Needle descaler - any good?

[66-V8]

I'm thinking of getting one of these for my quite rusty Daimler 2.5 resto, mainly for chassis work.

Anyone here got one or something similar? I loathe shelling out for tools which turn out to be useless. Your opinions please.

Ideally, I'd borrow one to see what they're like but I haven't got any friends.

 

[wyn]

I have a similar one with the pistol grip. I have used it to strip the paint off a lathe, milling machine and various other things.

My 14 cfm compressor runs continuously when using it.

Does a good job on older paintwork.

 

[gordon stephenson]

I have used one of these scatter scalers quite a lot, But only the industrial models made by Ingersol-rand etc, they make a pretty good job removing scabby thick rust,quite noisy to operate, I agree with Wyn, make sure your compressor will keep it supplied,
Cheers Gordon.

 

[madkayaker]

the trigger time is low on them due to vibration

 

[richweld]

I'm thinking of getting one of these for my quite rusty Daimler 2.5 resto, mainly for chassis work.

Anyone here got one or something similar? I loathe shelling out for tools which turn out to be useless. Your opinions please.

I have that type of Clarke needle scaler. It is a nice piece of kit for DIY work.

I also have the Clarke pistol grip needle scaler, which is less expensive, but it is not as good as the more expensive one shown in your link.

You'll need some good ear defenders as well.

 

[Weldingartisan]

Needle descalers are good on heavy steel sections, not really suitable for sheet material as noise/damage will be quite an issue. Rotary wire brush, detail sander, flap wheels/discs, etc are better for light chassis work. W/A

 

[109party]

used on a 1/4 inch plate and they work a treat although ear defenders are a must in not to good with wearing safty gear. as thick gloves and goggles seem to lull you into a false sense of security, and i wear glasses already. but when using one of them after doing it for 30mins without, your ears will be ringing. with them on you can still hear people talking but just dont get the constant pain on your ears

 

[malcolm]

Do be careful with needle guns. There's a court case going on at the moment where a couple of 22 year olds were asked to use needle guns for extended periods and have permanently lost the use of their hands due to vibration white finger. I'd imagine they will be unemployable for the remainder of their lives which I expect could get very boring. They were using older type professional needle guns without decent vibration isolation.

New professional needle guns (assume 2008 onwards) have 'reasonable' vibration isolation and the really good ones can be used for a couple of hours each day. The hobby ones don't fall under the same regs. Generally they are up at 20m/s2 which is 0 minutes 'safe' use per day in use. The next stage up from 0 minutes is instant damage. A bit like hitting your thumb with a hammer, just more permanent.

The difference is the way hobby ones are measured. They are measured hanging from a string in free space rather than hammering against a bit of metal. The low vibration when not in use is the only reason they are allowed to be sold. To a noise and vibration engineer that seems very silly.

As I say be careful using them, and don't rely on thick gloves. Gloves do help but aren't a solution. Personally I go for a different method of cleaning. Whatever you do don't change hands when one gets a bit numb - it's cool to have one hand that still works.