needle scaler

[spitter]

Ive restored 2 many rusty things to list. best thing Ive found is wire wheels for angle grinder or die grinder I have a huge assortment. Watch out for flying wires tough. :drink:

 

[Egon]

Start out with the needle scaler to quickly get rid of the big flakes, other gunk and find the holes. Then switch to a wire brush and finally finish of with the sandblaster. Access may also determine which method to use.

The needle scaler is the easiest to use.

 

[texasranger556]

I just painted a tractor that ran a salt spreader most of its life so a fair bit of rust. As others have said the needle scaler is tough to beat for heavy flaking rust. Especially inside corners that are difficult to get access. I had started with a sand blaster ($50 one that you drop the hose into a bucket of blast media) and even wearing a full suit I had grit everywhere. The scaler was much faster but leaves a much rougher finish than blasting. For the cast pieces I didn't really care, it looked fine after ospho, primer, and paint.

For pieces small enough to fit in my HF blast cabinet, they came out great.

Edit: I have the small HF scaler. It works surprisingly well for how cheap it was. I did have to bend the trigger a couple times so it would depress the air inlet valve all the way... otherwise it slowly lost power.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Start out with the needle scaler to quickly get rid of the big flakes, other gunk and find the holes. Then switch to a wire brush and finally finish of with the sandblaster. Access may also determine which method to use.

The needle scaler is the easiest to use.

. . . And an oscillating wire brush is the one that will clean down into the pits. Spinning just skips over the top. Use of Ospho afterward is a big step to eliminating the sand blaster.

 

[DaveOmak]

I have an air hammer with a needle scaler nose attachment... Great combo... the air hammer is priceless... Drive out lug bolts... relieve stress in metal... Cut metal with a chisel tool... It's a small jack hammer too.....

 

[aczlan]

. . . And an oscillating wire brush is the one that will clean down into the pits. Spinning just skips over the top. Use of Ospho afterward is a big step to eliminating the sand blaster.

What make/model oscillating wire brush?

Aaron Z