pneumatic needle scalers

[santagary]

Just bought a chinese needle scaler and can't get it to work with 1/4" air line....would 3/8" help? I bought it through the Wish site and am having trouble with them listening to my or the tools' problem.

 

[fatfillup]

What specifically is the problem?

More air may or may not help but they do use a lot of air

 

[gte718p]

Just bought a chinese needle scaler and can't get it to work with 1/4" air line....would 3/8" help? I bought it through the Wish site and am having trouble with them listening to my or the tools' problem.

Probably. Needle scalers are air hogs. Your real problem may be buying it from wish. Knock offs of knock offs are not known for their reliability.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Wish isn’t going to care a bit.

You might get some better performance with a bigger line but odds are it’s going to be a dud. Cheapest I’ll go on stuff like that is Harbor Freight at least you can return it and get your money back if it doesn't work out of the box.

 

[kctyphoon]

I bought one and quickly found out that you need a BIG compressor to actually use one. Besides that, even with using short bursts - its ******* loud.. I bought one to try and knock off some rust on the frame of my truck, but wound up just using grinders with different wire brushes and sanding discs instead.

 

[ken w.]

I have a HF. It didn't work as well as I thought it would. It does use a bunch of air.

 

[Lucid Moments]

I used those in the Navy. Hated the fuckers. Get a wire wheel and a grinder instead.

 

[sberry]

I had a job a while back that would have been about impossible other ways.

 

[Benw455]

I have the one from HF, works great. It does use a ton of air. I have a 6.5hp compressor with a 60 gallon tank.

 

[xela456]

I dont know what you mean by not working, but if its not working "well enough" I can say from experience that they aren't all created equal. I've used quite a few different ones. I own an Ingersoll IR125 which is also about how much it cost. I've also got a needle scaler attachment that I put on my IR118 max. The attachment on the air hammer hits alot harder but is not as many beats per minute. Both have never let me down. I've used the mini from harbor freight and while it is handy being small, its' size is almost eclipsed by its' utter lack of power. Good for chipping welds at best I'd say.


On another note... was this KC Typhoons last post? I wonder what the final straw was?

 

[Brand X]

Gold standard are the Nitto Kohki ones.. Love mine, but a cheap composite Klutch is really not too bad for the money..

 

[xela456]

Gold standard are the Nitto Kohki ones.. Love mine, but a cheap composite Klutch is really not too bad for the money..

I've never heard of those. I did a quick search of them on eBay and the first thing that came up are the electric ones. Those things look Massive!
Are the air ones the on-line style or pistol grip?

 

[bob15]

I used those in the Navy. Hated the fuckers. Get a wire wheel and a grinder instead.

That doesn't always work. My snowmobile trailer underside was needle-scaled. Two people & two scalers and it still took 5 hours. Using a wire wheels would have taken at least 3 times as long.

But as others have said, they like their air. A middle of the road IR scaler runs about 12 cfm.

 

[bob15]

Not sure. I thought he was behaving. Maybe something was said on the flat-rate vs salary vs parts mark-up vs time debacle thread?

 

[Packard V8]

While we're on needle scalers, I've got a couple of IRs which need the needles. Where do you buy yours?

 

[MoonRise]

I have the HF mini one.

Works for me. Helps knock rust flakes and chunks off of suspension and brake components where there is NO way to get a wire brush (angle grinder OR long-nose die grinder) in there.

Hearing protection and good eye protection are mandatory. But that's pretty much mandatory for most of the power tools (electric or pneumatic) I use.

Gary, what specifically is the problem other than 'it does not work'? Does nothing at all, doesn't do much, what?

Sometimes I've had a pneumatic tool not 'work', open it up and clean out the guts somewhat and lube it up and then it will work. Amazing that clean and properly lubricated air tools work better.

 

[gtjunk]

My experience with them has been pretty good, my air compressor isn't anything to brag about, about 4CFM@90, but it does OK for the small jobs I use the scaler on. For most jobs, I think a wire wheel or flap wheel is preferrred, but getting an inside corner of a part is much harder; for those I go with the scaler or the sand blaster (also with said compressor), the scaler tends to win as it's far less mess.

 

[xela456]

While we're on needle scalers, I've got a couple of IRs which need the needles. Where do you buy yours?

