The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop What should I use to remove rust????

Ok...its time to take "Rusty Dog" to the next level. I have a small compressor, so anything air powered is mostly out of the picture, but I do have a 1/4 sheet palm sander. Should I use it, or buy a electric orbital sander? I've got to pretty much hit the entire truck, so I'm not afraid to spend a little money to speed up the process. Any ideas??

Got any pictures of how bad the rust is? It will depend on how bad it is as to what you will need.If it is all light surface rust you may get away with a dual action orbital sander with 60 or 80 grit.A small compressor with run it, but you will have to keep letting it catch up on air.You will probably need a combination of things as you go. Got anymore info on where the rust is and how bad it is?

Hey Alan, thanks for such a quick reply. I am in the process of getting some pictures posted on my flickr account, but for the most part its just light surface rust on top of $.99 a can spray paint, on top of the original paint. Most of the can paint is long gone, so it’s a combination of everything, with a light coating of rust. I've gotten down to bare metal with just some sanding by hand, but it’s just too big to do all by hand. I think I'll break out the square sander and let her get started. Do I have to get it down to shiny metal? There are some areas where it is smooth, but there is brown "tenting" that is hard to get out. It doesn't look like active rust, but I wanted to make sure to get all I can. I plan on putting on cheap primer for now to prevent more surface rust, and then get her to the body shop for paint later on. Again thanks for the help.

Well, I really like sandblasting but its cold outside right now. So, today I hit the side of the panel with some 60 and some 80 grit sandpaper and found out right quick that wasn't my cup of tea. I went up town and bought me a 3M stipping brush for my electric drill and hit the side of the panel again. I think this is the way to go but its going to be a little slower. BUT man, it takes it to the metal and its clean/slick. I have three coats of paint and an expoxy primer to grind off so mine may be worst than yours??

If your only taking off light rust I would say sand it. If its rusted and pitted bad I'd sandblast it.
All depends on circumstances and pocketbook! As someone mentioned above it will most likely take a combination of things.
I'm sure the PROS will chime in a little later.

Alan, I just looked at your photos, and my truck is very close to yours in rust. Some looks better and some looks worst than yours.

I just received a small sand blaster from HF for Christmas, but my compressor won't push it, and my neighborhood wouldn't like it. I have a very large compressor available at work, but "Rusty" isn't road worthy. I could load her on a trailer and unload at work, but its Jan. and although its not that cold, its too dark after work to get anything done. Has anyone had any luck with these small blasting pots?

Maybe you could barrow an additional air compressor for a day and plumb to the two togather for enough (CFM'S) volumn. I stripped the paint off my fire truck using a six inch D A sander with eighty grit paper. This really worked great for me. I sanded it down to bare metal and worked from there. The draw back was it was a big project and my wrist got sore and sand paper cost money. Sand blasting also dose so it's a wash.

I like the 3m stripping discs that are available for grinders. Either a 4-1/2" grinder or a 7" sander/polisher does a decent job. They last much longer than sandpaper and won't warp metal or annoy your neighbors like sandblasting.

Say, why don't you guys post a picture of these 3m products so we all know exactly what you’re talking about. Or maybe 3m’s product number. In my local Ace or Mainards I've not seen any 3m products labeled stripping brush or stripping disc. Are you just using this as a generic term or is that actually the product name on the packaging??
Cuz I don’t know if you just talking about a stiff wire brush or a 40 grit closed coat sanding disc.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Me 2!

The ones made for a drill are about 3" in diameter and about 1/2" thick. They are the color of steel wool and they look like a bunch of grey material stuck in glue. They take rust and paint off and do almost nothing to the metal. The product is called "3M paint and rust stripping wheel" I believe. That is how I did my entire cab.

Here it is:

If your truck is like mine, a lot of it will sand down to bare metal & get the rust off with a DA. Some of mine I have had to use my electric angle grinder with either the 3M stripper or 60 grit flap disc. Anything beyond that you could sandblast or use Ospho (I think it is spelled that way). A lot of the smaller parts I used electrolysis and got stuff pretty clean. Once you get the metal clean I would get it primed & painted as soon as possible.Epoxy primer will hold it best for a while, but a cheap primer will not keep it from starting to rust again. I had all my paint(urethane) mixed at one time and am painting each panel as I go. As long as the paint was all from the same batch it should look O.K. painting panel by panel.I also am using POR-15 on the inner fender aprons & the backside of all my sheetmetal parts. That should hold the rust off for as long as I own it.

make sure your gun settings and air pressure are the same everytime you paint or it could slightly change the color. also make sure you keep the gun the same distance from the part. nevermind how I learned this

I was hoping to only use the rattle can primer to keep from rust that would happen before I got it to paint. I am not set up to where I can paint my rig, but can sand/primer in order to lower the cost of a professional paint and body shop. I do not plan on driving or even getting rained on with the rattle can primer; just sit in the garage a couple of months before she goes to paint. Is the rattle can primer something they will sand off before paint anyways? Am I wasting my time with it all together?

Check with NAPA, they sell a rattle can primer sealer which I believe is put on over their (or any?) primer and it seals the surface preventing moisture from seeping through. But if you've treated the bare metal with phosphoric acid (metal prep), primed and then stored the parts in a dry environment it's hard to imagine there being a problem. Add a primer sealer and that's even more protection.

