Brad nailer problem

[peter leyden]

I have a Porter Cable BN200 brad nailer that refuses to feed a second brad after a first shot. The piston does not retract, ready for the next shot. The inside of the nailer is clean as a whistle and well lubricated. For the life of me I can't figure out exactly what causes the piston to retract. I tried increasing the air pressure but no dice. Has anybody here ever had this problem and solved it?
Does anyone have any knowledge of exactly how this nailer works, or where I might find info on same? It is frustrating to say the least!
Pete Leyden

[Bill Davis]

Is the 'O' ring inside in tact?
My BN200 had the same problem and replacing that did the trick.
There is also a rebuild kit available with several other parts included but I did not need that.

[Craig McCormick]

I have solved this same problem by a good disassemble and cleaning.

AZCRAIG

[Craig Michael]

Not sure about on a brad nailer but the same thing would happen on my hitachi framing nailer. With that nailer, there was a rubber band type of thingy on the piston that broke. Swapped that out and it worked perfectly. Call one of the local parts stores, or online and tell them the nailer and what the issue is and they'll know the problem right away and which part you need. My local parts place is great. I'll talk to the tool fixer and tell him the issue and he knows every thing. He'll tell me to x broke but you want to replace the other one too and this.

My buddy is an auto mechanic and he's the same. I'll tell him the type of car and year and he'll know the issue before I even tell him what's wrong.

[Whit AndersonIL]

A friend of mine once had this exact problem. It turned out that he was using the wrong size nail for the nailer. Once I, Urr-I mean my friend, got the correct nail size, it worked fine.

--Whit

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Peter - I have had that exact issue. I did a good cleaning - resmoved the cover from the power head, wiped down the inside, removed cleaned and replaced the piston and driving pin, etc......and it STILL would not fire right. I examine it more closely, and it looked like there were little pieces of plastic (or something) stuck in the exhaust port. I blew it out backwards (blowing compressed air back into the exhaust port) and several small pieces came out. After reassembly, it worked great.

I think the debris, in clogging the air exhaust, prevents the piston from working correctly. I also suspect the debris was not plastic from any internal parts, but just a buildup of old oil that hardened and broke loose.

[Bobby O'Neal]

Good to know. No problems yet but I have this same nailer.