needle scalers

[mikehaugen]

At a place I used to work, the guys would use these for cleaning mortar off of equipment. I had to use them once in a while and they worked pretty well. I have been thinking lately that it might be nice to use one for weld slag and rust removal. The one's I am used to are a pistol grip style, but looking around it seems that most are inline. Has anyone used one for these purposes and how well did it work? Which style do you prefer?

 

[Baby Grand]

I have an in-line from Harbor Freight. I've only used it twice, but both times it worked well.

 

[Egon]

I've used the inline type for removing rust with good success.

Twenty dollars at Princess Auto.

 

[Bird]

I have been thinking lately that it might be nice to use one for weld slag and rust removal.

Never actually "used" one, but when I was repairing air tools, I repaired some and they belonged to mechanics who used them just as you say you want to.

 

[k0ua]

Mike my thoughts on using the scaler for slag removal are this: While I am sure it will work fine, I would think it would be a lot slower than just using a wire wheel in your angle grinder. The wire wheel does a great job and is very quick.

James K0UA

 

[gwiley]

The needle scaler is great when the crud is thick and chunky. It has the added benefit of providing a fast way to peen weld seems if you need to stress relieve them. I bought one from northern tool - just a cheap NT brand and find it works great.

 

[SPYDERLK]

At a place I used to work, the guys would use these for cleaning mortar off of equipment. I had to use them once in a while and they worked pretty well. I have been thinking lately that it might be nice to use one for weld slag and rust removal. The one's I am used to are a pistol grip style, but looking around it seems that most are inline. Has anyone used one for these purposes and how well did it work? Which style do you prefer?

Yes they are great for things like that. Particularly good in the welding department because as they clean they peen. That strain relieves and also leaves the surface in compression because the peening "stretches" it while surrounding metal holds it confined. This condition inhibits crack formation. After the sharp edges wear off the needle tips [from cleaning mortar and rust] is when they are best.
,,,There is/were accessory needle attachments for air hammers. This is good because its usually the driver that fails and air hammers are cheap to replace. Anybody found a good supplier lately?
larry

 

[mjarrels]

Brings back bad memories... a hundred needle guns working 24/7 on Navy ships... I can't sleep!

mark

 

[tjflicek]

I use mine (inline style) to remove slag from corner welds that can't be reached with a wire wheel on a grinder. It does a good job and there are no consumables to buy, wire wheels are getting spendy, plus it does peen the weld. It also works good for removing dried on grass build up under my mower deck. Handy tool for me I'd say get one.

 

[k0ua]

Yes they are great for things like that. Particularly good in the welding department because as they clean they peen. That strain relieves and also leaves the surface in compression because the peening "stretches" it while surrounding metal holds it confined. This condition inhibits crack formation. After the sharp edges wear off the needle tips [from cleaning mortar and rust] is when they are best.
,,,There is/were accessory needle attachments for air hammers. This is good because its usually the driver that fails and air hammers are cheap to replace. Anybody found a good supplier lately?
larry

Learned something today!

James K0UA

 

[mikehaugen]

I use mine (inline style) to remove slag from corner welds that can't be reached with a wire wheel on a grinder. It does a good job and there are no consumables to buy, wire wheels are getting spendy, plus it does peen the weld. It also works good for removing dried on grass build up under my mower deck. Handy tool for me I'd say get one.

This is what prompted me to consider this, many times I just can't get a wire wheel into a corner and haven't yet come up with a better way to get it out. Thanks everyone for the replies, you have all done a fine job of justifying another tool purchase

 

[flyerdan]

I have one of the old HF scaler attachments for an air hammer, haven't seen them offered for several years now. As stated, the air hammer can be had for $8 on sale so it has one dedicated to it. They do work great for cleaning cement off metal, I used mine a lot cleaning out wheelbarrows when I did maintenance for a fence company. They didn't have any way to flush out the barrows on site and would soon gain 30 or 40 pounds, about half a minute would clean them out and do a lot less damage than the mouth-breathers beating them with sledge hammers.

 

[mikehaugen]

I have one of the old HF scaler attachments for an air hammer, haven't seen them offered for several years now. As stated, the air hammer can be had for $8 on sale so it has one dedicated to it. They do work great for cleaning cement off metal, I used mine a lot cleaning out wheelbarrows when I did maintenance for a fence company. They didn't have any way to flush out the barrows on site and would soon gain 30 or 40 pounds, about half a minute would clean them out and do a lot less damage than the mouth-breathers beating them with sledge hammers.

Yeah, I used to work at a concrete plant. They made quickrete, spec-mix, and c-cure. The spec-mix usually came in 3000# bags and we would supply the bricklayers with a "silo" to use. The silo was basically a big cone shaped hopper that could be raised in the air and had drop down legs. They could then park their mixer under it and dump it in. These were loaner units and when the job was done they would come back to the plant and there was a dedicated guy and all he would do all day is chisel off all of the mortar residue from the moving parts and make sure everything worked. He used the heck out of that needle scaler and it worked well.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I use my air hammer to remove slag from in corners if I have a lot of it, but normally just use a chipping hammer. I have thought several times of getting a needle scaler as it would work better than the air hammer for slag and rust and scale removal in corners where a grinder cant get. Maybe next time HF has a sale on one, I will jump on it.