Thanks for the replies. Interested points all around.
Meltedpanda, I have the straight needle tip, using on a regular grease gun. Lincoln grease gun to be exact. I stumbled across a mention of a needle tip with a ball-with-hole-through-it somewhere but that seemed odd. Maybe I was in the wrong forum altogether
Is the special little gizmo something besides what I have?
Baking the hinges is real dedication
