needle scaler

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barbee6043

barbee6043

barbee 6043
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have heard people refer to using them, are they worth the $$$, for re moving surface rust and /or undercoating from bottom of car??? I saw on advertised in Summitt for $62 in their latest flyer. I don't need a pro model.
 
Haven't got one yet, but I hear they are the shizzit for getting old crusty undercoating off. I'm sure it's quite messy with stuff flyin everywhere. I'm gonna get one, and get my car on my lift and just do small sections at a time. Clean up, go from there. I buy all my tools from a professional tool warehouse, but, I'll bet you can even get em at HF
 
I've used needle scalers in the past, work very good for knocking heavy rust off, never used one to remove undercoating; I have my doubts; I see the bottom side of the car being reshaped and/or ventilated.

Your results may differ.

Good luck.
 
I used one to get the undercoating off when I did my minitubs. I couldn't believe how fast that old undercoating came off. I just picked up a cheap harbor freight one and it worked great.
 
HF sells them AND the needles to replace. get a BIG compressor...
 
I've used the HF one on undercoating. It works but it's still a ton of work and like Pishta says, your compressor will get a workout.
 
simple trick, take a hand held propane torch and heat up the undercoating. scrape with putty knife and comes off like soft butter. works great on the factory under coating. not sure on newer coatings.
 
I presume you're talking about a conventional needle gun. If so, I don't see this working well for you. They will pound the heck out of auto sheet metal. They are primarily used for chipping slag off of heavy steel components that have been joined by stick welding. Also, heavy rust that forms in layers on thick steel. Undercoating is relatively soft and doesn't 'chip' off. You'd be better off suiting up with a painter's mask, full face shield, leather gloves and jacket. Hit it with a 4.5" grinder with a heavy duty twisted steel brush (check RPM rating). Use cone and regular shaped brushes as necessary. It's messy but works rather quickly.
 
Oh, and be careful using a torch. How do I know... When I was welding in mini tubs from under my car, I sensed something burning. Slid out and found the undercoating inside the car caught on fire and progressed to the headliner which went up in in flames really fast. Burned out the entire headliner. Fortunately no body damage. Car was inside my garage which is part of the house. Could have been really bad.
 
used the one from HF on the car and on cool decking on the pool...
 
Slappy said:
20 bucks harbor freight did my undercoating
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i found it easier when the metal was cold.

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I did the underside of my barracuda with a propane torch and scraper but it was a bare shell
at the time. It worked great and doesn't take much heat to get the job done.
 
JBurch said:
I've used needle scalers in the past, work very good for knocking heavy rust off, never used one to remove undercoating; I have my doubts; I see the bottom side of the car being reshaped and/or ventilated.

Your results may differ.

Good luck.
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Used the hell out of them in the Navy, the undercoat will definitely clog them if soft and you have to be careful on sheet metal. I use a heat gun on the undercoating. Think of a scaler like a air hammer with 20 chisels. They do work great on heavy ga metal.
 
i'm headed to the city for pick a part tour, and will go by HF for one. and take back their D A that run all of 3 min before dying!!!! and get their needle tool. compressor? yes twin cyl, rebuilt last year, yep it would be bigger if I was a real bodyman!!!!!!!

car I'm working on is a 67 Bel 1, not factory undercoated, plenty surface rust. I have NOTHING to work on bottom side but dirt floor and 67 year old body laying on my back!! I was trying to remove some undercoat from inside of qtr I cut off for small patch, with the propane (map) torch, places it would melt and other spots it would not make a dent in it! stuff was tough. ha

99% of cars I find come factory undercoated, if metal and undercoat is still good, I redo the undercoat. if not I chip if off best I can, prime with epoxy and then UNDERCOAT again! I persoanlly have no interest in a driver that is painted under bottom side. looks great but.......

thanks for the info.....
 
Use ear protection.Borrowed a buddys,wow was it loud.
 
Steam cleaner for sure, especially if you have a lift or rotisserie. Some places rent them.
 
cudascott said:
I did the underside of my barracuda with a propane torch and scraper but it was a bare shell
at the time. It worked great and doesn't take much heat to get the job done.
Click to expand...

yes,way to go for factory coating. needle scaler to tedious. how do i know? was in the navy and thats all we did was chip paint off the ship and rehab.called them needle guns back then....
 
So, it totally depends on the undercoat in question. If it's set up nice and stiff, the needle gun works great. Keep it at a really shallow (30*) angle and go nuts. If the undercoat is still pliable or soft at all, the needles will just smoosh it around and make a mess. The Mustang I just did had some of each. I got most of it with the cheap HF needle gun in record time, did the rest with a combination of heat/scraper and angle grinder with twisted wire brush. The nice thing about the needle gun is that the undercoat will come off in big chunks. It's messy, but not nearly as bad as with the wire wheel. My advice is to do as much as will cooperate with the needle gun, _THEN_ switch to heat, and _THEN_ wire wheel. If you do it in that order, dry chunks in weird corners and seams will come off easy. If you do it in a different order, really annoying bits that would have chipped right off will soften and be a PITA with the scraper.

Absolutely agree that hearing protection is _REQUIRED_.
 
I didn't make it to the city yet, hopefully next week. will go by HF and get one. the car is a 67 Bel with 50 year old rust and just undercoat in places like wheel wells ,under fenders. rock hard! otherwise surface rust if would like to clean best I can, then I will treat it with Ospho, and later shoot some epoxy , tractor paint, and undercoat the whole bottom. driver!
 
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