Needle scalers for paint removal?

May 09, 2006 34 Replies

Hello all, I need to get some paint, primer and rust off some old fuel tanks, shot blasting them would probably cost me about £80 each tank, but I could probably get a needle scaler and compressor for less than it'll cost me to get them blasted, would the scaler do the trick? I'm looking for an excuse to buy toys basically ;-)


The needle scalers I've seen would knock the hell out of the tank, and might even rupture it. The "baby" one we have, here, like a mini air drill, can delaminate concrete.

Steve

Ouch ;-) The ones in the Northern Tool catalogue etc are listed as being useful for getting rust and primer off, so I'd be surprised if they're all as powerful as yours.

Unfortunately though I've just had a shot-blast quote of £30 per tank instead of the first quote of £80 per tank, so the toy excuse is fading fast :-(

Then again once I've got the compresser there's lots more toys that become justifiable...

Off WHAT ? RSJ and chassis they work brilliantly. See ? You can still get one...

Steve

->Hello all, I need to get some paint, primer and rust off some old fuel

->tanks, shot blasting them would probably cost me about £80 each tank,

->but I could probably get a needle scaler and compressor for less than

->it'll cost me to get them blasted, would the scaler do the trick? I'm

->looking for an excuse to buy toys basically ;-)

Hi Ian,

All you will have is a pile of rust on the floor and a fuel tank that is suitable only as a colander.

Unfortunately I've just had another quote for £20 per tank, so I think that's killed the new toys plan, which is a shame..

Another day perhaps.

That's what I'm starting with ;-)

(It's not that bad TBH)

I see you're still anoraking then, once I get the Pinzgauer back on the road I'll have to pop along to one of your events. If you know anyone who wants to buy a Defender 110 with engine mods and various recon bits of drivetrain then I might be selling.

On Tue, 9 May 2006 18:21:18 +0100, Ian Rawlings scribbled the following nonsense:

try Austin, might be up his street for the Transit Hybrid!

Forget the needle scaler, it will destroy the tank.

In fact, forget the tank, if it is rusty enough to need blasting, then it is too rusty to use as a fuel tank, imo.

I'm not having him rip my beloved Landy apart! If I can get away with it I won't sell it, it depends on how business goes over the next few months.

Besides, at the price I want to flog it for (close to £4k) I don't think he'd want it just to shred the poor thing.

It looks like mostly surface rust, I want them back to the metal for re-priming and painting, if they end up holed then I'd rather know now than in a year or so's time after they've gone back in as they're a PITA to remove. New ones cost about £400 each so I'd rather see if they're serviceable before searching for the cash.

101 Club get them made in stainless steel, same chap builds custom tanks if yer interested I'm sure we can dig up the details should the need arise.

Lee

Cheers, I got them sandblasted today and they've come up looking strong enough, so I'll just slap some primer and paint on them and stuff them back in.

Have you ever tried that POR 15 stuff, its supposed to work really well.

Steve

No, not yet, I might have a crack.

Bought a sand blast gun from machine mart ( the one that has the bag to reuse the grit , cost about 20 quid , I use play pit sand or paving sand bout 3 quid a bag ( and use a mask ! ) took me about 10 mins to blast a wheel back to clean metal its paid for its self very quickly , best thing is its great on rust spots on the bulkhead I can just blast the spot back and get it totally rust free before painting , you can get small tubs of grit from machine mart but its very expensive

-- Its not finished till the wife's says it looks crap

Yes, I'd like one but don't really have anywhere to use it, my back garden is a little restrictive although I could use my next-door neigbour's waste land out the back of the garden I suppose. Most of the things I want cleaning now are small so I might just get a cabinet.

->->

->> All you will have is a pile of rust on the floor and a fuel tank that is

->> suitable only as a colander.

->

->That's what I'm starting with ;-)

->

->(It's not that bad TBH)

->

->I see you're still anoraking then, once I get the Pinzgauer back on

->the road I'll have to pop along to one of your events. If you know

->anyone who wants to buy a Defender 110 with engine mods and various

->recon bits of drivetrain then I might be selling.

Still playing tho not as often anymore, I think a group of us are off to Slindon in a couple of weeks.

Can't help with the 110, not enought seats ;-)

I'll join the mailing list at some point, my main machine is currently ill while I sort out an oil leak on one of the portals, should be fixed soon.

Throw an old sofa in the back ;-)

Erm.... I think Steve had painting it on to your petrol tank in mind...

;-)

Lee

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