Leaky rivet gun

[Jeff R]

I have a brand new Soiux 3x rivet gun and it leaks a bit of air. It sounds like the air is coming from the base of the piston, i.e.where the handel bends to form the shaft. Sorry, I am not good at describing things. The air is definitely not leaking at the air input connection. If I shake the gun or sometimes even hold it upright, the leak with stop. I can hear a kind of woosh sound and hear a chamber or something close off when the air does stop.

Sometimes it will stop just lying on the bench, while other times it will leak continously if left undisturbed.

It doesn't leak a lot, but you can clearly hear it, and it has leaked since day one. Brown's offers a 30 day return, but I hate to give up my gun for the time it would take to have it evaluated and replaced.

Is this leaking a problem? I do use air tool oil in it - a few drops I drop into the air connection port prior to each riveting session.

Thanks,
Jeff

[osxuser]

Pretty Normal to me, of course, I buy used air tools, so I don't know how new ones act...

[thallock]

Jeff,

I've got the cheap $90 econo rivet gun, and it does not leak at all. I had a bad leak on the cheap swivel, but once I replaced that, it doesn't leak anymore.

I've never opened one up, so can't say what might be wrong with yours. If it were me, I would probably try to take it apart and fix it, but unless you are curious, it might be better to send it back.

Tracy.

[Rick S.]

Jeff,

I totally understand the giving up the gun for a while thing but for what your Sioux gun costs, send it back and make them fix it. I have the same gun and it's a gem but as with all mechanical things starting to go bad, they rarely fix themselves and you may end up sending it anyway, but then the warranty is gone.

My sioux drill started doing the same thing...sent it in for a new seal, the leak progressively got worse and worse till I felt like it was robbing me of air and making the compressor run...(doubtful but a good excuse to get it fixed) It was two years old when that happened.

FWIW, I wouldn't trade either of them for a cheaper model. They work great. If your not using an inline oiler a drop or two of pneumatic oil before each session will keep the insides free of corrosion, just run the gun for a few blasts to rid it of excess oil before getting the tool next to your nice clean aluminum.

[David_Nelson]

Hi Jeff,

Some time ago I noticed that I wasn't getting the performance that I was used to out of my Sioux air drill. I ended up finding a beetle at the connection:

http://caura.dyndns.org/gallery/album01/adu
http://caura.dyndns.org/gallery/album01/adz
http://caura.dyndns.org/gallery/album01/ady

Although I didn't find any guts in the drill, I don't think it would hurt to take a look.

Regards,
/\/elson