I just started using an air ratchet (my first), and I'm able to add yet another to the list of reasons that I should have gotten an air compressor a decade ago; it's an incredibly useful device. (Both the compressor (just the $99 HF 8G oil-lube) and the air ratchet.)
Anyway, the ratchet itself is nothing special; just one of the HF cheapies. If/when I wear it out, I'll totally upgrade, but in the meantime...
For the "motor half" of the ratchet, lubrication needs are pretty darn clear; a few drops of air tool oil in the inlet at the start of my DIY day, no different from an impact or any other air-vane powered tool.
But what about the ratchet head? It's totally independent of the motor and it's essentially just a coarse-tooth ratchet with a very short handle (and the air motor just wiggles the "handle" back and forth very quickly, one tooth at a time.)
If it were just an ordinary ratchet, I'd just pop off the snap ring, Simple Green out whatever strange Chinese grease is in there (appears to be standard bearing grease, might have even been red-ish) add in some Super Lube and be on my way.
However, there is no mechanism to keep the grease sealed in to the head where the wiggling "handle" (with the mechanism inside) is nestled in between two arms from the body of the device. There's a visible gap from which grease could escape, and dirt can go in.
So, with that in mind, I'd think I'd want a thick lube; the pawl feels pretty tightly sprung (no silky-smooth 72T mechanism here!) so I don't feel I'm in any danger of skipping teeth. Any suggestions? And given how open the ratchet is to contamination, how often should I be cleaning it out and applying new grease?
P.S. Ahhh... the joys of Cheap Chinese Tools. For the first couple dozen bolts it was spewing decent amounts what smelled like machine lube out the exhaust port. (Which is great fun when it congeals in the moisture of compressed muggy NC summer weather and coats the ratchet head, my extension, etc. with yellow goo.) I guess this was to keep the walls of the air chamber corrosion-free in the long months between the factory and my toolbox. It's not doing that any more. For an $18 tool, I'm not complaining.
P.S.S. Good lord this thing uses a lot of air! Luckily if I'm not asking it to do anything particularly torque-y, so it still seems to get the job done at 60lb.
Anyway, the ratchet itself is nothing special; just one of the HF cheapies. If/when I wear it out, I'll totally upgrade, but in the meantime...
For the "motor half" of the ratchet, lubrication needs are pretty darn clear; a few drops of air tool oil in the inlet at the start of my DIY day, no different from an impact or any other air-vane powered tool.
But what about the ratchet head? It's totally independent of the motor and it's essentially just a coarse-tooth ratchet with a very short handle (and the air motor just wiggles the "handle" back and forth very quickly, one tooth at a time.)
If it were just an ordinary ratchet, I'd just pop off the snap ring, Simple Green out whatever strange Chinese grease is in there (appears to be standard bearing grease, might have even been red-ish) add in some Super Lube and be on my way.
However, there is no mechanism to keep the grease sealed in to the head where the wiggling "handle" (with the mechanism inside) is nestled in between two arms from the body of the device. There's a visible gap from which grease could escape, and dirt can go in.
So, with that in mind, I'd think I'd want a thick lube; the pawl feels pretty tightly sprung (no silky-smooth 72T mechanism here!) so I don't feel I'm in any danger of skipping teeth. Any suggestions? And given how open the ratchet is to contamination, how often should I be cleaning it out and applying new grease?
P.S. Ahhh... the joys of Cheap Chinese Tools. For the first couple dozen bolts it was spewing decent amounts what smelled like machine lube out the exhaust port. (Which is great fun when it congeals in the moisture of compressed muggy NC summer weather and coats the ratchet head, my extension, etc. with yellow goo.) I guess this was to keep the walls of the air chamber corrosion-free in the long months between the factory and my toolbox. It's not doing that any more. For an $18 tool, I'm not complaining.
P.S.S. Good lord this thing uses a lot of air! Luckily if I'm not asking it to do anything particularly torque-y, so it still seems to get the job done at 60lb.
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