Needle guns

[Leisure27]

Has anyone had any experience of using a needle gun to get the paint off of a cast iron keel?
Is it a long slow process?
Is an electric gun up to the job or do I need to hire one with a compressor?

I know grit blasting is the proper job but I don't want to pay that much.

Thanks

Brendan.

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[Freebee]

I would say you need the compressed air type with a compresser with sufficient air capacity to drive it full time, it should not take long, but it depends on the size of you keel ofcourse

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[Joe_Cole]

I don't think it matters which type you go for; neither will be as good as grit blasting which is by far the best approach if you are doing a Rolls Royce job (i.e. painting it with Epoxy). If not then either of the needle guns would be OK, though an air powered one would be quicker. If I were doing it, and I didn't want to grit blast, I would use a wire brush in a hand held angle grinder, simply because I've got the kit.

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[tcm]

i wd use google to have look at Removall range of products, perhaps

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[Superflid]

I used to use needle guns to remove the paint from the old red telephone boxes during renovation for years.
Great tool but incredibly noisy. Neighbours, whether in a boatyard or elsewhere, are not going to like it. (mine certainly didn't at home!).

A good output from the compressor will be needed along with as good ear protection as you can get. Paint flakes will fly everywhere (including underwear......) so eye protection is also a must.
If you're going to be using it in cold weather you'll also need thick gloves as it will get extremely cold. Too low an ambient temp (although still above freezing) and the gun will freeze up.

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[Casey]

I took the paint and rust off my cast iron keel with a wire brush on an angle grinder. It did a good job and did not take that long. Goggles and protective clothing is absolutely essential.

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[Talbot]

If you already have the compressor, (best at least 2 1/2 hp) then rather than using the needle gun, which is noisy, slow and hard work, I would recommend that you use a sand blast gun (available from <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.compressormart.com/>here</A>) I have one and combined with a 3 hp compressor, makes short work of removing rust and paint using silver sand. The finish is much better than you can achieve with a needle gun - which is really only viable if the rust is deep and scaly.

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[silverseal]

You have answered one of my questions. Here is two others. Will it remove antifouling without damaging the gelcoat? Looking at the Compressormart site, the sand gun seems just to have a tube which dips presumably into a bag of dry silver sand? How much sand does it consume say per sq metre?

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[duncan]

Re: sand blast

I was going to suggest the sand blast attachment to a jet wash (if you have one).
I recently added the B&Q (it fits many units with supplied adapter) one to my Karcher and have found it does an excellent job with silver sand on light tasks (stainless props) and is going to remove paint from anything!
Pretty cheap overall.

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[mikewilkes]

When SWMBO was chipping the inside of our bilges - I was away at work of course - she said it was hard work.
Being ever helpfull i told her to go to the hire shop in town and enquire about needle guns. Had to explain to her what they were first. Off she went and got an electric one.
She phoned a couple of days later and was extstatic with her new toy. Thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. When I got home I must admit she had done a good job. Fortunately the nearest neighbours were 500 yards away!!!
That was 2000 and the bilges still look good. Just the occaisional spot to rub with sandpaper and repaint.


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[mirabriani]

Mikewilkes
I'm sorry but if you persist in posting these sort of far fetched stories....
SWMBO cleaning out the bilge
The next thing will be for you to claim SWMBO has a meal waiting for you when you arrive home........Whatever next?

Disbeliever, Croydon

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[mikewilkes]

Briani - would I lie to the forum ???

< SWMBO cleaning out the bilge >

She needle gunned one of them after chipping the other one
She really is an absolute little cracker - the boss that is - and if I can persuade her I need to do techy things whilst the boat is out of the water she will get underneath and anti foul both hulls as well.
I can get away with this cos she is very computer illegatimite - bit like me really. She will not even touch one. Could be in the fertilizer next Jan though if Colin Scott is on his time off!!! He will dob me in no doubt!!


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[Talbot]

Re: sand blast

the water/sand system is nowhere near as effective as the sand/air combo.

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[Talbot]

The tube does just dip into the sand. but it is important for the sand to remain as dry as possible (one of the reasons that the water/sand system is not so effective). The air just sucks the sand through, and metal gets shiny clean!

Dont know about its effectiveness versus gelcoat. If you have a compressor that you can vary the strength, and are prepared to experiment, I dont see why it wouldnt work, after all, a lot of companies that peal gelcoat, then do a blast (not with sand, with some form of grit) in order to open up the pores and allow drying more quickly. However at your own risk etc.

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