Porter Cable Pancake Compressor Piston Stuck

[5tripstohardwarestore]

Cylinder is stuck in the head when I take it apart. How the heck am I supposed to get it out of there? I've tried soaking in wd40. will not twist out. Might have to remove the entire piston arm and pound it out in a vice.

 

[nadogail]

WD-40 is a water displacer, It has some ability to penetrate but IMHO that is incidental.

ATF, mixed with Acetone has worked well as a penetrating solution.

 

[WillyBoy]

Yeah, what nadogail said. Some folks attribute too much to WD-40.
Over the counter penetrants that work pretty well: PB Blaster; Liquid wrench; Aerokroil.

If the piston has scuffed the cylinder wall, there may be some metal in the way.

 

[wssix99]

Those are made in China and have all sorts of non-serviceable parts on them. Something else on the unit is probably broken, which led to the issue. Are you actually trying to get it running again. $99.99 will buy you a new one.

 

[Mikes61]

Try PB Blaster and let it soak for a couple days.

 

[strutaeng]

If it's stuck because it actually failed, I think you should probably toss it. Those units are oiless, which means they eventually wear out and it's not worth fixing them.

 

[The Cobbler]

if the piston is stuck in the cylinder, first thing to do is see of parts are available, because your piston & cylinder are toast

 

[5tripstohardwarestore]

Cylinder is stuck in the head when I take it apart. How the heck am I supposed to get it out of there? I've tried soaking in wd40. will not twist out. Might have to remove the entire piston arm and pound it out in a vice.

Thanks. I ended up solving it the normal way. Hit it with hammer. It worked.

 

[finn]

Scrap it. A new one is likely about the cost of parts to fix the one with the seized piston or broken rod.

if it still rotated, a new teflon ring might be worth it, but anything beyond that is a fools errand, as far as repairs.

 

[nadogail]

When I asked a Cabinet Maker to tell me what brands of small compressors were better, he said “they are all ****, just buy the cheapest one”,

 

[finn]

The Kobalt version is on sale at Lowe’s for $99 this week as part of the Memorial Day promotion.

 

[knightfire83]

I bought one of those store brand oilless ultra quiet compressors for around the house things.
Pretty amazing how much air it puts out and you can barely tell it's running.

Similar to this one on YouTube:
The video makes it seem louder than it is in person.

 

[driftpin]

I have an old version of the Politically Correct (PC: Porter Cable) which came with a pneumatic brad gun, to do work on remodeling the kitchen. It's pretty-loud! The scroll screw compressors are supposed to be the most-quiet, but I've never seen a side-by-side comparison. The PC compressor has outlasted the brad gun, which seems to have developed some fatal flaw in its operation, related to the piston and its O-ring. I tried to service the gun with a gen-yoo-wine PC O-ring but it still isn't going to work, w/o having to fuss with it in-between brad strikes. I did the HFT thing, and that brad gun works well.

 

[nadogail]

I bought one of those store brand oilless ultra quiet compressors for around the house things.
Pretty amazing how much air it puts out and you can barely tell it's running.

Similar to this one on YouTube:
The video makes it seem louder than it is in person.

 

[nadogail]

I too bought the HF "Quiet" air compressor, it is nice to be able to talk while the compressor is running

 

[onewheat]

I've got a Porter Cable compressor and the Pressure Switch no longer works (it just runs until the blow-off pops) and a replacement is no longer available. It looks like I just took it out of the box though.

 

[The Cobbler]

Pressure Switch no longer works

I have a brand new switch for an older PC pancake compressor, it's missing the plastic cover. what model of compressor is yours?

 

[onewheat]

I have a brand new switch for an older PC pancake compressor, it's missing the plastic cover. what model of compressor is yours?

It is a Model PCFP02003

Switch Pres 105-135 N043086​

OEM part for: Porter Cable

Part Number: N043086

Discontinued

 

[The Cobbler]

Different switch . I have the traditional on/off pressure switch .

 

[The Cobbler]

available on amazon.

 

[nadogail]

Can you adapt another switch? I have had good luck when working on hydraulic equipment by replacing OEM pressure switches with Quality Generic replacements.

 

[The Cobbler]

adapt another switch?

That's what I would do. a bit of plumbing & a new regular switch would be in there

 

[onewheat]

Can you adapt another switch? I have had good luck when working on hydraulic equipment by replacing OEM pressure switches with Quality Generic replacements.

I did find another that I could adapt - it was $35. A new compressor with a warranty is $100 and I have another, so I haven't been in a huge hurry to do anything just yet.

 

[onewheat]

available on amazon.

I can not find this one on Amazon anywhere. Is this a Canada-only switch perhaps?