Why has nobody invented this?!

Grease gun LED gas guage.
Please consider purchasing my fine, horsepower-boosting decals.
www.etsy.com/c...

[@enlishbob]

Tristan, apologies for the late reply, the Capybara had a mild case of the bends after our trip out to the Green Island reef and required decompression, all is well now. Will you be attending next Tuesday? The Concubine has made a large batch of the pate you enjoy and will bring along several pots. Hope to see you then. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[@arduinoversusevil2025]

Bobert! The spuds aren't ready for Mother Earth Gaia. Old frosty, mustachioed with the fresh white stuff, ensured a false start. Ebbs and flows, you understand. No ragrets. xox.

[@incredulousd9408]

I know a conversation has happened here, but I'm just not sure what.

[@joshk.6246]

@@incredulousd9408 and yet......I cannot look away

[@tristangraves867]

I feel as if I have been attacked

[@blackopsrocks]

@@tristangraves867 I too feel attacked.

[@anthonywitham2305]

Hi AvE, I have it on good authority they made a prototype of the grease gun with indicator. They found in trials that the gun was never refilled and remained nearly empty. When the gun was picked up to use, the person saw it was nearly empty. They put it back and left it for some other smuck to refill and went to find a gun that had grease in it. 🤣

[@heretohear8662]

No truer words!!

[@w.a.schull1357]

Because fuck the next guy!

[@NBSV1]

Or, they put just enough grease in for what they need. That way it’s nearly empty for the next guy. Takes real talent to always get it a couple pumps away from sucking air.

[@ffoska]

of course. an indicator on the grease gun is just a waste, it is always going to be active. Imperical evidence shows that all grease guns are empty, all of the time. Next hypothesis: let's go on a smoke brake, and see if it will refill itself if left alone.

[@OvelNick]

Fucking helpers!

[@williamhustonrn6160]

I have my greese gun hung on the wall on an old analog fish scale. On the wall is written the empty weight and full weight for it to remind me the range, as its hanging on the wall i can see how full it is based on the weight its displaying on the fish scale.

[@wealthyblackman2655]

BINGO... WOW! Great answer.

[@larrymcfarland6112]

Genius! Excellent idea and I must say that publishing a million dollar idea in hopes SOMEBODY will take the hint what has the paper says he can engineer stuff he will never practically use, pay chiner to mass produce the shit out of it and times the cost to produce each one by 333 to deduce the price we will pay in the US. And have it available for you to use at your convenience, I can appreciate the humility, and like you said. More confirmation the system is broken. We need a easy way to sell a great idea to the highest bidder just like an auction and a group of people record the auction and store the idea blueprint and outline and prosecute anyone present at the auction or their affiliate from producing the idea or slightly different rendition thereof, unless they purchased the idea or some of the right to produce it from the purchaser who will be required to track the statistics and add them to the portfolio of the brain that came up with the idea. We demand reform!

[@erroneum]

I just grab the plunger handle and gently pull it out; when it gets hard to pull you're starting to compress the spring, so you know how full it is based on how far the handle went out.

[@blacksmokejoe5827]

@@erroneum Thats what i do. I bet not many realize you can use it as a indcator rod for level of fullness also.

[@crabmansteve6844]

You're a fucking genius.

[@thomas316]

Revenue subscription model? WiFi enabled to automatically order you a new proprietary and expensive tube o' lube when half empty. Tools-As-A-Servive could be huge, easily valued into unicorn territory. 🦄

[@fanplant]

Damnit I read your comment after I left a similar one. Great minds...

[@TroyRubert]

You can bet your sweet TaaS

[@sagopalm279]

juicero meets printer cartridge

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

@@sagopalm279 meets Mac/Snap-Off

[@DavidPirouet]

They would make the grease gun not work without proprietary grease, with the little chip on the tube, and there's also use the counter at the end of life, even though without a computer it still would have worked fine.

[@PupuTheMonkey]

My father asked me once (exactly once) to refill the grease gun. He had already removed the empty tube and I didn't realize the new one would fit inside. And I had just learned how to hand pack wheel bearings the previous weekend.

[@Meowface.]

Oh no 🤦‍♂️

[@BallValve]

yeah, I could see little me doing the same. 😂

[@Wulthrin]

place i used to work was run by cheap bastards that bought moly grease in a 20 gallon barrel. had to fill the gun by hand if you wanted to use it, so we rarely did. it still managed to be empty every time i grabbed it. i got to the point where i'd just stick the tube in the keg, cover one end with my hand and pull it back out. you get what you get.

[@Psi105]

Really old ones did actually work that way, they didn't use refillable cartridges

[@choccolocco]

@@Psi105 Yup. I have my grandfather’s “shorty”, and you have to hand pack it. He never bought a tube of grease, always a tub. I think this is why I hate the sight of a grease gun to this day. Now I’ve got to go wash my hands, because all I have to do is LOOK at a grease gun and I’ve got it all over me…..same with roofing tar….

[@franknedobity2757]

The plunger tells you when it’s empty, used to use it as a measure tool for filling bearing cavity. The plunger shows you how much is left. Pulls all the way out when full, doesn’t pull out at all when empty. If you pull the plunger before each time you can judge how much is left from how far out the plunger is pulled. If you stop the grease gun when the plunger handle hits the end cap stop greasing refill and not have to bleed the air out of the air bound pump.

