for free, 'cause it needed a motor, which I replaced for $175. So far, so good.
Current problem: I've been trying to get the blade aligned with the miter slot, and still have the carriage assembly tightly held between the trunions. Was not able to get even close without turning it upside down, which I did yesterday (no small feat, since I have no helper this week).
Tonight, I'm going to turn it back up-side right again and see how the alignment's doing. If it's still off, I may need to enlarge (slightly) the holes in the back trunion to get that extra fraction-of-an-inch space.
Do you have any experience with the guts of one of these saws? The owner's manual has absolutely no info on this process.
Thanks! (BTW, if it's easier to email, I'm at [email protected])
f_g, here ya go... I wrote this a while back. I get a lot of "Thank You" emails from this. Don't modify the trunion bolt holes. When you do the adjustments according to my steps, you'll have all the slop you'll need to get the alignment perfect.
Enjoy..
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The subject of this discussion applies to most all Contractor saws not just Jet. If you've ever tilted your blade over and hit your outfeed table, you need to read this. This is not a common sense thing its a hidden danger.The gearing on the tilt mechanism is of a ratio that will allow you to serously rack the trunion out of alignment if your forget about the motor to extension table clearance and the motor hits the table during the tilting operation. If this happens to you, stop using the saw immediately. The likely hood that the parallelism of the blade is out a seriously dangerous amount is very high.Checking the parallelism at 0 tilt is not good enough. If you only check it at 0, you can be very unpleasantly informed by flying lumber that it is way out at a 45. This happens because the trunion stretchers are tweaked. Loosening up the four trunion bolts and realinging will not correct this.To fix a saw that has been damaged in this manner is tedious but it will save the saw and at least one 98.6 deg puddle of body waste fluid on the shop floor.Here's how its done....Preliminary ...... DISCONNECT THE POWER TO THE SAW ..........1. Remove the motor belt guard2. Lift the motor and remove the belt.3. Place a board of sufficent length between the motor and the floor so the motor sits level.4. Remove the electrical connection to the motor.5. Remove the motor mounting bolts and lift the motor off the bracket.6. Loosen the two large trunion stretcher nuts at the rear trunion.7. Loosen all four trunion to table bolts.8. Vigoursly shake the trunion assembly.9. Tighten the two large trunion stretcher nuts that you loosened in step six.10. Raise the blade to its full height at 0 tilt.11. Place a piece of masking tape at the front of the blade.12. Grasp the front and rear of the blade and pull it towards you until it stops. 13. Mark the tape on the side of the blade closest to you.14. Grasp the front and rear of the blade and push it away from you until stops. 15. Mark the tape on the side of the blade furthest from you.16. Place a mark on the tape that is centered on the two previous marks, (split the difference).18. Center the front of the blade with the third mark.19. Tighten one of the front trunion bolts just enough to keep the front trunion at its current location. 20. Place a piece of tape at the rear of the blade. 21. Grasp the motor mount and swing the trunion towads you.22. Mark the rear tape on side of the blade closest to you.22. Push the motor mount to the opposite side.23. Mark the tape on the opposite side of the blade.24. Place a mark between the two marks and split the difference.25. Grasp the motor bracket and move the trunion so that the front and rear of the blade are centered on the front and rear center tape marks.26. Tension the rear trunion bolt on the oposite corner from the front trunion bolt you tensioned earlier.You are now at zero reference for your table and the trunion is in a relaxed state. You can now dial in the blade paralellism. 1. Use a dial gauge in the miter slot and check the distances along the entire lenght of the blade.2. Lightly tap the rear trunion with your hand to move it to either side until you are satisfied that the distance variation is within manufactures specifcations or better.3. Tighten all four trunion bolts.4. Tilt the blade to 45 deg and check the distance front to rear again. It should be exactly the same as it is at 0 deg. If its not you may have a problem.5. Return the saw to 0 degrees of tilt. 6. Put the motor back on being careful to align the motor and arbor pulleys.7. Put the belt back on.8. Tilt the blade to 45 degrees and check the distances front to rear.A large change from front to rear is an indication of a cracked trunion that is separating from the weight of the motor. DO NOT USE THE SAW UNTIL IT IS REPLACED. Mine moved -.0009 front to rear which I consider very acceptable and likely just slop in the tilt mechanism.Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
Steve, was that you?! Now this is funny, because I had printed your fine instructions out before the site went to its new format, took them with me when starting on this adjustment, and was hoping to find the person who so graciously wrote and posted them!