My only caveat is what can you paint over primer sealer... painting has become WAY too complicated and when I was told the materials alone could run as high as a thousand dollars I nearly stroked out. I'm using acrylic enamel... period.

Denny and Czechman, 3M makes a round 4 1/2 round disc that looks like a black course scratch pad with a arbor. I am using it on my COE and it works great... They are about 5.00 bucks at Menards. They look like they wouldn't last long, but they do...


jim tix
roch, mn.

Denny and Czechman, 3M makes a round 4 1/2 round disc that looks like a black course scratch pad with a arbor. They look like a black donut with a arbor attached.. I am using it on my COE and it works great... They are about 5.00 bucks at Menards. They look like they wouldn't last long, but they do...


jim tix
roch, mn.

Thank you!

I've used acid to de-rust metal parts without blasting. Moric acid, I found does a great job on elimating rust. I found this out while cleaning some concrete tools. Moric acid is used to clean mortar off bricks also. I placed the tools in a wheelbarrow and added water to dilute the acid. In a few hours I noticed the tools were completely de-rusted. If you do use it make sure you neutralize the acid when finished. Hope I am not giving you some bad info here. If so , someone please correct me on this.

I've also heard that vinegar nuetralizes rust...is this true?

Dave

Vinegar works the same way as the acid. I've used THIS METHOD to derust some parts and it works very well and it's cheap. You just have to be very careful to rinse thoroughly. Some have suggested even using a baking soda & water rinse to neutralize any acid left in crevices where applicable.

I'm going to build a temporary pool out of 1x10's and visqueen to do my doors which are pretty much covered with surface rust that you'd never be able to grind away, nor could you get any rust hiding inside the window frame.

Anybody heard of or tried Picklex ?
I read some good reviews about it on another site, but have no experience with it myself.

here's a Picklex review from the autobodystore.com site, they like it

Bill

Again, if your going to use muratic acid, add acid to water NOT water to acid.
Cleon

3M also makes one that's about 6" diameter with a velcro acking and a separate arbor with the same abrasive material. I beleive they sell under the Scotch Brite brand. The don't have the hole in the center and seem to last longer. They're real good for large flat and curved areas, as long as there's no tight corners. Menard's has them also, check in the power tool sandpaper aisle.

Hey Bill, It's January '08 and we're all waiting with rapt anticipation to see the latest installment of DA BUS!

so am I!!! things ground to a halt then and it's rained nearly every day since .... when we get a few dry days I can finish the structure and then need a warmer day to cover it with greenhouse poly ... good things take time!

and for abrasive rust removal, flap discs work wonders

Bill

You're a better man than I...

Woody, nice job on that make shift derusting tank...thanks for sharing those photos and ideas.

Dave

Dave,

That's not mine. I was just linking to the article as an example.

if you sand blast use only 90 lbs and a long air hose for some reson it makes it run smoother but go to the hardware and buy a bottle of osphose its a aicd you spray on and it turns rust into black chunks that can be chiped off or painted over all paint and hardware carry it its cheape

Hey I bought one of the 3m scotch brite disks and boy oh boy did that work. It really worked well in those hard to reach areas. I have wondered how the flap disk work...had one in my hands today and put it back. I might give it try

I had MUCH success with a milwaukee electric grinder and 3m bristle discs for some pretty substantial surface rust. These things are the cat's pajamas, and they're not abusive to the sheet metal. They're a little pricey, but they seem to last forever. (Eastwood sells them too, but the green 7" seemed to hole up much better.)

http://rshughes.com/products/048011_27685.html?

If using the flap disk BEWARE. After seeing a comment about using the flap disk I decided to give it a try...or rather have my son give it a try. I had two boxes of flap disk, along with some free labor and figured why not. Well, the 4 1/2" Milwaukee runs at better than 20,000rpms. I glanced over to see how things were going and the side of the panel looked like a woodpecker had been pecking on it in spots. Well, its seems that my son was going at it with the flap disk to straight and it would actually indent the metal some. The way the light was shining on it he couldn't tell but boy I sure could from where I was standing! It'll have to have a light skim coat of filler to smooth it back up. Just thought I would let you know MY experience and to BEWARE

I can see your son all proud that he's doing a good job...only to find out sadly that he was making a bigger mess. Sorry to hear about your troubles...and i'll keep that in mind if I ever use them.

Hey, I have a question too, I have 3 watchamacallits for a drill that I think would work for rust if the 3m stuff works. 1 has a head on it maybe 2 inches that looks like a mini version of a grinder disc and is about 1 centimeter?(not good on the centimeters length)thick. The others are kind of like the 3m discs but are made with steel(?) wires going down towards what you're working on instead of the other way like a grinder.


Never mind, just clicked on the link for flap discs and found out that what I have that I got from my dad is flap wheels.

Achipmunk, I think I know what your problem was. He was probably doing it with too high of rpms. The flap wheels I have say Max is 4500 rpm. Maybe that would have been helpful. Didn't those say anything about maximum rpm? Mine also say WERE EYE PROTECTION!!!