Gentlemen,

Working on my 79 F250, I've got it up on blocks and the undercarriage stripped down to bare axles. The frame, in fact the whole underside, is a rusty mess, and I'd like to clean it down to the metal and repaint.

I've got my semi-flexible disk mounted on my angle grinder. I've got my wire wheel in the drill chuck. But I wondered if there were some slick tricks or tools out there to reduce the elbow grease necessary.

Thanks,

Don.

 

That's how I did my first 2 frames. I had the wire brushes mounted to my grinder though. I just changed as needed. I found the drill didn't have enough rpms, it was too time consuming. I also used a hammer and chisel to knock off the stubborn flakes. I have since moved up to a presure media blaster and die grinder.

 

I used a pressure sand blaster on my '50 F1 frame. Fast, but messy. I tried to use a wire wheel and drill on my 1958 TeeNee boat trailer--waste of time and effort. It could not cut through the rust and paint very well. I ended up using my angle grinder and an 80grit flap wheel to clean her down to bare metal in no time. Put some earplugs in. It will be loud.

 

I concur with Neverenough, a drill doesn't cut it, literally. Angle grinder with wire wheel or flap disc seems to work, a die grinder with wire wheel seems effective too. I'd like to sand blast but don't have space or equipment yet.

Has anyone used a pressure washer? And what pressure is needed to remove rust?

 

I'm getting ready to take the body off and start cleaning my '74 F250. I'll use a pressure washer to get the old undercoating and scale off, but then it will be either angle grinder and flap wheel or off to the local media blasting shop. A good pressure washer should clean it up pretty good, but won't get it down to the bare metal.

 

I just got a sandblaster from Home Depot(about $20), a 5 gallon bucket, and some playground sand. Just make sure you have a good drier set up on the compressor.

 

Don't sandblasters require large compressors with fairly huge tanks to run properly?

 

my compressor puts out 11 CFM at 90psi, has a 8 gallon tank (2 4 gallon tanks) and runs a sand blaster fine.

Its not tank size that really matters its duty cycle and CFM rating

 

I've had pretty good luck with a wire wheel and a $16 B&D single speed drill from Home Depot.

 

> a die grinder with wire wheel

Only problem with a die grinder is when it throws a wire because most of them do not have shields. I can speak from experience. I think a small 4.5 inch grinder with a wire wheel works fine or nice flap discs. For large areas you might find a disc sander with a 5" #36 piece of sand paper works great. It can really tear it down to the metal in no time.

Though for quality I do not think you can beat sand blasting because it cleans up below the surface into the pits where surface sanding will not reach. I would skip using sand (because of health hazards) and use something such as black beauty slag (some Home Depots sell it).

 

A long long time ago in a reality far far away... when FTE was just a mailing list there was one member who talked about a tool called a needle gun. Looks like an impact wrench but it has several metal pins that stick out the front and move in and out. The pins hammer against the surface you hold it against. It is a pneumatic tool and is used on ships to remove scale and rust.

 

Well, in absence of a compressor to run a sandblaster, I spent the weekend with a course cup-shape wire brush on my grinder.

Actually, I started out with a sanding disk, but the 5" plastic support disk got chewed down to about 2" in no time.

Anyway - I found out what someone meant by the perils of a wire wheel on a 10,000rpm grinder. The first session I had my dust mask (NIOSH P100 always, guys!) and face shield alright, but worked in a t-shirt. I found wires not only on and in my clothing, but a couple of them embedded fairly deeply in my arms, a good 1/2" in. Wore the coveralls after that. Good thing I got that tetanus booster last check up.

By the way - someone mentioned avoiding sandblasting for health reasons - all it takes, and this always a good idea whenever doing a ything that generates dust, is a good dust mask. Forget those paper comfort masks with the little elastic and the aluminum nose crimper. Waste of time. Get a good rubber or silicon face mask with changeable filters. 3M makes an excellent line available pretty much only through industrial safety stores, who can also recommend the right filter for the application.

Anyway, thanks for the input everyone.

 

I used a dry sand blaster and black mineral sand on my F250 frame and it came up a treat. Only down point was the mess. Black sand is real heavy and real hard to clean up.