Factory-Reconditioned Porter-Cable RN175AR 7/8-Inch to 1 3/4 - Inch Coil Roofing Nailer

I had used a friend's Bostitch coil nail several times before. It was finally time to buy one of my own. I've always been a fan of Porter-Cable tools. The amazing price that Amazon at this refurb was too much to resist.

I Unboxed my nail gun to find it in almost new condition, a small wear mark. I was surprised to find it much smaller and lighter than the Bostitch I had used before. I had ordered a RN175AR but got RN175A. I have no idea about the difference between these two models.

Part 1

A few weeks later I was ready to put it on probation.
Location - Luling, Louisiana - 25 miles from New Orleans

I had a circa 1960, 11 square meters of roofs that had redecked with 1 / 2 plywood over 1 x 10 planks.
Under 30 years I architectural shingle beach manufacturer's specifications (driven nails should go through the decking) chose to use a 1 1 / 2 inch seam.

Compressor PSI set to 100 kg.

Six nails in the job one obvious question was clear. Some of the nails were not driven entirely - a couple of whacks with a hammer and everything was ship shape. Time to look for depth adjustment. While I had been given a safety briefing, but not an instruction manual - I was left to the wise from the depth adjustment. (Fairly obvious - like the operation of switching between single nail and nail more options.)

With depth adjustment set to maximum, I did another test. Same problem.

So I increased compressor pressure to 125 pounds - the same problem.

So 130 lbs (the maximum specified for the safe operation of the tool.) - Same problem.

For every 10 nails tried-1 or 2 to be massaged with a hammer. Time consuming, but certainly better than hand nailing.

In this work, a co-worker was with his stiff coil nailer. Outside of some minor differences - the Porter Cable and Ridgid nails appeared to be quite similar.

Did he have the same problem? Yes.

So I found that this particular usage exceeded the capacity of both of these nails.

It was part of the roof that contained all new wood. In this area, both arms worked flawlessly.

Part 2

Several weeks later a friend who has much more experience than the roofing, I asked to borrow the porter cable nailer coil. He had borrowed his Bostitch RN145 out and could not wait to return.

Informed about my experience - he was thinking of a possible solution. He needed to change the nipple on the back of the gun from 1 / 4 "to 3 / 8" to set up their equipment. It made sense that this may solve the problem.

Unfortunately not.

Similarly, he could nail without problems in all new wood and only found problems with nailing tempered started subdecking.

Conclusion

To put our experiences together, we have guessed that the Porter-Cable, because it is light and small is a good choice for new construction. But the extra weight and size Bostitch (larger piston with more mass) to about the same price (refurb), is the best choice for rennovation.