[@jakeolden1014]

I was waiting for him to say this...I had to check and make sure this wasn't an Aprils fools joke. wtf???

[@KimballPrecision]

@@jakeolden1014 yeah I’m confused how more people in the comments didn’t bring this up? I figured it was common knowledge since I learned it from my grandpa who’s like 80 years old and still works 72 hour weeks.

[@russellwilliams2898]

So few of us 🤫

[@davidkelly9218]

I was kind of confused why he didn't bring this up as well. Cant get any cheaper or easier to use than the plunger to tell you if you have grease in the gun. Just pull out the handle and look at the distance it comes out, and it is already installed and very fast to use.

[@smokenchoken1736]

Learned this years ago, put a tube and a half of grease in my equipment at shutdown every night M-F so no matter what I have to change at least 1 tube a day so its not a big ordeal less than a minute of inconvenience and the plunger floats where the grease lvl is so stop a couple pumps early and no air to purge as Frank mentioned above

[@johnt1815]

The reason they don't meter off of piston movement is because of the roughly 300 pumps, 12 cap removals, and 4 different tubes it takes to get the grease ot come out of the damn thing in the first place.

[@Torchedini]

Secondly it probably would be wrong anyway because they calibrated it using the grease you aren't using.

[@jeffhall768]

I'm an equipment operator and before I became one, I had a hell of a time getting grease guns to work. Now, it's zero problem whatsoever. Like anything, practice and understanding is essential. 2 things though, any time a grease gun isn't working it because of air and the heavier the spring in the gun the better. Those cheap guns with light springs make things way worse. It needs to be difficult to draw the spring back when loading and then always purge the air and you're golden. I go from pumping air to pumping grease in a new cartridge in less than a minute every time and nearly every day of work.

[@felixar90]

The one we have at work, if you turn the handle 1/4 turn, it locks into the plunger, and you can just push hard on the handle and get the air out instantly instead of relying on the spring force. Actually AvE's gun is one of that kind.

[@wizard_of_poz4413]

@@felixar90 yea adept ape pointed that out too

[@--_DJ_--]

​@@Torchedini An ounce of NLG 2 is the same volume as one of NLG 3 isn't it?

[@carolinabeacher1558]

just put a zurk fitting on the grease gun so you can fill it up with a grease gun.

[@jonathans3971]

Yes! the answer I was looking for :D

[@ruinunes8251]

Genius. Someone will do it 😂

[@ObsoleteTechnologies]

this guy is going places.

[@ObservationofLimits]

This is how we will ours out of a drum using a pneumatic pump.

[@BrooksMoses]

Heck, if you put it in the right place and remember to do it before its completely empty, you can run the tube around and refill the grease gun _with itself_!

[@JohnSmith-df7uo]

I just want to point out that on the official English captions does indeed say "neo-diddlium" at 2:17 . That makes it officially accepted (although it has been in our hearts for ages).

[@eugenepolan1750]

Keep a gravity-powered scale out in the workshop. Weigh the grease gun when it's full and when it's empty. Write the weights on a tag. Weigh it when you bring it back after you've used it and compare that weight to the full and empty weights to see where you stand on greaseness.

[@richardvoss77]

as an aprrentice's apprentice in the use of tools I take full responsibility for cross threading the cap.

[@trueblue862]

I've always just pulled the rod back until it requires force, it gives you an accurate indication of how much grease is in the gun, and only requires what is already there.

[@snap-off5383]

^ this.

[@shawnmciver3943]

the milwaukee grease gun actually has markings on the rod that say how much of a tube of grease is left

[@RBurwell]

Yup, that's the one.

[@them2545]

I was about to say why you don’t just put 0 - 100% markings on the rod...

[@trueblue862]

@@them2545, because I'm not that anal retentive, I know my grease gun and how long the tube of grease is.

[@Nothingtoya]

The plunger let's you know when it's almost out. Next time you go and use your Milwaukee grease gun, pull the plunger out to where it stops on its own, don't pull it all the way out like you're changing grease. You'll see marks on it that tells you how much you have left. You can leave it out and pump grease and watch it suck the handle in.

[@rollastudent]

He will have that plunder bent into a “5” before lunch if he did that

[@keithyinger3326]

This is what I came here to say. If the plunger pulls out easily on its own halfway then you know you have half a tube of Grease left. If it pulls out nearly all the way, then your tube of grease is almost full. And if it barely pulls out at all, then you should probably bring a fresh tube of grease with you because you're going to need it after greasing a couple fittings. That's how I've always checked the level of Grease before heading out to the field.

[@WalkingTrashcan]

It always surprises me how many people I come across who don’t know this.

[@clintblake1441]

Yeah. This was my first thought.

[@idriwzrd]

Too easy a solution for an enginerd.

[@wb5mct]

Same way it's always been done: pull the f'ing plunger and see how far it comes out! If it's less than a half inch you're almost out!

[@macbook802]

With someone so far involved in KZbin, you'd think he'd watch a video about it. Someone should tell him no one uses grease anymore anyways. He should invent a greaseless pin system

[@jeffhall768]

Judging by his recent excavator video, he doesn't use grease very much lol

[@KnowledgePerformance7]

@@macbook802 no one uses grease? Clearly partner you haven't seen any of the shops I have

[@macbook802]

@@jeffhall768 ask your mom

[@macbook802]

@@KnowledgePerformance7 I've seen

[@misfire88]

No one seems to be talking about Dewclaw! Hope we still get him in from time to time. Love the two of you together

[@mandrac2]

Alternative B to circumvent having to put batteries in the thing: Hot glue a clear tube on the side of the thing with a small bearing ball in it. If everything work correctly the ball should follow the magnet around

[@gustavoalmeida624]

Ingenious! Love it.

