My NEW Favorite 3D Printer Tool!

[@GlennBrockett]

Much better understanding of the process you described last Sunday. Thanks. (I am happy to find the channel.)

[@MartinEwald]

Thanks for introducing me to that tool! Worked like a charm!

[@MandicLabs]

Glad to hear it.

[@noktrnl123]

I've bought one manufactured in 1957 that is still used consistently. It's amazing how old tech is forgotten or not recognized by current users.

[@WarScribe82]

Saw this video, looked at the 7 rails i need to grease on my Vonon build and the rails on my Rook that needs some maintenance and thought yeah i'll treat myself. Not sure how i've ever lived without this thing

[@heyitstor420]

This is perfect for my upcoming Trident build! Great to see so many of these already out in the community already!

[@MandicLabs]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@mr_voron]

I’ve been looking for something to compliment the big LockLine grease gun. Never thought this would exist but of course it does! Filling via rail screw hole is 1000 IQ move.

[@MandicLabs]

Can't claim credit for the rail hole thing, that's LDO documentation recommendation that I adopted. The little grease gun is my contribution though. Love that thing for this job. Happy to help.

[@jennygorton3412]

I've got one of these grease guns... It has a spring against the plunger and there is a small chain coming out of the bottom hole. When you open the gun, you pull the chain to withdraw the plunger, and then pull the chain sideways so it locks into the slot at the side of the hole, then when filled and closed, you pull the chain back to center to allow the spring to push the plunger.

[@tylerbell5162]

It _looks_ like that plunger is serviceable and it's probably just a 15 cent o-ring to stop the grease coming out the back?

[@World-WearyWhicker]

I've had good results by removing the wiper plates from the end of the carriage - then applying the grease to the groove in the rail and work back and forth. (I use a syringe + needle) Several times and it's worked into the ball races. Replace the wiper plates and call it a day. Advantages for me are less waste/cleanup, and can be done with the rails mounted.

[@jackphilp7057]

I use the Dualco 10350 with Super-Lube, and the right angle tip. No mess from moving grease and no leaks (yet). Connects directly to grease tubes so if I want to swap to another grease then I don't need to unpack the gun.

[@edumaker-alexgibson]

I prefer your method - I used a big metal syringe, but I had never tried an actual grease gun...! One thing I do whenever I deal with circulating bearings that could lose balls: 3D print 'dummy' rail or ballscrew sections. This makes it easy and clean to inject grease, as you can hold the whole thing in one hand, plug ends!

[@EFLO3D]

If you use a smaller syringe it will be much easier to push, and also, is thst brass nut on the plunger an adjustable packing nut??

[@PettyRuxpin]

I really appreciate you making this video. Greasing rails has always been annoying, at best.

[@MandicLabs]

And a messy disaster of lost bearing balls at worst... Happy to help!

[@802Garage]

For an adapter... Well, 3D print one? Rather than replacing the whole gun, you could replace the seal instead. Might even be able to 3D print one out of TPU if the shafts are actually worn and you need a tighter fit.

[@MandicLabs]

I could rebuild the tool, but in all likelihood the replacement parts would cost me as much as the $11 replacement tool. I got 15+ years out of it, it owes me nothing.

[@802Garage]

@@MandicLabs Fair! If it's a simple O-ring or something though, totally worth it.

[@SirLANsalot]

Yup that's what I did on my 2.4, just used the tube to do it instead, but same thing, got it all in there via the back. However at over 2k print hours on the 2.4 now, probably should do it again just to keep them on the up and up.

[@conorstewart2214]

Solder paste syringes can be difficult to squeeze out too, you can buy things that attach to the syringe and change them from working by pushing on the plunger to squeezing a long handle on the side, squeezing the handle on the side allows you much easier grip and also gives you a mechanical advantage since you have a large lever, this makes it much easier whilst also making it more precise, especially since you aren’t putting lots of force in to squeeze it. The things I am talking about have a long bolt that goes down into the syringe itself, up against the plunger and then at the top has a pivot point and a long handle so a large squeeze of the handle equals a small push on the bolt and therefore plunger. They tend to be made of plastic but they work well enough, they would work for those syringes too but you would need to use a different plunger. Might it be possible to make an adapter for the grease gun that allows you to mount needles or other thinner tips to it? Surely 3D printing hobbyists aren’t the only people that need to precisely and carefully apply grease.

