I have a Bostitch nail gun (pneumatic) and it has been working fine all day until about 30 minutes ago.
I went to nail in a piece of molding, and when I pulled the trigger I heard air feed into nozzle, but not the normal noise I hear when a nail is actually driven into the wood.
I first checked to make sure I wasn't out of nails and I had a full stack of them.
I then disconnected the gun from the air supply line and took the nozzle off. This is what I found:
Every now and again I get a misfire when it tries to fire two nails at the same time. In these situations, I disassemble the nozzle like I did here and get the nails out. When I took the nozzle apart this time, I noticed that the "hammer" (the thing metal piece that drives the nails in) was not in its correct position.
Usually, the hammer is fully extended, taking up the entire length of the nozzle that you see above. However, in the photo, you see that the hammer is stuck in the "ready to fire" position and will not come out.
I'm not sure if that's the problem (that the hammer is stuck inside the gun), or if something else is going on, but I've spent almost an hour looking at this and am at wit's end.
Any gear gurus out there see what the problem is? Is there a set of things I should be looking for to render a diagnosis?
Best Answer
Oiling your gun on regular intervals is important. In your case, if the pin is stuck, try the following.
Put several drops of oil directly on the pin and slide channel. Remove all nails, reassemble the nose and see if the gun will dry fire against a scrap piece of wood. the gun should fire and leave a dent from the push rod in your wood if it is working.
If the gun still does not fire, then the pin may be damaged or bent. At this point the upper air chamber will have to be removed and the pin assembly removed/replaced. Rebuilding air guns is not real difficult and parts for a Bostich are readily available. You problem may be a worn or damaged O-ring in the compressor section. Rebuild kits for the upper end have got to be replaced often, especially if they have not been oiled regularly of after long periods of storage. Parts are cheap.
Some folks at the tool dept of Lowes or HD could be helpful guiding you. If you have a good lumber yard that sells Bostich tools, they often stock the parts and will be helpful in helping you fix your tool.
In my area, Bostich often have promotion displays at the vendors where they will do maintenance and install rehab kits at no charge with the purchase of a case of nails. Both of my framers, Bostich 88W's, have been rebuild at least 4 times for free during these promotions.