[@seeigecannon]

Suggestion for an improvement: If you put a strip of magnetic viewing film on the line that the magnet travels you would be able to see the position of the magnet in real-time. On top of that, there would be no battery/electronics.

[@JonCoxote]

Had that very same thought. I learned of the magnetic viewing film's existence from this channel.

[@scumbaggo]

this, except i dont think viewing film is sensitive enough.. im all for anything to avoid those damn coin cell batteries ave suggested though!

[@buckstarchaser2376]

@@scumbaggo Your comment on coin cell batteries got me thinking. If you buy them in bulk (100 pack) they're like 19 cents a piece. I wonder if they work in vending machines. I know the game tokens from a place I worked at as a kid worked in the toll booths. I was a game tech there, so I had like 20lbs of the coins when they went out of business. I would suspect that being a power source that fits in the coin hole, and will likely roll right back out after a barrage of tests end up in a fail condition. It would provide the right person internal, non-contact, access to the inside of the machine, if the coin mech isn't sufficiently EM hardened (the battery is likely going to be attracted to a magnet, and that will cause a rejection on its own).

[@c3h867]

@@scumbaggo Boring a viewing window in the tube would probably work just fine- neglecting the stress exerting on the plastic by the pump- The problem with the magnet, is steel has an excellent (magnetic) permeability. If you "Air gap" the magnet with an insulator or brass (copper and aluminum should work somewhat) from the piston then some reasonable fraction of the magnetic flux should traverse the window. The ignorant (unoptimized) design would just make the piston and body out of brass. From a magnetic standpoint measuring the fields would be the same as measuring in open air. Nd(...) Magnets can be quite strong in those sizes. Orienting the magnet as to force the poles in to be along the direction of travel may be a preferable configuration. As an added note, reed switches are awesome, but hopelessly fragile. using a basic hall effect sensor is likely the better play for mechanical robustness. The cheap "digital" ones would be excellent for this

[@ionpascu9501]

@@c3h867 a small window in the tube doesn't help because u add a tube of grease inside the guns tube also if you were tu use it without the tube and glass inside face will have to be perfectly flat as the pump is a vacuum and if there is scoring or cracks it will just never prime

[@GoFastGator]

I love the idea of a magnet on the piston. But not just for telling the operator when the gun is empty. Needs to trigger a 120dB alarm when the jeezless thing is hung back up on the wall empty.

[@snowgorilla9789]

The alarm on the wall could be a scale set for almost empty weight come on guys/gals there has to be enuff brain power to figure it out

[@andyreid7274]

Needs one more thing, if hung back on wall empty thus triggering horn there also be a mild(excessively strong) electric charge to the prick hangin her up empty.

[@GoFastGator]

@@andyreid7274 not so hard, make the hook part of a NC set of korntacts with a calibrated springamathing set for the standard weight of a schmoo dispenser plus 10 percent (give or take). Corral about 240 angry pixies and it ought chooch nicely. Hang ‘er up quick! 😝

[@phillyphakename1255]

Maybe combine it with RFID ID badges for enforcement purposes. That way some schmuck 1000 miles away can send you a nasty email to tell you how to do your job.

[@f.f.s.d.o.a.7294]

@@phillyphakename1255 Just make sure it uses blockchain technology, because... distributed... ledger... chain... reasons.

[@totojejedinecnynick]

aaah yes, metal shavings inside a grease gun... I don't see anything wrong with that, especially when you are refilling it during sand storm.

[@anttiroppola4414]

And a magnet to automatically replenish them at every stray opportunity

[@JohnLeePettimoreIII]

i was going to comment the same thing. but you were almost 12 hours faster than me. well done!

[@andrewostrelczuk406]

Once upon a time in Desert Storm I left Germany assigned to ride in the back of a Soft side cargo Humvee (HMMWV) then we arrived in country... and I get assigned to drive the old Motor pool 5 ton Dump truck. All it’s Services were Rumored to have been paper whipped... so my first job was to do the initial inspection and operator PMCS (Preventative Maintenance Checks and Service) 22 tubes of grease later ( I’m not joking about it either) I was done with the Lube section and then 3 days after the start of that we took off from the sea shore and headed to the desert! Later on it broke the Jack Shaft and twisted and broke the Bell Housing. The shifter tore the steel floor board and beat up my right leg before I bailed out!!! I was bruised up from it but got salvaged parts and some new ones and put it back together again!

[@A6Legit]

@@andrewostrelczuk406 22 tubes must be a record. Bone dry lol

[@andrewostrelczuk406]

@@A6Legit I’ll add that I had sore Arms and blisters on my right hand. Some Months later somewhere in the Iraqi Desert, I was taking the truck over to a Track on our Perimeter that had run dry on fuel overnight (some one fell asleep on duty), and I was taking a Track Mechanic with me to use the Air system to pressurize the tank and push fuel to the injectors. We were just going about 200 meters, and I put it in Gear let out the Clutch and BAM the Shifter rips out of my hand and starts beating my right leg! I think it’s gone full run away and we both bailed out of the truck... I hit the sand in quite the shock of the moment and full of Adrenaline... as we figured it out because was back to idle... upon getting my leg beat I hit the accelerator peddle and used it to push out of the door to my Left . The Jack shaft busted and the Domino effect was the transmission breaking away from the bell housing and the shifter tearing through the metal of the floor and hitting my leg and then my reaction pushed the truck to full throttle. All within like 3 tents of a second! The sore leg I got had a Bruise the size of a ping pong paddle the next day! With some scrounging Iraqi trucks and repair parts clutch Pressure plate, bell housing and a New Jack shaft from the Transmission to the Transfer case, we had it up and running again in a week or so!