I know you can get them on the Ingersoll website. Zoro tools through ebay. I've never used their website to purchase as the search function (last time I tried a few years ago) sucked!
They're pretty inexpensive if you ask me about 20 bucks.

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

i had the big one from hf and it broke. got the mini now and i have to take it apart and clean and oil it pretty much every time i use it but about 90% of that is im not getting the air dry enough. take it apart and oil it and it should work some what but you need more air

 

[danielbuck]

if you can get more air to it (try running a short line unregulated), and put a good bit of oil in it (like more than an eye dropper full), and give it a few good whacks with a dead blow, or bang it on a wood table, it might just be stuck on the inside.

Once it gets going, keep it good and oiled, and it'll probably work it's way usable. I've done this on a few cheap used air tools, instead of actually opening them up and rebuilding them.

 

[stillnostrebor]

I recently bought the HF mini to use on the underside of a 51 Chevy. It is just powerful enough to knock off 70 year old undercoating/road tar/ schmutz, but not so powerful that it beats dents into the sheet metal. Wire wheels would warm up the goop and just spread it around. The scaler works much better on "dry" undercoat buildup.

It works much faster and has saved many hours so far, and it has made an incredibly unpleasant job a bit less incredibly unpleasant.

The machine is loud!! wear protection.

 

[BLUE72CAMARO]

I have one that goes on my air hammer and it works great for repair weld prep in areas you cant get a wire wheel and grinder into to knock paint and rust off.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I started using Marvel Mystery oil in my air tools and have less issues with them.

 

[driz]

I got an IR a few years back. I hated it and did the larger air chuck chuck install, not much better. I found a far better cheaper way.
Just take any old air chisel and blunt off your least favorite tip. Then wail with it letting it bounce loosely in your hand so it hits but doesn’t try to cut in. You’ll get the knack of it fast . I swear it’s much faster than a scaler using much less air. I also use that with some penetrating oil to loosen frozen bolts and such. Try it , it works .


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Dieselhammer]

ditch the wish app needle scaler. If youre only doing a project or two get a harbor freight one, if youre gonna scale more, just buy the ingersol rand 125 scaler, its been the standard at every truck and equipment shop ive been at.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

I use a needle scaler for hours on end at least once a year to clean off big cast iron end bells on our intercoolers. Works almost as well as a sand blaster. Yes, it's noisy, but its less messy than a wire wheel on an angle grinder and reaches places an angle grinder couldn't hope to reach. We have a pair of 250hp IR screws down the road feeding our shop air, so consumption isn't an issue. I have found the cheap Princess Auto scalers to last longer than the IR units. Maybe a fluke. Once they start to shed needles it seems to go downhill fast though.

 

[joe_padavano]

I have the one from HF, works great. It does use a ton of air. I have a 6.5hp compressor with a 60 gallon tank.

Same here. I got the small HF needle scaler on a whim. My compressor is 23.5 SCFM. The scaler works better than I expected, especially to get scaly rust off of a truck frame. Yeah, it is incredibly loud.

 

[lardy1]

I spent the last several years of my working career sailing as a Merchant Marine. After you get over seasick, your first lesson is "rust never sleeps" as the Bosun hands you a needle gun. Your second lesson is that, if you want overtime, you WILL be running a needle gun. They are an everyday fact of life aboard commercial ships. You get to where you can rebuild them blindfolded.

 

[Brand X]

I've never heard of those. I did a quick search of them on eBay and the first thing that came up are the electric ones. Those things look Massive!
Are the air ones the on-line style or pistol grip?

http://www.nittokohki.com/tools/products/powertools/needlescalers/index.html


They don't give them away for a reason..

I have the #24 model..

 

[xela456]

http://www.nittokohki.com/tools/products/powertools/needlescalers/index.html


They don't give them away for a reason..

I have the #24 model..

I meant to say IN-line style like my 125 but it auto-corrected me! What are you using yours' for? I work at a cement plant and I usually find myself using it in conjunction with an air hammer (IR118max) to uncover the parts of equipment I need to work on. I've found that when I put the attachment on my air hammer it has a ton of power for a scaler.

 

[Brand X]

Mine would be for frame rails, trailers/trucks Things that don't fit in my blast cabinet.etc.. The Nitto Kohki tools are generally quieter, and smoother then most other brands of air tools.. Pay a price for being made in Japan too. Amazon, and Ebay have been great for deals..