Pneumatic Nailer – How Does It Work
chuck2
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
In the last few weeks, both my framing nailer and my brad nailer have “failed” — pulling the trigger resulted in air escaping around the trigger but no nail firing. I disassembled both, cleaned the piston and rings, reassembled them, and they both seem to bew working well again. It bothers me, though, that I have no idea how these thing work no that I’ve viewed their innards. Are there any sites that explain how nailguns work, and how to trouble”shoot” (pun intended) problems?
Replies
Chuck, as you have seen , 'O' rings are the secret. They need to be well oiled, and clean. The manufacturer of your equipment often has an exploded view for simplifying re-assembly and dis-assembly..try thier site.
A key to longer life between re-builds (it is normal for them to wear out) a few things to keep in mind. Clean air, a water separater is helpful. The right oil..NEVER use wd-40, or 3-in-1 or any lubricant that is not meant for air tools. Store and transport air hoses coupled so the dirt cannot enter the male end. Avoid extremes in pressure ; too high and there goes the seals, too low and reduced cycling pressure allows O rings to get scored by their retaining grooves.
Rebuild kits usually cover the piston and driver air passages, when the trigger assembly starts give you problems, you may have to replace it..it is not rebuildable (speaking from my experiance with Stanley/Bostich)..all in all air tools will outlast electric tools hour for hour many times over, and can be used in wet areas or other places that a "power" tool would be impossible. A tank of air can be carried where there is no power, and you can make that one attachment that only a gun can do.
Gotta say amen to the clean air and oil. I had guns that shot literally thousands of fasteners a day, every day, and hardly ever needed maintenance as long as they got a few drops of air tool oil in the air inlet at the end of every day.
Most manufacturers publish a trouble shooting guide that tells you which o-ring kit to install to cure a particular set of symptoms, but proper oiling is the best prevention.
As for understanding how they work, a good cross section drawing on a parts list will yield to study. That's about all I have ever seen. ( A picture is worth.......)
Michael R
Ice can also cause the condition that you describe. We've had that happen before. The only answer is to warm up the tool, add a LITTLE more oil and wait untill it will fire regualrly. If it's too cold, the ice will win, if not, once you get it going again, it should be fine. Amen to the other posts about clean air & oil.
John
Took my framing nailer (out of storage) down to a neighbor's to use on his "newly used" compressor and thought I was having nailgun problems. It turned out to be the regulator on his compressor. The reg was stuck and was very low flow. When I pulled the trigger, the gun just sort of hissed but no fire.
There could be a remote possibility it is this, so I thought I'd mention it.
Like you, I wondered how they worked too (not just how to maintain them and what can go wrong). From the flow of the air, it was clear that there wasn't a spring or air-driven motor. From the service diagram, good data on where the o-rings go, but no operational theory.
So I found this site on the web at "how stuff works": http://home.howstuffworks.com/nail-gun3.htm
This page deals with our pneumatic guns, the previous and following pages with other types of nail guns.
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Charlie Plesums Austin, Texas
http://www.plesums.com/wood
Remember though some guns don't use oil, Senco has a line of nailers that use no oil.
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