[@NOTSOSLIMJIM]

A spring loaded rod that sits on the lid would be more simple. Once the plunger gets to the top, it pushes against the rod pushing it up indicating it is almost out, then eventually out.

[@DonziGT230]

A strip of magnetic field viewing film would let you see the level at any time rather than just when it's getting low. It can also be checked at any time by pulling the rod back to see how far it moves before contacting the plunger.

[@spyder7758]

Now you get to yell at the guy who didn't change the battery or the grease! Keep adding to it until all three strikes happen at once

[@chrisenstad]

Or just look at when the handle gets to the end?

[@Shab-z]

Yeah. My thought was well

[@KermitGTT]

The plunger can rotate, so your magnet may not always end up in the same position. You could just have a momentary switch on the cap that is triggered by the end of the plunger shaft. All of these are redundant in any case as the plunger handle, being against the cap, is a pretty good indicator of shmoo to air ratio.

[@wrstew1272]

Or a counter that sets off an alarm when getting low. But then you would have to remember to reset the damn thing. I like the pull out the handle on the spring the best.

[@--_DJ_--]

I have never had a gun that left the rod sticking out the rod always disengaged from the piston and slid all the way in.

[@paddington1670]

cant be that much pressure in there, 2-3 bar? make it clear. Add peep sight, whatever. aint tee herd

[@snap-off5383]

@@--_DJ_-- . . . right. Keep going. So when its FULL, when you twist it and pull it out it pulls all the way out easy. If it were empty, it would not pull out easy, you'd be engaging the spring again quickly, and half way if its half full. . . That's how I check.

[@Lunas2525]

@@--_DJ_-- what if there was a line connected to the piston and when it got pulled to the end of throw or near the end of throw it closed a circuit.

[@windyhillfoundry5940]

If I was going to revolutionize the grease gun, my idea would be to go with a slotted window the length of the can(sight glass) and pack grease in a clear plastic sleeve instead of cardboard. Of course I'm old school

[@ashleyzinyk4297]

I imagined that was the way grease guns already worked, based on my experience with caulking guns. I suppose there's a good reason they can't work that way.

[@windyhillfoundry5940]

@@ashleyzinyk4297 probably cost

[@jackiebutler5025]

found myself gripping my phone tighter and tighter waiting for that self tapper to sink...

[@aaronwest2402]

I have a electric grease gun by Lincoln that gives the quantity of grease used. You can reset it after each new tube or keep count through multiple tubes so you know what to bill the customer.

[@jessev2197]

I thought it was simple. I turn the rod to disengage from the plunger and the amount of rod that sticks out is the level. That's how I always check it and it works. Maybe yours is different but over many decades I never saw one that wasn't b/c then the rod would stick out when full.

[@Digginok]

That’s how I always check them.

[@dillonpapa]

exactly what I was thinking the whole time I was watching.

[@m9ovich785]

BINGO......

[@patrickhogan3820]

Don’t be fawking the premise up with reason! 🤣

[@juliogonzo2718]

Yeah I thought everybody knew that lol

[@caseydman4651]

I invested in a 20v lithium lincoln years ago, digital display tells me how much grease i've used, stunningly accurate and even after years of 2 1/2 oz bearings and abused CAT loader pins still runs, battery doesn't last all day anymore but at least I can order one of those

[@brettwalkom948]

It looks like the ducks guts.. Compared to the milfuckee I've got

[@stuartd9741]

There is hope yet that they still make things like the used to....

[@tuomasvainio9516]

Im using this on a daily basis on a ship. We have a milwaukee too but Lincoln is like a rolls royce of grease guns!

[@podiumforge6477]

Worked on a project years ago called the GreaSee that was a transparent tube for this reason. It was actually disposable to prevent cross-contamination of different types for aerospace reasons, but the visual aspect was 75% of the innovation.

[@TheLukasDirector]

"For aerospace reasons". I once saw a field service manual written by an aerospace company on how to place an added spare part into the spare parts drawer. It was 30 pages long. I am glad not to work in aerospace.

[@awolslaboratory1388]

A BINGO light for your grease gun! I love it! By the way, the commentary of this video made my morning. A genuine laugh and the reassurance of knowing I'm not the only one who acts like this in the empire of dirt. Kudos and thank you.

[@bking0740]

Not only will we be looking for another tube of grease but also a battery to go with it

[@mramseyISU]

Finally someone who actually knows how patents work. I’ve got 3 and didn’t even get a coffee mug from my employer.

[@bushelfoot]

That's because while employed they own all your work.

[@D2O2]

Working for the wrong color....aim for a higher wavelength....

[@stuartd9741]

This reminds me of the BBC employee who came up with the walking with dinosaurs nature program that had become a global phenomenon earn't millions for the BBC yet the employee just got his salary of 50k per annum.

