Anyone familiar with Grex 23g pinner?

[norry]

Picked up a Grex 23g recently, used, looked decent. On trying to use it, though, I found that the recoil doesn't seem to work. It fires one pin perfectly, then the driver stays 'down' (extended) until I unload the pins and remove the front of the driver assembly... at which point it will return of its own accord if I tilt the pinner over.

Online advice seems to say that I should check the O-rings. I've had this thing completely apart and the O-rings all look fine, as does the cylinder and the driver. The only part that doesn't look fine was this funny crown-shaped piece of plastic which the factory diagram calls "Cylinder bushing (collar)". That was cracked in 2 places and broken in 1.

I assume that this piece actually does something (though I can't for the life of me figure out exactly what it does), and I'm guessing that it being broken is not good for the tool's function. But before I pay to have one shipped from Grex - if someone here is familiar with the inner workings of these pinners, could you chime in about whether this actually has to do with the problem I'm having? I kinda need to have this working soon, and the guy who sold it to me sounds like he wasn't trying to dump broken merchandise on me (we've been in touch), so if this is a problem unit and I should just buy a newer one, that would also be useful to know.

Thanks in advance!

 

[usa#1]

If you decide to buy one, check out the 23 gage harbor freight pin nailer. It's about $24.00 and works quiet well.

 

[norry]

If you decide to buy one, check out the 23 gage harbor freight pin nailer. It's about $24.00 and works quiet well.

I'd contemplated that before I got the Grex, but I really wanted to use longer pins than the HF pinner can shoot. It tops out at 1". Actually, I'd thought about getting the other Grex model, which goes all the way up to 2", but figured 1 3/8 would be enough for me.

Thanks for the tip though!

 

[usa#1]

That was also my original thinking on pin length. After I thought about it though, I figured if I needed something longer than 1 inch, 23 ga may not be large enough. Since I already had both a 15 an a 16 ga nailer, I figured for the small amount of money I'd give the harbor freight gun a try. I have been surprised how much I use the 23ga nailer. The gun shoots great and the pins are barely noticeable. I don't use the harbor freight pins.

 

[norry]

Yeah, I heard the HF pins are no good. But here's the thing... I'm trying to put in 5/8-thick molding, and even if it's directly against the wall with no air space at all, a 1 inch pin is only 3/8 into the wall. That's not very far, especially for a 23g fastener. For a 1 3/8 pin, you're at 3/4 - that's twice as much.

So for this use, I'm really thinking the extra length could come in handy. Which is a shame, because I could really use a good $24 pinner right about now!