[@vhoward1122]

Fix the one you have. Put a new seal in it.

[@MandicLabs]

It has been quite some time since I had it apart, but I'm fairly sure it is more complex than just a seal. And if I have to contact Matco for replacement parts, with shipping they will be over $11, easily.

[@vhoward1122]

@@MandicLabs Just sad to see something get thrown away. You can make parts and seals.

[@MandicLabs]

@@vhoward1122 I get that, but time is money. Spending more on materials & even 1 hour of time making a repair means I just lost money. It is simply the reality of the world we live in, especially when self employed. I'd love to repair everything I can, but some things just don't make sense. Pay the shipping and I'll send it to you to repair if you wish.

[@TheFotoGuys]

Does it also work with the small rails like MGN9 and MGN12?

[@RixTrix]

Ordered mine as soon as I saw your twitter post since I have a Trident build coming up. I love the ideas to try to make this work for maintenence so I can avoid buying the syringes all together :D

[@conorstewart2214]

Is there any way to test how effective these methods are? If the manufacturer has put the grease port there then it likely means it is good enough to just squirt it in there. Another idea would be to modify a short piece of rail just for greasing, you slide the slider onto the special grease rail and it has a large cutout in the middle of the rails so you can get grease in easier than using a bolt hole. Depending on how complex you wanted to go you could even add small holes or slots directly to where the ball bearings are. Maybe even add a bracket so it can bolt securely to the functional rail so there is no chance of it slipping off when you slide the slider onto the greaser rail.

[@Cookiecad]

Thank you, this is such a great idea

[@MandicLabs]

Thank you for watching and saying so!

[@RNMSC]

I would think that a good machine shop could make up some needle adapters for this, using a syringe needle in place of the standard needle you showed. It may be as easy as cutting off the standard needle, and brazing the syringe needle into the middle of the standard needle, and making sure that there are no leaks around the syringe, and the syringe passes grease. That said, I haven't tried it, the only grease gun's I have are for my tractors. Something to consider now that I have a 3d printer with linear bearings... Thanks for the pointer.

[@RNMSC]

I would also be somewhat surprised if the seal that's leaking is anything more complicated than a set of o-rings that have just broken down over time. An O-ring kit probably has a lifetime supply of them, though you'll replace the kit from time to time as the lifetime of the o-rings themselves expires. Ozon often has that effect.

[@Pythonassum]

I... have not thought of this either; I've got one already filled with green lucas, but now I've got an excuse to get another one and fill it with something else 😂

[@MandicLabs]

My life's mission, give other people reasons (excuses) to buy more tools!

[@ger5956]

Maybe try find some large gauge vets needles 🤔

[@vahvelpoiss]

I usually have taken the rails off because I'm a mad lad and I see no issues with it, I work with heavy machinery so I'm kinda experienced. however, if using syringe I recommend heating it up before use either in hot water or with hot air gun so the grease is less viscous

[@McFlyOrPie]

I was looking on Amazon and searched, "mini grease gun adapter". There are a ton of things on there to use with the needle.

[@MandicLabs]

There are in the typical grease zerk format, but not this design. Like the needles I showed are for regular grease zerks which would be an entirely different grease gun that is a bit overkill for our uses. This smaller grease gun uses a internal threaded body of currently unknown thread where the hoses on the other style ones use external pipe threads. I've just got to sit down and measure everything to decide how to adapter from A to B.

[@tsewja]

if you warm up the grease in the syringe it should be come more less viscos

[@MandicLabs]

That requires a warming process. Maybe just leave it on a printer bed sure, or you could just use the $11 tool that will last years and work right out of the box. It isn't for everyone but for someone like me that is doing this regularly, it is vastly superior.