[@andrewpeuchen6487]

Not even a badge?

[@alpham777]

And thats why I keep my ideas to myself I may never be able to afford to make it but nobody is likely to make it ether if they do fuck it at least they did the work or better for them to be screwed than me.

[@symphonyofdistraction]

All the grease guns at work had an indicator that they were empty; you could find it out in the open and not stashed away by someone.

[@mikegraham7078]

Okay, I have now watched virtually all of the video, and I am wondering why not just put an el-cheapo tally counter on it if you want to count strokes? Strictly mechanical, no batteries. The delivery of grease guns vary. I have my plant standardized to 40 pumps per ounce so that if I say '12 pumps' I know what they are going to deliver, and the delivery is small enough that it is unlikely that the unwashed are going to find the energy to radically over-grease anything. I use pistol-grip guns with a flexible lead, so you have one hand for the hose and one for the trigger. This way it takes more strength so it's harder to blow seals, and you can get into nooks and crannies that a lever gun can't get into. Anyway, so if you have a 40 pump gun with a standard 14 ounce cartridge then that is a total of 560 pumps per cartridge (on average). A tally counter can let you know when you're near the end. You could just learn the number of pumps for your gun as you go and scribble the number on the gun. OR... have a hanger where you store the gun that has a spring under it so that if the gun isn't heavy enough to pull the hanger down to a contact it doesn't turn on the green light, so you have to change the cartridge when you return it. Or just have a crappy old school balance scale to tell you if the gun is too light. The possibilities abound.

[@willyck948]

I can tell if there's grease without taking anything apart. The spring presses on a piston The piston compresses the grease The rod is used to compress and hold the spring otherwise pushed in for convenience. I just pull the rod till it hits the piston. The distance traveled out is length of grease left in the tube.

[@KyBrancaccio]

Good intentions. The length of the piston arm tells me all I need to know every time I use it.

[@404na]

I'm my own worst journeyman apprentice helper, guilty as charged, but it wasn't me.

[@edpoints1127]

When I get off of work early, I can indulge in a few more beverages than usual. The result is the solving of world problems such as this one. The downside is that I may or may not remember them in the morning. If I do end up recalling such revelations, they are soon forgotten when filling my gas tank on the way to work the next day.... realizing that the world has much bigger problems. Great video as always! 👍

[@InssiAjaton]

The magnet thingie suffers from the fact that that the steel cylinder is such a good shunt to the magnetic flux lines.

[@TheRealPOTUSDavidByrd]

Beautiful thought process as always, AvE. Condolences on Dewclaw's departure.

[@proksalevente]

What happened to the bastard? Missed it thru the video

[@TheRealPOTUSDavidByrd]

@@proksalevente lol he ain't dead, he just left for greener pastures apparently

[@theoldbigmoose]

what... did dewclaw get married? ... and move out of the shop? No more elect chicken for the Haas?

[@FullSendPrecision]

Just put a clear tube with a ball bearing in it, on the outside. It'll follow the magnet inside and not need any wiz bang electronics.

[@matthewmenteer5673]

makes sense, only problem with AvE or your idea is locating the magnet to path of the tube consistently. if from the ground up it could be keyed into location only other way that I could think of would be like use a system similar to water towers, have a ribbon/wire extend as the plunger extends and have indicator marks that decrease as its pulled.

[@FullSendPrecision]

@@matthewmenteer5673 Easy, make the magnet a ring all the way around

[@wiz12]

Not complicated enough

[@lImbus924]

does the spring loaded plunger at the backside not give a clear (and even rather progressive) indication of the amount left in there ?

[@hxhdfjifzirstc894]

I think his point was how to over-complicate something simple, without getting and goddam results. THIS IS A GOOBERMENT OPERATION.

[@nicstroud]

The plunger lets you know when the gun is empty. No need to reinvent an electronic wheel.

[@michaelosmon]

Want to say thanks for making me feel better about the mess on my bench

[@RealAphotiX]

The magnetic idea is great, although I'd probably just tape some magnetic indicator paper to it so I didn't have to worry about powering it. Alternately you could use a magnet that was attracted to the steel casing normally, but repelled by the magnet in the grease gun so that you could move a pysical indicator as the magnet closed in on the indicator.

[@russelltom2087]

Magnets don't work that way, steel between them means they won't repel. That is how magnetic shielding works.

[@RealAphotiX]

@@russelltom2087 Pretty cool, I tried this with some high powered magnets and found they did not repel on thicker steel. With high powered neodymium magnets on a thin steel ruler the magnets still repelled each other, albeit less than usual. Magnets that powerful would be a real problem unless you liked random metal dust, shavings, and screws stuck to your grease gun all the time not to mention it getting stuck to everything. The idea still works for aluminum cased grease guns, or for steel grease guns if the area with the magnet was capped with brass or aluminum - in those scenarios if the plunger is still steel you would only need a single magnet to show an indication that plunger is at / near the top.

[@rogerdutton9930]

Stick tape to a grease gun, hmm that'd be a neat trick on its own.

[@tonysheerness2427]

Doesn't the length of the rod sticking out tell you how much grease is left?

[@matthewf1979]

Yes. Yes it does.

[@flyingled3176]

Yes they have a Grove in the rod

[@bradbeck2601]

Yeah, the Milwaukee rod is even labeled in quarters lol

[@greasyfingerprints]

That would be breaking the rule about making it as complicated as it needs to be.

