Mill Scale removal

[Sundown]

myself, never have bothered removing the mill scale for welding table tops. It adds a bit of protection against rust and I haven't had problems with conductivity. So, I gotta ask, why make more work for oneself

That thought crossed my mind, the problem is that the mill scale is very thick and the plate sat around for a long time before I got it and the are places where the mill scale is off and I want a nice flat surface without too many flaws, at least to start with anyway. I don't mind putting in the work to get it done, just trying to find an easy way out I guess.

[Scott V]

Scott,

What kind of acid were you thinking of?

Hydrochloric acid was my thinking. Don't get it mixed up with Hydrofluoric.

[MAC702]

myself, never have bothered removing the mill scale for welding table tops. It adds a bit of protection against rust

I guess it might depend greatly on the environment. Mill scale will cause galvanic corrosion on the base steel over time. But I agree with you. I've never purposely removed it from my tables. But then, nothing rusts here unless you bury it.

[Sundown]

I guess it might depend greatly on the environment. Mill scale will cause galvanic corrosion on the base steel over time. But I agree with you. I've never purposely removed it from my tables. But then, nothing rusts here unless you bury it.

Things don't rust much here, infact you would need to keep something wet for awhile to get it to rust.

[Coalsmoke]

here you need a rain coat just to get the mail

[fun4now]

i can understand wanting to clean off the scale, its a sweet new toy and you want it to look nice (even if its just for starters) i would too and spent a good 2-3 days getting the top of my 3'X5' table clean and prity when i first got it, it had been outside for who knows how long. now i just wipe it down with wd-40 to keep the rust off and help stop the splater from sticking. its an old toy now so it just gets maintanance.

the knoted wire will do it it's just a ??? of how fast, keep it at an angel and let it slap it without too much presher. you dont want to try to scrub it off, you want to slap or ping it off. a flat knoted wire wheel would also work. seems i remember the ss wire as a bit more $$$ than the steel ones but cant remember how much more $$$ it might be werth getting a steel one and saveing the ss one.
if you have a HF store near you they carry the needle adapters for the air hammer for like $15-$20, with the hole gun being like $60. i dont know what the finishe look of the needles would be (show us some pic's if ya use it) but the wire wheel will make a nice looking satin finish.
good luck and be shoure to show us some pic's of the tabe when you get-r-done

[MAC702]

if you have a HF store near you they carry the needle adapters for the air hammer for like $15-$20, with the hole gun being like $60. i dont know what the finishe look of the needles would be (show us some pic's if ya use it) but the wire wheel will make a nice looking satin finish.
good luck and be shoure to show us some pic's of the tabe when you get-r-done

I don't have any pics handy, but I'd stay away from the needle gun for this. I use one often for taking slag off of SMAW welds and for peening. It does a great job at those jobs and leaves lots of little dents in mild steel in the process.

[POWERSTROKE]

The REALLY easy way to have cleaned this steel plate would have been to have popped it on a Blanchard Grinder for a couple minutes. Would have to have been just the steel plate though..... without the legs. Quick look at the Yellow Pages under "Machine Shops" and a couple phone calls would have been all the labor involved. Then it would be flat within .003" too.

[Sundown]

The REALLY easy way to have cleaned this steel plate would have been to have popped it on a Blanchard Grinder for a couple minutes. Would have to have been just the steel plate though..... without the legs. Quick look at the Yellow Pages under "Machine Shops" and a couple phone calls would have been all the labor involved. Then it would be flat within .003" too.

The problem with that is that before I welded it down to the frame it had a 1/4" bow across the length (thats what ya get here for $25 these days). Right now it is flat within 1/64" across any plane and thats close enough for what I will be doing with it. I tried the SS knotted cup and it did not work well for me, I went to HF and looked at needle scalers and decided not. So I have started with a grinding wheel, and will work my way smooth with flap disks & sanding disks, when I am satisified I will go over it with a sotchbrite pad to dull the surface and a bit of wd-40 and call it good. Thanks to everyone for all the input and I hope to post pictures early next week if it dosen't snow Saturday like the Wx guys say it will. Like Fun said I want it nice and am willing to put the effort into it.

Funny thing happened, my ring roller is on a FedEx truck for delivery since this morning, I just took my daughter to work and when I came back the FedEx truck was parked across the street from my house, before I got in the drive he had pulled away, no note on the door, no package, nothing, nada

[fun4now]

maybee after you have it all clean and shiny you can take the wire wheel to it, it is a slow process thoughprobly only 1 or 2 square inches per minuit. again no presher just let it slap it at high speed. although by the time you reach that point you will most likely be ready to coat it and call it a day miller time as it were.


MAC702
so the needle gun is prity destructive a?? i always wonderd how much damage it would do to the stuff i work on, lots of 14-16 gage. i supose it would be a waist of $$$ for my uses then. looks like it sticking with the old steady but slower process.

[precisionworks]

so the needle gun is pretty destructive a?? i always wondered how much damage it would do

Not so much destructive as highly effective. Other than the recoil that tries to push your hand away from the surface, all the energy is transferred from the piston to the needles to the work.

Tools like the L5263 In-Line Mini Needle Scaler
http://www.locknstitch.com/PneumaticTools.htm#L5263
or the Mini Needle Descaler from Nilfisk
http://www.pa.nilfisk-advance.com/pr...aler_mini.html
would be perfect on light gauge material.

[MAC702]

so the needle gun is prity destructive a?? i always wonderd how much damage it would do to the stuff i work on, lots of 14-16 gage. i supose it would be a waist of $$$ for my uses then. looks like it sticking with the old steady but slower process.

I don't use it for thin wall tubing (typ. 16-ga.) or for anything that needs a smooth finish, like my gates, fences, or ornamental stuff. I could probably perforate a piece of 16-ga in a minute with it.

[DDA52]

George...got get you a Norton Bear-Tex Rapid Strip disc for your new grinder. It is like a mega conditioning disc. I used one the other day and it took all the mill scale off of a 2" flat in just a few seconds with very little effort. I get them at Airgas and a few other places. These guys are around 8 bucks each, but they are exactly what you are looking for.

[fun4now]

Dda52

are they the ones that look like a thick scotch bright pad only harder, if so i think you can get them at walmart also. it might only be the drill version at walmart though and thouse would most likly not work as well, but it might be werth looking if you are there, for the grinder type i mean.

[KB Fabrications]

Funny thing happened, my ring roller is on a FedEx truck for delivery since this morning, I just took my daughter to work and when I came back the FedEx truck was parked across the street from my house, before I got in the drive he had pulled away, no note on the door, no package, nothing, nada

George,
I ended up ordering one of those myself based on David's recommendation. I will be interested to here your thoughts once you recieve it and then when you get to use it. Mine is supposed to be here on Monday.