grease gun

[bgott]

I went by a friend of mine's shop today and noticed that he'd bought a nifty grease gun. So nifty that I ordered one. This set- up uses grease out of a one gallon paint can. The top is held on by thumb screws and it has a six foot, 1.5 meter to be exact, hose connecting to the gun. It has a foot operated plunger pump on the top, it's supposed to generate 10,000 psi of pressure. The gun has a switch on it so you have a high volume/ low pressure grease shot or a high pressure shot for clearing plugged zerks. I was thinking of a battery powered or air powered gun but I hate dealing with grease cartridges. They always seem to run out in the middle of the job and I've been having problems with tubes that are mis-sized and won't fit the gun. It will also be nice to carry in the truck to the jobsite...no dead batteries or worrying about compressed air. The grease he was using was "Aqua Lube" that he got at the marine supply. It's a little pricy at $29.95 retail or $23.00 my cost. If I can't find regular grease in one gallon cans I'll get a paint can from Sherwin -Williams and fill it from the tubes. They sell a refillable grease cup for it but I can get the paint can for free. The gun is made by MacNaught in Austrailia, it's called the Mini-Lube. Model #K6. Parts are available. I think I'm going to like this thing!

http://www.macnaughtidaho.com/entry.html

 

[rf33]

That thing looks pretty darn cool. My only question would be about how easy / hard / messy it would be to reload the thing with grease. I could just imagine trying to fill up a can of grease from a 40 gallon drum or however you get it, to be pretty messy.

 

[Bird]

That's a pretty neat looking grease gun, but I'd sure want a flex hose on the nozzle.

 

[bgott]

A wide blade putty knife ought to do it with little or no mess. I always manage to make a mess when changing out grease cartridges. Either the cartridge doesn't fit right or the plunger slips or something goes screwy. Even if it gets a little messy I'll be able to grease 8 or 10 times as many zerks before I have to worry about it. Hopefully!

 

[bgott]

You went through that website and saw those 80 something and 120 something dollar attachment kits and figured you'd put a bug in my ear and wait and see how long it'd take for me to have to have one, didn't you?

 

[bgott]

Well, I ordered my grease gun on the 14th and UPS pulled up to my door bright and early on the 20th. Pretty good time for a shipment from Australia, I think! Especially since the invoice states it was ordered by the US dealer the 17th! I open the box and , low and behold, they shipped the wrong one. I'm looking at a K3 rather than the K6. $258 compared to $128. I e-mailed Don Werst of MacNaught Products USA and he called me back in 5 minutes. Due to the shipping charges each way it was decided that I could keep the K3. Not a bad deal! It uses a 5 gallon pail of grease rather than a 1 gallon paint can, so it will be just a little bit bigger PITA to use in the field but I can live with it. I have a bucket of grease on order, I'll let y'all know how it works when I get it.

 

[bgott]

I finally got my grease today. In a way I was disappointed. I watch me friend use his gun and he was pumping and squeezing the trigger trying to get the last of the grease out of the can. I didn't realize that the pressure was built by squeezing the gun. Then again, I couldn't figure out how they were getting 10,000 psi with a foot pump, either. Once I figured out how to use the gun and my initial disappointment went away I found I really like this gun. The high volumne setting pushes grease out the side of the loader pins in two or three pumps. On the two or three tight pins that were a pain to grease with a regular gun the high pressure setting is a breeze, not much hand pressure needed at all.

 

[bgott]

I've got the parts to make a little cart to roll it around and the hose is long enough to grease the tractor while it's on the trailer.

 

[pajoube]

bgott, very impressive machine. Did you get an extender flex line for those hard to get places?
PJ

 

[bgott]

Not yet. I'm going to get a swivel tip and see if it fits everywhere I need it to fit first. I like being able to put a little weight on a zerk if need be.