Air tool advice

[Bad dad]

Although I've been fettling with cars for years I've never owned any air tools. I've recently invested in a descent compressor so that I can undertake my Jeep restoration, hopefully in the new year.
The next thing to get is a selection of air tools to make life easier (hopefully.)

I have normal angle grinders, large reciprocating saw, drills etc.. but am not sure what air tools to get, so some suggestions would be useful from those of you who use them regularly.

I assume I need a 3" cut off tool, the ones I've seen in use in 'How to' articles in magazines appear to have no safety guard unlike the new ones on sale, have they been removed for ease of use or could these be die grinders with a disc attached, or can a 3" DA have a cutting wheel fitted?

I need to accurately cut out the minimum of metal to get rid of rust and patch weld repairs with no overlap, should I get a little body saw?

Also for grinding down welds, air file, die grinder or cut off wheel on edge?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Douglas

 

[billymade]

Here are some basics I can think of....

high speed air sander

great for grinding, sanding, rust/scale removal and prepping surfaces for welding, body filler application etc.

quality brands: iR, CP, etc.

http://www.google.com/search?q=high...itle&resnum=3&ved=0CDAQrQQwAg&biw=996&bih=613

Dual action sander

quality brands: (high end) national detroit, hutchens, (medium quality) CP, IR etc.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...tion+sander&aq=f&aqi=g2g-m2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Die grinder

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ght+die+grinder&aq=f&aqi=m1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=


below are probably not required but nice to have

air shear

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...:1&q=air+shear&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

line sander

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...&q=line+sander&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

angle head die grinder

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...+head+die+grinder&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

saw

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...op:1&q=air+saw&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

I'm not aware of attachments you should put on a DA safely, aside from sanding pads (dual action sanders) and I would recommend a 5" disk for die grinders.... get good ones, cheap can fly apart and hurt you! Also ear protection, face shield and paint suits are nice when working with sanding, body filler, painting, fiberglass repair etc! Good luck... I'm sure more will chime in!

 

[Bad dad]

Thanks for the speedy input Billy, what I didn't mention is that I'm in England so some of the brands you can obtain easily may not be so plentiful here, and I have an aversion to Chinese garbage, you how a quality tool feels. I dunno how much of it is psychological but they certainly feel better to me.

Thanks again,

Douglas.

 

[fordcragar]

I need to accurately cut out the minimum of metal to get rid of rust and patch weld repairs with no overlap, should I get a little body saw?

Also for grinding down welds, air file, die grinder or cut off wheel on edge?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Douglas

I would use a cut-off wheel and trim it up with hand snips for patch panels. You could also use the cut-off wheel to grind the weld proud down as well.

As far as the cut-off wheel guard, remove at you own risk. I keep mine on, these turn just too fast. Also wear a good face shield.

 

[Red Green]

In order I would get a cut off tool. Yes lots of people remove the safty sheild. Then a angle die grinder. With the sanding wheel. Then a Hi Speed Sander. Then a DA.

 

[vssjim]

I'm sure that Chicago Pneumatic and IR are in England and probably Hutchins and National Detroit sanders are there somewhere.

 

[KenS]

...what I didn't mention is that I'm in England...

"fettling" was a dead give-away!

A 90-degree die grinder with Roloc disks is a great "piece of kit."

 

[Indy_500]

IMO, a die grinder is a must. Impact wrench will make your life a lot easier too.

 

[red69ss]

Once you get the air tools and use them you'll wonder how you ever worked without them.
Air chisel is the only one I don't think was mentioned, they come in handy when working on an old car. Right angle die grinder is irreplaceable. Deffinently buy quality air tools, I tried to get by with some cheap air tools when I first got my comp. , big mistake there is deffinently a difference.

 

[Bad dad]

Hi All,

Further to the info given here on the Journal I bought a Mac tools cut off on e bay, it seems to work. However there is a knurled sprung loaded collar or sleeve near the top with the words 'Caution do not engage sleeve during operation' Can someone tell me the purpose of this collar?

Also I had a dig around in the garage and found a drill that I picked up at a rod show a few summers back, still with the price sticker on. It's pretty worn looking but I connected it to a small compressor which is the only one working at the moment as my new big one needs to be wired into a fused spur. It's of British manufacture but the name has worn off. It spins but not very fast, I assume thats due to air delivery. My other question is given the required air pressure would this work as a die grinder?

I'll attach some pics to give a better idea.




Thanks for any help.

Douglas.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

the collar is to adjust the angle of the head. if you pull up on it you can move it side to side.

 

[Bad dad]

Thanks for that, I had no idea it did that.

Dg.

 

[Skin]

air chisel is required. Makes busting old rivets and welds, not to mention knocking stuff loose, 100x easier than doing it by hand.

 

[Bad dad]

That raises another question, as well as a chisel, what about those de scaling tools with the bunch of vibrating needles, I was wondering if they would generate enough vibration to help loosen old nuts?

 

[y2knole]

3/8" air ratchet is the tool that has saved me more time than everything else I own combined.

also, get a good retractable hose reel. nothing better than keeping those hoses tidy after use, and nothing worse than having to stretch out a hose to un-kink it after its been wrapped around the compressor's handle or some other something when not in use.

and use an impact wrench with impact sockets.