I'm trying to remove rust, primer, old paint, and some leftover bedliner from my jeep tub (frame off and stripped down off all other parts to just the tub). been doing some scraping and will get out the wire cup brush on the grinder this afternoon. I'm trying to get it as cleand up as possible before deciding whether to sandblast it or not.

How good is a needle scaler for attacking the irregular and recessed surface areas on the tub? I see it advertised at the Harbor Freight for "scaling and removing rust" but before I go spend $50+ on it, I was hoping to get some feedback as to whether or not it would be useful for me.

Thanks!

-Mike W

We use them at work to remove slag from welds, It takes off milscale but I wouldnt count on it getting rust off. It might knock big chunks of rust off but it wont get it nice and clean like you want. the twisted wire wheels seem to work the best for getting rust/paint off.

Well Brad, I don't know what brand you have, but we've got a heafty snap-on needler and let me tell you, its the ONLY thing that destroys the rust built up for 20years on a wheel with a calcium filled tire.

Wear some good ear and face protection though!

It is not going to take the paint and bedliner off and it will beat sheetmetal to h*ll. I mainly use mine to remove weld slag. I also used mine to test/clean-up my truck frame. Took all the rust scale off and showed me some sizable holes in the frame -- punched right through. Very useful for its use, but I don't think that what you are looking for is one of those uses...

they are great for taking of lots of rust on thick metal we used them on the ship in the navy to take off any rust anywhere. Don't know how well the harbor frieght one will work but we had some old snap on ones that beat the hell out of rust.

-ben

I bought the cheap (like $10) HF one that attaches to any air hammer you provide, since I had an extra air hammer lying around. BUT, I haven't used it yet. I started a thread once asking about this unit I got, no one had much input. I'm guessing it's gonna work fine or at least as good as the HF $50 unit; seems to me you just need the needles and some hammering action.

I used them in the Nav and they removed everything down to the metal. I don't know if the HF ones will but the Navy ones sure as fawk got the rust, millscale, paint, WHATEVER off the metal.

It also 'peens' the metal and will leave little dents in it. NOt for sheetmetal that's for sure.

One of them is definitely on the list. For irregular shapes there's nothing better.

The first time you run one down into an angle formed by a gusset or something, you'll wonder where that thing was all your life.

Im talkin about the HF ones. Guys have some nice ones at work that would be better but they are more spendy than the HF ones.

Maybe check your local rental yard and try a rental before buying.

Thanks much for the replies! I'll look into a rental cost, and then take it from there. Thanks again

-Mike W

I had the chance to use my attachment last nite. You just remove the spring from your air hammer and thread this in place, then tighten down three set screws.

It worked as I expected. I used it to clean years of gunk/grime off a D60 front centersection, it was nice for getting in between the ribs and even for knocking gunk outta the plug weld holes. Definitely gets everywhere a wire cup brush or even small wire wheel won't.

It wouldn't really take ALL the rust off, only rust scale. But I was using it w a cheap Campbell Hausfeld air hammer that doesn't pack a lot of punch.

Overall I'm happy with it, it's definitely a useful thing to have. I paid $9.99 for the air hammer on clearance and the attachment was something like $15, so it's around a $25 needle scaler.