[@kevinorjustk3v00]

watched neros chan the other day and seen your link and got it yesterday, thanks!

[@b3nny90]

That's actually a near idea. I use reptile syringes as they are a lot smaller tube and go into the bolt holes easily with no needle.

[@tg_73]

I'm guessing this would not work so well with a more fluid grease like gearfit ep 00/000, as it's so runny it would probably leak. Has anyone tried it?

[@RNMSC]

If the tool is really for oiling, not greasing, air tools, it should work just fine. Whether it is or not, I don't know. Adding one of these to my wish list though... :-)

[@SeanTaffert]

ever use Krytox for rails?

[@MandicLabs]

No, but for an upcoming build I will be looking for a high temperature grease option. Have you used Krytox?

[@Founders4]

Alan, I believe you're on the right track here but there's a better way for smaller applications. Dispensing grease by hand is difficult, the grease is far too viscus. There's is a tool called a dispensing or more specifically a syringe gun. It's used in all types of applications but you can also use it to grease small bearings, threaded rods, etc. Just load the grease into a syringe, the syringe goes right into the gun, you have yourself a small grease gun.

[@MandicLabs]

Loading a syringe with fresh grease is ANNOYING, and the cheapest versions of what you are describing that I'm finding are 3 to 10 times the price of this tool. You get the advantage of accessing smaller grease orifices', but for $30-100? I'll stick with this and the syringe by hand on the odd instances I need the smaller tip. Thanks for the information all the same, I always like knowing what options exist. If you can find one that isn't $30+ I'd be interested in learning more.

[@9400Martin]

I believe the gun you are using is meant more for air tool oil and not grease. Or your gun is just very worn since it's leaking at least 50% of your grease out the piston instead of the nozzle. I think you would have much more success with an actual grease nipple in one of the holes for your rails and a real greasegun which takes a whoie tube. But the idea itself seems like the best way to get it done, best regards, professional greaser of cranes.

[@MandicLabs]

No, the one I showed is intended for grease. I said it is pretty worn out as it’s over 15 years old AND I sold tools so I used it for servicing work. It’s seen more use than they typically do. A grease gun coupler is a rather large opening and would be very easy to miss the hole when filling and make a big grease blocks. Along with likely being a bit overpowered for the application. And larger / messier to store for the average 3d printer. The tapered tip on this gun and its compact nature make it perfect for the bulk of jobs printers, just not the smallest tasks where a needle zerk setup is possibly overkill.

[@jasongooden917]

You can also put the grease in a glass container and melt it to a liquid in a microwave the pour it where you want to and when the grease cools off it will congeal again.

[@basset0264]

But greasing the rails on the printer???

[@MandicLabs]

That's why I said I'm looking at ways to adapt a needle to the task. On machine maintenance shouldn't require much grease so a syringe may still be best there. The initial packing is the MOST important part IMO. If you don't get that right, that is when you are likely to have issues later.

[@arthurmoore9488]

My advice for the needles. Buy a cheap regular grease gun. The small ones should work well, and are about the same size as what you have there. They also have the advantage of having a spring plunger system, which it looks like yours is missing.

[@nicholasbackus492]

i uh.... spray wd40 brand white lithium grease onto the rail and run it back and forth a few times. I am probably undergreases.

[@kingyachan]

dont play coy, you know its called a grease nipple ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@andreas.grundler]

Let's hope KZbin doesn't demonetize the video for using the G word in the context of 3D printing. I have the impression that this has been happening quite often lately.

[@MandicLabs]

Who knows. Could be a million reasons my last stream was limited, hopefully that get's resolved and nothing goes wrong here.

[@jasongooden917]

3D print a syringe with a trigger

[@Condamine123456]

And it's a grease injector so what nothing special

[@MandicLabs]

Insightful and helpful commentary. I look forward to the wealth of knowledgeable content you produce in the future.