What Is a Grease Gun?
A grease gun is a tool used to lubricate bearings that support parts involved in the rotation and reciprocating motion of equipment with grease.
Grease is used to smooth rotation and reduce friction and is a semi-solid mixture of liquid lubricant and a thickening agent.
Certain cartridge types load easily with greases, such as flexible types with a bendable nozzle, manual types, rechargeable types, and air types used in connection with air equipment.
Uses of Grease Guns
Grease guns are used for machine maintenance and greasing in various fields such as machinery, construction, heavy equipment, agriculture, and production plants.
Examples of use are as follows
- Greasing of construction machinery
- Removing working oil and other oils from old machinery
- Greasing of tractors and other agricultural machinery
- Automobile maintenance and motorcycle greasing
- Grease replenishment maintenance of turret punch presses
- Grease up power gates and air jacks
- Maintenance of forklifts and other heavy machinery for greasing
- Grease-up of hub bearings of boat trailers
- Grease replenishment of food production machinery
- Greening piece of motor/actuator of solar system tracker
Principle of Grease Guns
Grease guns are available in two types according to the grease setting method: cartridge type and manually filled into a cylinder, and grease capacities vary from 80g to 500g. The cartridge type is often used because it keeps hands clean when replacing grease and can be refilled easily, but its disadvantage is that there are few types, and they are expensive.
When you insert the tip of the nozzle of a grease gun or attach it to the grease inlet (grease nipple) of a machine that is blocked by a steel ball, push the pistol lever of the grease gun, oil enters the machine by pumping action.
Use a straight metal nozzle when the inlet port is close to the machine. Use a flexible hose nozzle when the distance or angle is significant so lubricant can be applied regardless of the machine’s inclination.
After completing the work, remove the grease gun by tilting the tip and releasing the internal pressure.
Use the manual type when injecting a small amount of grease into a narrow space and the air type when injecting a large amount at high pressure into a large machine. The rechargeable type is convenient for injecting grease quickly into places with no power supply.