The Framers Forum

Hello - I’m new to the Forum because I have learned that there are alot of great ideas out there if you just ask for help. Well I need a little advice and help regarding my pneumatic underpinner. I have pretty old Fletcher 5100 V-Lock (I have no idea its actual age). I came across it at a nearby frame shop that was going out of business and had to find literature on it online. It's been a solid unit until the Nail Block began to get out of position.

This is the maintenance subject that I’m having real difficulty with - adjusting the V-Lock Nail guide block by turning the self locking nut at the bottom of the impactor. The guide block was sitting up too high relative to the surface of the bloc, but I didn’t know if the screw should be turned clockwise or CCW looking upward from below.

At this point my attempts to get the nail block to move have resulted in rendering the unit completely out of adjustment to the point that the clamp pad will descend to hold the work, but impactor will not fire. Can someone please advise me how to make these adjustments and get the unit working again. Thank you

Bill M

I've never even heard of your location. Are you in the UK, or elsewhere? I might be necessary to contact your local representative for this underpinner to ask for a list of approved engineers with experience of this machine. I wondering if anything was disturbed during transit to your premises. Mont pneumatic underpinners have something to prevent wedges from being fired until the mechanism returns to it starting position from having fired it's last wedge. If the mechanism got moved from it's starting position, where it needs to be to fiire another wedge, a built in safety mechanism may well be what was stopping it from firing. I'm sorry, but it needs someone who knows how these machines are ment to work to know what needs doing!

I'm in Virginia. I did contact what is now Fletcher-Terry in CT, but this unit is older than their experience base - so I'm hoping someone out there has one of these machines and has successfully adjusted the nail block. Thanks for your response.

Hi Bill

Welcome to the forum.

I'm not familiar with this model of underpinner, I suspect that it has never been available in the UK. You might have more luck posting the same question on the US site thegrumble.com as folks there are likely to have experience of that particular machine.

Jim