[@mrbmp09]

@@flyingled3176 an orange Grove? Cool! Ima get one of those.

[@Aengus42]

@AvE Surely the easiest way to tell when you're nearing the last few squirts of grease is to take a tip from cash registers. When they're about to run out of the roll of paper that they print your till receipt on there's a splunge of pale red ink that appears on the last 20 or so receipts. It's not dark enough to interfere with the printing but it's unmistakable if you know what you're looking for. So you could do the same with the grease in the cartridge. A distinctive colour change for the last few pumps. No modifications needed. No need to buy a new grease gun or retrofit some aftermarket add on. Just buy the replacement cartridge with the "I.C.E." (Indicated Cartridge End) system. No grease gun works so well that some won't be obvious. You could even use the luciferin / luciferase reaction (the bioluminescence glow stick technology) so it shows up at night! 😃

[@stonecraft745]

My condolences to the declaws departure, will miss our favorite elechicken.

[@jaredkennedy6576]

I replaced the plug in the top of my Milwaukee grease gun with a fitting to bulk fill it, but this is a straight in 1/8" npt hole in the top. Make an indicator that screws in there, a spring loaded plunger, that when the grease pusher plunger gets near to the top gets pushed up indicating a low grease level. Or just pull the plunger handle before you crawl under stuff to grease it.

[@kenthaslem7613]

P

[@warp.routine]

You started with the solution, so simple it's inevitable to overlook it. Just peg the damn thing at your apprentice. Comes back filled up. Always works. That and/or a grease refill holster for the side of the gun.

[@NBCRGraphicDesign]

Me? Your wall hook for the grease gun has a scale integrated in it. Each time you hang up the grease gun it gets weighed but the wall hook. You would have to determine the empty weight and set up a warning light to indicate "low grease".

[@douggiles7647]

Hit me up if you need someone to hang around the shop to blame stuff on, I'm good for that. Love your videos and from one Canadian to another I really appreciate your sense of humor, keep doing you buddy 🤌👌

[@lornatonack2514]

4:26 ….oh you gotta be kidding …..poor Dewclaw

[@bissiben]

Chemist here, just started working on my own cars and building some fishing toys and molds My Question is : "it's probably stupid" would a thick plexiglass window at the end of the cylinder do the job and let the worker know when the piston is almost at the end ? " Love your channel 😍😍

[@simonilett998]

This wouldn't work on a gun that uses a cartridge, as the cartridge is a plastic tube that would obscure the window. Also, a window may not be possible to fit on a bulk fill gun (one that doesn't use a cartridge) as the plunger/piston needs to seal well inside the tube, I suspect it would be difficult to install a window that maintains a good seal to the plunger, and that also keeps the grease in the cylinder👍

[@brianhudak5103]

As a Texan, I can honestly say that it would scare the shit out of me to see "anyone" on the side of a milk bag! RIP Mr. Dewclaw.

[@DFPercush]

milk... bag?

[@kanmeridoc1784]

@@DFPercush I believe it's a Canadian thing. And by believe I mean I know it's a thing in, at the very least, Canada.

[@CorollaGTSSRX]

Replace the priming handle with a clear one, put the LED and hall effect sensor inside that, add a magnet to the cap. When the handle gets close to the bottom, aka, out of grease, the handle will glow

[@jaguarke069]

As a bonus, it also glows when Orcs are near.

[@rok1475]

How about a series of sensors and an Arduino controller sending grease level to a cloud app collecting stats from the sensors, tracking grease usage in the he shop and sending alerts to helper to refill the gun and to purchasing department to order more grease?

[@jackandblaze5956]

@@rok1475 That would need to go through a government agency first, four levels of approval, with quintuplicate paperwork at each step in the process.

[@seancostello387]

I have essential tremor. Fun explaining to people all the time! And it makes soldering that much more enjoyable. Not even going to attempt TIG welding.

[@rich692351]

Years of following.... you're my second favorite canook 😉 I know you're not my dad but you do take us to school.... and I'm showing my boys your videos so they can learn more! Thank you AvE

[@carllind949]

4:33 Only in canada, can one drill a hole with the drill in reverse.

[@arduinoversusevil2025]

Movie magic; it's all smoke and mirrors!

[@daic7274]

He does, with the special reverse bits.

[@MrAli171]

I worked as engineer on factory trawlers working in the Arctic for 20 years I would of sold my soul for a pixie powered grease gun

[@JasonOfTGA]

They invented a 'Grease Gun Empty' alarm already. It's a very loud curse word emitted from under heavy earthmoving equipment right when the deadline is coming up.

[@quicknickdriver8510]

So glad I found your channel after recommendation from a good friend. Fuckin love you man

[@baron1c]

To the best of my recollection, those Milwaukee grease guns pump 1 gram of grease per stroke. We only use polyrex em at work so it wouldn’t be to hard to calibrate the sensor for that. But do other kinds of grease come with more or less in the tube??? It would probably require the 200 lb gorilla to manually enter how much grease was added when and if a new tube was put in. So inevitably it would be a failure.

[@ericlil305]

all grease gun have indicaters on them already. after you load it just pull the plunger handle out with out Securing it to the end cap. as you use it it will pull itself in.