I didn't make it out to the shop last night, so am going out now to up-right the saw and see if I can get the parallelness set. There's more to this story, but it may not be pertinent if the saw sets up ok. Thanks!
Yep that was me ... LOL... good luck...
Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
(For those replying to the compressor question, Steve and I have gone off on a saw tangent).
Well, Steve, I went back to my saw this morning. I got the blade adjusted quite nicely parallel to the miter slot. Also adjusted the 45- and 90-degree stops while I was at it. Got the trunions nice and tight, slid the saw (which I had taken off the legs to put it up on my workbench) over to get it back on the legs. Unfortunately it dropped a few inches, thudding onto the leg assembly. After getting it bolted onto the legs, I put the blade back on to double-check the alignment and arhhhhhggggg, it was right back where it started, which is way off.
Only thing I can think of is that the cradle assembly has shifted from being a rectangle to being a paralellogram (sp?), because I can't shift the rear trunion over any further in the needed direction, and the front trunion is already as far to its needed direction as it can go.
At this point, I'm just venting -- I am so frustrated with this d*&# thing! I guess I'll take it apart and shake it down again, see if I can get that magic alignment back.
Thanks again for re-posting your instructions. There's one note of caution you might want to add -- something I discovered the hard way before I saw your instructions. I discovered it's important to keep the back bracket (the one that slides into the trunion) very tight to the trunion when making the adjustment. Being a newbie, I was completely clueless about how the trunion and the cradle assembly fit together in their little "sandwich" when I first started working on the alignment. The saw was probably, through rough use by the previous owner, pretty loosened up already, and I managed to knock the rear trunion out of parallel with the front trunion. This became apparent when I was cleaning and greasing the gears and such and, as I tilted the blade close to 45 degrees, the cradle assembly literally fell out of the back trunion. So glad :-) it didn't happen when the saw was running.
A very unusual thing to have happen, I'm sure, but if it could happen to me......
Ok, off to try again.
f_g, bummer about it bouncing back out of alignment. Sounds to me like somethings broken that you haven't seen yet. I hope you find whatever it is because it very well could cause an accident if you don't. Be carefull.Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
Steve, any ideas what to look for? I'm going to take the cradle assembly completely out again, but probably not 'til tomorrow. At least this time, the cradle assembly has stayed very tightly between the trunions, with no play. My first thought is to back off and re-tighten the large nuts at the front (that hold the long bars -- are these what you call stretcher nuts?). Anywho, if you think of anything in particular to look for, LMK! I'm learning way more than I ever wanted to know about the guts of this saw.
Thanks.
Yes, those are what I call the stretcher nuts. This is where the parallelism problem will occur. If that fixes it then your nearly done. If not, then something is bent or perhaps cracked. I use a strong light and a magnifying glass to look for cracks. Bent parts are harder to locate unless you have a good one to compare it to.
Steve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
When you have vision like mine, bent parts are really hard to identify :-) I used to think that all the parking lot stripers at UC Davis were sloppy, until I realized it was my eyes (astigmatism) that made the lines look less-than-parallel. Fortunately, over short distances, it's not much of a factor.
I'll let you know how it goes. If there is a tool-spirit to dance to, please tap one out for moi.
RAS is starting to look easy to reset, goodluck with the saw adjustments!!!
Nigel, want to come over and set my RAS up... LOL. I can misalign it from 50 ft without even touching it. At least my TS stay's aligned until I do something dumb, (which is quite often I might add). ROFLOLSteve - in Northern California
If the doctor says you have Attention Deficit Disorder, do you pay attention to him?
i have one and it has held up fine. i have used it with the 16 guage finish nailer and occasionally i have used it with my framing gun. no complaints.
I don't have a pancake, but rather the 4 gallon stacked compressor. I've been very happy with it after a year of use, but I don't have a production environment so I'm probably not a good case study.
My brother-in-law got me the package a couple of years ago and I have used it sparingly with satisfactory results. The pancake compressor is 1-hp/4-gal, about as underpowered as it gets, but I report no difficulty shooting 18-gauge brads or 16-gauge finish nails. I have even used it to spray orange peel texture on a 12'x20' ceiling, although I made sure to get a low cfm consuming gun that uses the pre-mixed texture in one gallon jugs as opposed to a standard hopper. The compressor did cycle a little more often than I had hoped (it is only suppose to run half-time), but it did perform admirably considering its limitations.
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