Aidan Metz
Summer 2025
Designing a Clean and Simple Milwaukee Grease Gun
Grease guns are often a messy, unappealing tool.
Even with the most premium of grease guns, they are consistently messy products that get grease everywhere if loaded or used incorrectly. And, even in the case they are used correctly, they can still be a messy product nonetheless.
Thinking of Farmers
This project specifically focused on the greasing needs of farmers, and how the Milwaukee grease gun can be improved for this specific demographic.
Equipment Lubrication
Grease guns are a tool used for lubricating the moving parts of large machinery.
Machines like such as combine harvesters can have 150 "Zerks" or grease fittings, parts that need be lubricated reguraly to properly maintain the machine.
Demographic
Messy Use
Grease Guns in general tend to be messy by the nature of what they do, pump grease.
Still, there are several opportunities for a redesign to minimize the amount of grease that gets clogged up in various crevices of the device, as well as minimize where the grease spills out of the device.
No Free Hands
Since most users just hold the nozzle up to the grease fitting, there is little reason the grease gun has to be two handed, other than the trigger is on main body of the device. A different trigger location may make it easier to carry as a satchel, which is an option the Milwaukee grease gun already has.
Difficult Reload
The grease gun is unpleasant to reload. The empty space found in the cardboard grease tubes means a lot of priming, and there are many places where the grease can seep out.
Even if primed correctly, grease will seep out a designated area with nothing to catch or contain it.
Internals Analysis
A major part of this project was breaking down the internals of current grease guns, and modeling them to use as a reffrence for the redesign.
The main component of a grease gun is the high pressure pump, which is fed grease by a plunger that slowly feeds it into the pump as it's being used.
Rough Layout Exploration
I wanted to study the various layouts possible for a grease guns. Many Milwaukee competitors oriented their grease tubes and motors differently, but ultimately I decided to go with the Milwaukee orientation.
Ergonomic Studies
These foam models were primarily used to study the ergonomics of the two handed grease gun concept.
They also explore the size and proportions of the grease gun, including potential ways to store more grease in the tube. However, the final model ultimately uses similar proportions to the current Milwaukee grease gun.
These handles in particular were explorations of how the nozzle could be bent/shaped to reach narrow, inaccessible grease fittings.