[@jeffhall768]

I use about a tube per day and an indicator is completely irrelevant. Ives it's not pumping, purge the air. If no air is purged, replace the cartridge. It's a very simple machine

[@NathanielStauber]

All it needs is a spring loaded pin in the pump end, which would get pushed up as the piston travels the last 1/2". Stick it in a clear plastic cap and you have something to protect the indicating pin so it can indicate perhaps the last inch of travel.

[@gaveintothedarkness]

ding ding ding! we have a weiner!

[@mikedjames]

Yes I thought this would be a shoulder bolt, a nylock nut and a spring. Drill hole in top of gun . When plunger hits spring loaded nut on end of bolt, it pushes the head of the bolt up. Spring holds bolt head down maybe with o ring stops leak..

[@jonesgang]

My grandfather had an old grease gun you had to load the grease into, not a cartridge like today's. But on the side was a long thin glass window showing how much grease was in it. I have scoured the internet looking for one like it but have had no luck. This was back in the 60's and he had had it for many years before.

[@denniswalker6281]

Oh man! The screw that wouldn’t catch! That moment went on forever in my head. It was like a suspenseful movie and scratching a chalkboard at the same time… :-)

[@MattsAwesomeStuff]

The gauge is right there, it's just invisible. You read it by picking the thing up, and feeling the balance of it. Also, it has a failsafe backup: if you pump it and no more grease comes out, it's time to refill.

[@Quiccc]

The Orion branded grease gun model 596C1 I use at work has a little display that shows you how much grease you have used and how much is left in the tube.

[@dangerrangerlstc]

Just a metal plunger in the cap, spring loaded high enough to resist grease, but weak enough that the big plunger can move it, have it sealed against grease (which may be the hard part) and have a red ring on the outside of the little plunger. When the big plunger pushes on the little one, it pushes it out of the cap and the red ring shows up. No batteries required.

[@Juozas1942]

Nothing more better in a morning than a video with man grunting

[@davegeorge7094]

Just leave pushrod engaged with piston so plunge handle position relative to end cap shows end travel, add magnifier even. KISS Big problem is air leaks in and stops grease. A vacuum can suck both ways!

[@infinite1der]

I've been around enough coffee/breakrooms to know, that even when *you can see* that the jeezless pot is empty or even near-empty, there's always the pond-scum(s) of the office that won't start a fresh pot. I image that'd translate to the apprentice/helper realm as well, unfortunately.

[@hxhdfjifzirstc894]

If you're in the break room, you're not getting anything done. I used to have a coffee maker right at my bench. Some places look down on that.

[@williamwilliams8145]

A simpler solution would be to have a transparent cylinder with transparent refill cartridges.

[@robp5575]

They do make clear barrel grease guns so that if you have multiple grease guns you know what grease you are using. However, I don't think they make clear or translucent cartridges.

[@svinnthefallen1486]

I have seen transparent cylinder but not transparent tube I lube

[@snakerstran9101]

I've delt with machines that did just that, except the grease was bulk filled, no cartridge. A rubberized "diaphragm?" rests on top of the grease and is pulled down with the grease while scrapping the sides. Its surprisingly clear to see the diaphragm through the transparent sides.

[@bwood6337]

@@svinnthefallen1486 the walls would also be greasy enough that it'd be hard to tell how full it was without putting a light behind it anyway.

[@Matt-my7pz]

Crap I just said this.

[@digitaIgorilla]

How about, instead of just an indicator, a filling station? So when you put the gun away at the end of the day the station pumps grease into it ready for the morning therefore it's always full and ready to go, no indicator required.

[@duncanb1981]

The answer is simple. Different coloured grease at the end of the tube.

[@evil_me]

I had an import grease gun long ago that had a clear window in the tube

[@epicfred]

The cheapest grease gun I ever purchased had the draw bar pinned to the plunger. When the draw bar was almost all the way in, you knew it was close to empty.

[@MattLitkeRacing]

Mil-F*ck-ee can’t put call the good features in the first one. They need an angle to sell you the M18 Fuel Gen 2 Super Greaser!

[@taters5586]

hey, if u pull the handle on the bottom of the tube it will only come down as far as the piston is inserted into the grease tube before force is required to overcome the spring. if the tube in the gun is empty the handle will not come down at all without some force. if the tube is full the handle will come all the way down easily. More rod exposed = more grease remaining in the tube. I use this method to determine how much grease is in my gun before using it. simple but effective. *Edit; spelling*

[@stuartd9741]

Lock Picking Lawyer would be proud of your creative use of magernets.. As a commenter below has stated. The plunger would rotate so the magernet may not be in line to trigger reed switch.. Perhaps a small speaker magnet on the end of the plunger....? Instead of an LED a piezo buzzer....?.. Many years ago -1983. My dad was wiring an alarm to a ford Sierra of his brother. Did you know they used a mercury switch to operate the boot light? He found it when taking the rear panel off to install a pin switch. ⁰

[@BogdanManciu]

If I may there's a better low cost solution to the hall effect sensor, the magnetic paper/foil you're always using to show us motor polarity. Just stick a "ruler" of that, on the side of your cilinder and it will show you where the magnet is so what the level is.

[@Mooseyfatedd]

They also sell clear tubes lmao

[@arduinoversusevil2025]

They break too easy and too tight with grease tubes.

[@christhompson1348]

@@arduinoversusevil2025 you fill them with a big grease keg. I've got one, best thing ever. The clear tube is awesome.

[@WeberSarge]

Wtf, over? A clear gun....does it actually work?????????????

