I recently picked up a gently-used Max coil siding nailer (565S) from Ebay from a seller who has sold 3 or 4 in the past couple months. I’m planning to use it on some DIY work replacing vinyl with Hardie at my place.
I finally had a chance to try it out, and I’m wondering if it needs some rehab work. It’s loaded with a few 2-1/2″ stainless ring shank nails. And it’ll sink flush when I shoot into framing lumber, but when I try nailing a scrap of siding to the lumber, it leaves the nail about 3/8″ proud.
I’m looking at the parts available from toolpartsdirect.com, and I’m not sure whether to just replace the o-rings or whether something else is going on.
Would appreciate some input from the BTDT gang. Thanks.
Replies
Is there a depth-of-drive adjuster on that gun?
There is. But it didn't seem to have much effect on how deep they were shooting. I spun it several times to get from 1/4" proud on just lumber to nailing flush. I kept turning it but it didn't have an impact beyond that.
Air pressure and volume are good?
It's strange that it will sink them flush in lumber but not siding. Is this FC siding?
Think so. I use a Bostich pancake compressor that runs fine for the brad and finish nailers I normally use. I even dialed the discharge pressure up to 90 psi from my normal 80 psi.
And I am talking about shooting through Hardie fiber cement siding. If it won't do that, there's no point in owning it (but all the stuff I've read about the gun indicates it should do fine).
You might possibly be a little low on the air pressure, although, I would have thought 90 should have been sufficient. I run all of mine between 100 to 120. My regulator is a little erratic, & at times drifts to the low side. When the framing nailer starts misbehaving I usually find that the airline pressure has gotten down to about 90.
Definitely won't hurt to crank up the pressure and try a few nails before tearing things apart.
Now you know why you got it so cheap.
I knew I wouldn't be able to tell the provenance of the gun without getting some snark in response. I only bid on this one after watching auctions for months, and only after seeing that the same person was selling several. I hope that minimizes the potential that it was lifted from someone.
If you have something constructive to add about whether you think I'm doing something wrong running it or if it needs some rehab, I'd appreciate it.
And it wasn't that cheap.
It's been my observation that when a device like this doesn't work right, even if the failure is in part due to poor design/manufacture, it's usually the case that the designer got it to work right at one point, and there is some disconnect between design, manufacture, and maintenance/adjustment. Often it's a matter of bending a part slightly, filing down something, cutting a spring shorter, etc.
So even if it was a "lemon" to the last guy, it's not necessarily a lost cause. Just needs more than average TLC, and a little trouble-shooting/experimenting.
Unfortunately, when this is the case there's no "cookbook" solution.
Don't lose heart... they're easy to rebuild and kits are relatively inexpensive. I've got three Bostich nailers I've rebuilt. I think the Max's are a cut above the Bostich, so you should be fine in the long run.
I'm just not yet sure that a rebuild is necessary.... symptoms sound a bit weird. But for peace of mind, it might be good to throw a rebuild kit at it.
Scott- are you thinking just o-rings or a different kit? Don't have the page open now, but the toolpartsdirect listing had the o-rings for $20 and another kit for $70.
I'm definitely going to try this again with a higher pressure before taking it apart. The gun is really in very good shape- the only wear apparent is along the top midline and it's very clean otherwise.
Any time I've done it I've gone for the complete kit... valve assembly, O-rings, "head" gasket, etc.
This sounds like a pressure issue to me. Make sure the gun is oiled (and not over oiled either).
I have that nailer and have used it almost exclusively on fiber cement. It has worked flawlessly through thousands of nails. Try to crank up the pressure just a bit and if that doesn't help look for some other problem.