Options for Grease Gun Accuracy
 

Vintage Comrades,

I have used Buzzy's Honey Gun now with a tube of Finish Line premium grease now for years and love in incredible accuracy of the gun. But, something seems to be going wrong with it as it has a difficult time pumping, even with a new tube installed. As I fiddle with that I figure it might be time to begin looking for a "Plan B".

Yes, Park and Dualco make grease guns but they seem to be a little chunky and don't look to be as accurate as I'd like. But, maybe I'm wrong? Can you set me straight? Or maybe you have another, entirely different alternative?

Also, I am not married to using tube grease. I use Motorex 2000 as my bulk grease and wouldn't have any problems loading that up into a gun for accurate firing.

Let the show-n-tell begin!

This is one of those things that seem improbable but that would be wrong. A crumb, chunk, glob or maybe even a hair or fiber may be gumming up the works and if any main part of that is plastic or plastic like it may have given up in some way. Pumping grease is hard work as hydraulics come into play and pot metal and plastic are no match in the long run or in the event of a blockage of some sort.

If it is on the s**t list you might as well see if you can tear it down and figure it out. ;)

I use a small lever action, the kind that the small cartridges fit, with a needle on it for a lot of what I do, I use axle grease for less than perfect races with new balls, adjust perfectly with minimal preload and keep close tabs on it. :twitchy:

Phil grease gets loaded into a couple of different size syringes for things that need it.

I’ve been looking for an alternative for storing (and using) marine grease that comes in a 14 oz tube. I’ve considered filling a plastic squeeze bottle in the photo, but I haven’t tried this yet.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7d2242bd2.jpeg

I'm using an Astro pneumatic 101 gun and I like it. Very tiny nozzle but it does sometimes end up pushing out more than I'd like if there is some air.

https://www.amazon.ca/Astro-Pneumati...150445&sr=8-16

I've been using this for years. It's great for bike stuff.
I think I found it at an auto parts store(or maybe Harbor Freight).

A couple of globs of your favorite grease will last awhile. And, it works perfect on my XC Pro greaseguard fittings.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4546166643.jpg

You probably have air in the grease gun, preventing it's pumping grease.

If it's a grease squeeze tube on it, as the tube empties, it's common for air to get in, since a slight vacuum occurs.

To restore function, I roll up the old tube until it starts to pressurize, then I wrap the rolled part with clear tape to keep the tube plump.
From there it's easy to apply a bit of pressure from the tube while I very slowly work the trigger/plunger to expel the air with a shot of grease.

You can tell when the old tube is starting to allow air in when, as Narhay mentioned, the grease keeps coming out after you set the gun down. This is the time to roll the tube up again, before the thing stops working.

Accuracy? I've got one of those basic grease guns sold under the Dualco name and it dispenses grease exactly as advertised. Just put the nozzle where you want to add grease and pump the desired quantity. Not sure why accuracy would matter when you can put the tip of the nozzle right up to the race or into a grease port.

I like the mini grease gun option referenced in this thread. I think I’ll give that a try.

:thumb: Yep

Central Pneumatic = Harbor Freight house brand. These are fine but you have to manually fill them, no real problem with a squeeze tube but they do get air bubbles as you do have to move the piston manually as well. I glued a magnet to the bottom of mine and set it in a plastic container as if the grease separates, the oily part leaks out. ;)

Here's the one I use, with a needle for pinpoint accuracy. ;)

https://www.amazon.com/Wadoy-Grease-.../dp/B07HMFB6YJ


https://www.amazon.com/Plews-05-037-...66654448&psc=1

Great suggestions everyone. Thanks. Having used the Honey gun for nearly double digits in years, I've done alright in discovering its nuances. And your description on how to work it, dddd is spot on. All that is exactly how I keep it rolling along too. But, being it's an old friend and deadly accurate, I may just rebuild it to see if that helps anything.
If not, the product lead from merziac may be in my future.

Be advised that you will have to empty a tube of preloaded grease to use your favorite blend, strain, whatever, then reset the slide to load it.

As I alluded to earlier, I use this manly for less than perfect races, I install new loose balls, load em up with good thick grease, set em up just right and spin on down the road.

I have the needle on full time but it comes in most handy to regrease sealed bearings after carefully removing the seals with a pick and sticking it in between each bearing and loading them up as I did the other day on the new to me chrome Ritchey frame that came with what I believe to be the original sealed BB. ;)

For good races I use Phil from the tube or a syringe.

Speaking of Phil's grease, does anyone own one of their guns?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...170bd06f7e.jpg

I too have the Harbor Freight gun...
 

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5a2374ba1d.jpg

It works fine, it leeks quite a bit, which irritates me to no end.

That said Dualco's are excellent and come with lots of options. I will be buying a new one frome them at some point. They make some super nice grease guns and you can customize them somewhat.

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I mean seriously, look at all the options!

Push Type Utility Guns - Dualco
http://dualco-inc.com/wp-content/upl....v.06.web_.pdf