[@willythemailman3911]

@@WeberSarge lock n lube makes em Expensive If you have a tube of grease, you can't see anything but the label

[@dfross87]

@@willythemailman3911 Bulk fill is your friend. Especially once you put a grease nipple on the dispensing head, and use an air powered grease gun to re-fill the little grease guns.

[@equalizer1553]

Didn’t know the WEF was still letting this channel upload. Pleasant surprise to the ole video drip feed. Palette cleansing.

[@shawnbrynelson5333]

What about: aluminum cylinder, attach a neodymium magnet to the plunger and stick another magnet on the outside of the aluminum tube once it's reassembled. The outer magnet will be attracted to the magnet on the inside and follow it up along the tube as it's used up. No electronics or batteries required.

[@dirkmohrmann8960]

or... drill a small hole in the cap, and attach a piece of string to the piston. String gets shorter as the gun is emptied. Probably not commercially viable though, as it doesn't involve any microcontrollers and lithium batteries.

[@mikegraham7078]

I just started watching this, but I see it's about grease guns, and I just want to say that in my opinion the grease gun is a lethal weapon in the hands of an idiot. I have had more electric motors scrapped due to over-greasing than I have ever lost due to lack of greasing. I have a FIRM rule in our plant that NO ELECTRIC MOTOR IS EVER GREASED unless a) an EP-0 electric motor grease is used, and b) I'm the one doing the greasing, because I trust NOONE else. At one point, years ago, I just left the plunger pull sticking out as the indicator for the level of grease. That works, but it's annoying having it sticking out. I use grease so rarely that I don't care if it goes empty now and then. When I grab the gun (once a month or two) I grab a new tube of grease (colour coded to the gun and stored with it) at the same time, so it's not a big issue for me. When I put it back I put the unused tube of grease back at the same time.

[@davidpowell4993]

in my humble experience, it comes down to shots per minute, if you get too aggressive, you invariably have to wait 45min or so before you discover many more shots still available!

[@LeftCatcher]

The problem with a grease gun, is that it is a complicated caulk gun. The trick would not be an indicator, but rather to make it faster and easier to reload (like a friggin caulk gun) As someone who used to be a fleet mechanic and is now a finish cabinetry Carpenter I can vouch for that... 👍

[@daphenomc1]

the electric grease gun is one of the best inventions to date. the slew bearing on the far side of the automatic grease distributor is thirsty and she needs 10 tubes of ep2 a month or more depending on use. lord knows i dont want to pump all that, and with the manning cuts good luck getting an apprentice to do it

[@artur8403]

for large amounts it's easier to use large bucket of grease and air driven pump

[@JonSteinert]

As much as I love this idea it falls short of being reliable because each different grease will chooch differently under load and youd have to take the pistons resistance into account to find amber/red along side the number of pumps. Hopefully someone invents this soon!

[@theunit1480]

I love where you're head is at.... same gutter as mine. I believe I have already found a super simple solution to this problemo. All my grease guns have a light 1" long spring under the T handle, which gets depressed by the big one inside when yer cartridge is about spent. Prior to that the piston just slides up the rod as usual. Spring out- good, spring in- time to change. No batteries, no pixies and no magnetic black holes for shavings. Give it a try.

[@ThatOneGuySometime]

Hey AvE, the probable reason that they don’t have DRO for the estimated level of grease via the existing magnet in the pump is because the battery is detachable. The microcontroller would then need to have a small capacitor and a bevy of other little parts to sense when disconnected (or when the battery runs flat) so it could save it’s current data to a memory chip. That means there’s a whole lot of pricey little parts they would have to buy to install in each tool for a modicum of convenience, which would make the tool a good bit pricier. Your idea of a plunger-mounted magnet makes much more sense as a means of sensing when near empty.

[@andrewradford3953]

2 grease guns, run out half as often. Will miss the Dewclaw, glad he has moved to happier pastures. Why are Milwaukee batteries labeled differently in Australia? Also I find the 12Ah batts need to be manually balanced occasionally.

[@fermitupoupon1754]

If you have 2 grease guns, both will be empty. And if there's only one empty, they will exist in a superposition where the one you pick up first is always the one that is empty.

[@robine5280]

You could have used a strip of that magnetic viewing film, stick it to the outside and you're pretty much exactly see how much grease remains. Totally free of angry pixies, too.

[@prjndigo]

Pair of hose clamps retaining a pair of large handle clips that hold a second tube of grease on each side is the way to go. Honestly we just had a floor foot pump can that sucked buckets and we'd keep a bucket extra warm to top it off every day. But I'll tell you a secret. When you empty one, see where the point is where it'll fall off the bench with the pump end hanging over the edge, mark it about 3/4 of an inch towards its ass from there and all you gotta do is lay it over the edge of your hand and see if it falls off. If you've ever seen one with a wrapped line of duck, duct, packing, electrical or fuckit-tape that's what its for.

[@tjgraham3841]

Fap-Off’s Blue Point pneumatic grease gun has a little bypass valve that pops when it’s out of grease. Had it for about 15 years now and works perfect 👍

[@WhitneyStephenGater]

Some brands of battery grease gun do have an indicator of how much has been pumped on the display. The Lincoln ones we use at work do.

[@jeffryblackmon4846]

I use a pneumatic grease gun. What this world needs is a heated gun. In winter time the cold freezes the grease. The only viable solution is to move to Belize.