Restricting flow

[chrismac]

Fully understand all this...without sounding like an ignorant tw@...not bothered...my boss does little to help me in any instance, I have requested kit to make my job easier and less strenuous on my back given my recent hospital visit, got told there is a manual grease gun on the crane...explained to him that a manual grease gun is in no way suitable for greasing the jib, got told it hasn't been an issue til now so don't need any new kit for it...

Get bollocked for not maintaining the crane, get bollocked for using my own tools to do it, get bollocked if I ask for tools to do it properly...quieter life to just take care of it myself and not mention it... Testing will be done to ensure I'm confident it can handle the pressures involved and do the job properly with my own personal air supply before using it in anger.

The boss btw, is the same guy that was listed as the main reason 6 of us left kings...he then followed me and a mate to sparrows 2 months after we started...nothing has changed in his management style, and as much as it is starting to grate now, I still have a job to do and a back to preserve so at this point I'm fine with the consequences of using my own tools. My back is more important to me that someone having an issue with my tools.

How does your boss expect you to line the internals of the boom without the lance type sprayer,

I am surprised at how little is actually coming out the spray gun an onto the boom from that video in the post above, a few man hours must be set aside for that task, how regularly does it need done, any decent boss would see the saving in down time and buy the lance type spray gun.

Good luck getting something made up.

 

[prepman]

I am trying to make my own version of a grease spray gun, for spraying EP type grease onto crane booms. They are available, but expensive, and I am loosely copying one I have used before, but doing so from memory pretty much.

I prototyped with a mish-mash of lube guns, air fed oilers and what not and it wants to work, but it's too sloppy of an attempt to get where it needs to be, but it has served it's purpose of showing me where the failures are.

So, I've got some ally on the way, some nice quality speed fittings, nylon pipe and a new spray head with a better trigger.

Stumbling block now though is that, while I need an air feed to the bottom of the grease cartridge, and an air feed to the trigger of the spray head, I need the feed to the trigger to be at a lower pressure to that of the grease cartridge.

This is all done via a T piece feeding the handle...I have 10 bar in the bottom through a 1/4 bap quick release, then a 4mm nylon pipe out the side to feed the bottom of the cartridge to force grease into the spray head, but I need a lower pressure in the spray head to allow the grease to actually be forced in. If the pressures matched, the grease won't move.

Am I right in thinking that if I put a smaller hole in the top of the T piece (the end that screws into the spray head and feeds the trigger) than the bore of the 4mm pipe feeding the cartridge, the cartridge pressure will still over power the pressure in the spray head and allow grease to be forced up while being sprayed out?

I am unsure if 4mm pipe is correct at the moment, but the joy of speed fittings is that the 4mm and 6mm both take an M6 hole, so upgrading later is as simple as changing 2 fittings and a bit of pipe and as I'm making the T piece myself, I can just bore the feed hole bigger to suit if needed to suit the upgrade.

This is all for my own personal use to save my back as currently doing this task stood on a ladder with a paint roller dipped in grease...rolling 48 meters worth of boom by hand is getting tiresome

Could it not take the form of a Tyrolean gun?

 

[knighty]

How does your boss expect you to line the internals of the boom without the lance type sprayer,

I am surprised at how little is actually coming out the spray gun an onto the boom from that video in the post above, a few man hours must be set aside for that task, how regularly does it need done, any decent boss would see the saving in down time and buy the lance type spray gun.

Good luck getting something made up.

I saw another video where without the long extension on the sprayer it came out much more like a paint sprayer, wider coverage etc.

 

[Turbo]

Maybe adapt a pressure pot sprayer to take grease?
Or a cavity wax sprayer, designed for thick liquids?

 

[BrokenBiker]

How does your boss expect you to line the internals of the boom without the lance type sprayer,

I am surprised at how little is actually coming out the spray gun an onto the boom from that video in the post above, a few man hours must be set aside for that task, how regularly does it need done, any decent boss would see the saving in down time and buy the lance type spray gun.

Good luck getting something made up.

Internal wear pads on mine are grease nipple fed so not an issue.

Needs doing minimum once a month, but if doing a lot of work extending/retracting with weight on then that could rise to once a week

 

[gaz1]

i agree with 8ob heat the grease more of it then pump it remember plaster and cement is thickish

@8ob this might interest you

reference to the above

this works on a screw effect

 

[BrokenBiker]

i agree with 8ob heat the grease more of it then pump it remember plaster and cement is thickish

@8ob this might interest you

reference to the above

this works on a screw effect

The viscosity of the grease isn't an issue. The only reason for this project is to prevent myself painting grease onto a jib over head off a ladder with 20+ set ups per go.

 

[gaz1]

The viscosity of the grease isn't an issue. The only reason for this project is to prevent myself painting grease onto a jib over head off a ladder with 20+ set ups per go.

on a slight off note using a different setup like above would produce faster results and used from a larger quantity of a grease bucket that is going to grease more of the jib than a grease gun that has to be replaced more often than not

a heated system can also be used for draining out and for reuse again but we have underfloor heating wires that can be used
catering heaters for heating up the grease

showing the plaster or cement pumps can be used as cheap pumps that only need partial heating to make the material viscous enough to grease and stay put on the material that your greasing whilst being solid enough

 

[RebarJunkie]

You are correct that the cartridge pressure needs to be higher, but a smaller hole won't actually lower the pressure in the trigger line. That pressure will just equalize back up to 10 bar when the air stops flowing. The fix is to add a small mini pressure regulator right before the spray head trigger line. This is the only way to get two different, stable pressures from one air feed.

 

[BrokenBiker]

You are correct that the cartridge pressure needs to be higher, but a smaller hole won't actually lower the pressure in the trigger line. That pressure will just equalize back up to 10 bar when the air stops flowing. The fix is to add a small mini pressure regulator right before the spray head trigger line. This is the only way to get two different, stable pressures from one air feed.

Thanks, that's actually the route I'm taking now.

I have a spray gun with a 2mm nozzle and an inline reg in the bottom of the gun, there will be a t piece below that that bleeds off to the cartridge, and possible another reg below all that to allow me to find tune both pressure areas.

Ally tube arrived today, I have some round bar to make the cap from, and an insert for the bottom that will get welded in. Speed fittings and pipe are arriving tomorrow too and I have some off cuts of en16 to make a longer link pipe from the spray gun to the cartridge as it's a bit close to the trigger at the moment.

Working now til sat but hopefully Monday off to get it all turned and welded