Whats a needle gun

[Jordan Baker]

Hi everyone.

I was reading in one of my old mags about a chap from England that restored the Churchill Crocodile. In the article he mentionds that he had used a needle gun to clean up the parts instead of sand blasting.

Could someone tell me what exactly this tool is and what it does.

Would it be worth the expense to get one for my carrier restoration. Right now Im using a couple of brass wire wheels in an electric drill to clean up the small parts. However this wont really be practicle when doing the larger pieces.

Sincerely
Jordan Baker

[Wayne Henderson]

I think the needle gun might be the same as an air operated spike tool.
A series of rods in a hand piece that pounds away at the metal surface but only really good for very rusty area or rust sheet or concretion. Very noisey and tough on the arms.

[Randy N]

They are the same. I have used needle guns working in mill maintenance jobs. they are okay to prep rusty joints for welding (i prefer a mini grinder), but like Wayne says, they are noisy and they arent great for big jobs. I'm not sure how much air they use, as I have only ever used them on an industrial air supply.
Jordan, I think you might find sandblasting a better alternative. There is a Princess Auto Supply near me and they have a great varitey of sandblasting equipment for reasonable prices.
They may have a store near you.

http://www.princessauto.com

Not sure if anyone else has some thoughts.

[Richard Farrant]

They are very good for the places a wire wheel will not go, like in corners and around projections like bolts. Although noisy, they are very effective at removing layers of paint without the amount of dust you would have with a sander or wire wheel. My gun will operate well on a medium size compressor. Once you have one you will never want to be without it. Also good for dressing down welds as well. If you are not able to strip a vehicle down for sandblasting a needle gun and wire wheel is good.
Incidentally talking of wire wheels, I prefer the twist knot cup
type on a 4.5 inch hand grinder, they last well.

Richard

[Bob Carriere]

I have used one extensively on removing the heavy rust scale......welded rubber tire casing with fabric attached on the rims of my truck.......before sandblasting. I am sure I save twice the cost of the sand to remove the crud on the rims....... takes about an hour a rim.....and takes a lot of air from the compressor. Noisy....rims ring like bells... if they do not ring discard it is probably cracked. You need to wear heavy insulated gloves for the vibration and ear protectors and a face shield.

Worked good for me....tool can also be used as an air chisel on frame rivets to be removed. Mine came from Princess ....... runs good for me.

Caution.... to be used on heavy metal with rusty scale.... NOT for sheet metal.

I did some work ofr a friends snow plow harness that had about 12 coats of paint.... worked great but the needles left pock mark indentation in the cheap soft steel of the plow frame.

Rat-tat-tat-tat.....have a good time!!!

[Jordan Baker]

Thanks for the help.

I'll head on down to Princess Auto this week to check out what they have.

Sincerely
Jordan Baker