Cutting out rust in awkward places

[xsspeed]

Hey boes

In the corolla I have some rust on the rear tailgate section - around lights and the 'car-side' where the boot latches.

Now I would usually just attack with Mr A Grinder, but some of what I want to cut out is rather awkwardly positioned, or so small that in order to cut it out I will get a lot of over cut/cut into good metal which I would like to avoid.

Just wondering what sort of tools others have used for similar jobs?

I imagine some sort of nibbler or small recipro-saw would be the go?

Cheers in advance - Steve

[KKtrips]

Use dremel with an aggressive bit (or a blunt drill bit on a drill) and knock all the rusty bits off then rather than replace the metal just fill it with weld and grind it flat with a grinding bit?

[RUNAMUCK]

You can get small air cutoff grinders, which are the size of a die grinder, but take a wee disc and have a safety shroud. They use lots of air, but are very easy to control, and cut nicely.

[xsspeed]

reminds me I have a dremel kit now that I grabbed out of storage - will take a look and see - pretty sure its electric and not air (no compressor atm)

[Mr.Mk1]

Drill spot welds, cut pieces to get to pieces, chisel to cut and split seams etc. Its metal, you can always weld more in

[Truenotch]

reminds me I have a dremel kit now that I grabbed out of storage - will take a look and see - pretty sure its electric and not air (no compressor atm)

That'll do the job. It should have the little mandrel for cut off wheels already (Just a mandrel with a screw in the top) and you want the reinforced cut off wheels - Dremel 426 like this:

[mikuni]

The other thing I have found really good in the past for this sort of stuff is the little air powered hacksaw. It does a nice clean job and can get into even the tightest spots - usually the spots that the grinder can't because of the different cutting orientation. The other good thing is the lower blade/cutting speed meaning no sparks - ideal for around glass or fuel tanks, although you would have to remove those to weld anyway.

Heres a pic of a pair of identical tools to those I used (minus DA).

[RUNAMUCK]

That middle tool is the one I was (trying to) describe. I was well impressed by how user friendly it was to operate.

I once made a mandrill to use a wheel from that tool in a reqular air die grider. But I found with no shroud is was a bit dangerous to use.

[Hemi]

That middle tool is the one I was (trying to) describe. I was well impressed by how user friendly it was to operate.

I once made a mandrill to use a wheel from that tool in a reqular air die grider. But I found with no shroud is was a bit dangerous to use.

yea they are off the chain when they catch spit out of the piece and take out the tip of your finger ..

also those airsaws are mean , awesomly loud but they make jobs just so much easier , especially with sheet metal

[Bling]

Depends on the shape of the metal... but you could drill then tin snip as small as you want. So long as it wasn't too thick Or use a hole saw to save some time

[bubblegoose]

newtec

end of debte

[EURON8]

newtec

end of debte

Sandblast,

Rust Converter

Fibreglass

panel and paint as pre normal.

worked for my soon to be new daily

[ProZac]

newtec

end of debte

noob...tec

[bubblegoose]

newtec

end of debte

noob...tec

new tec is the greatest stuff ever

learn this

[RUNAMUCK]

"good as liquid steel"!

[forced]

You can cut anything with oxy aceylene. Just use a small welding tip and turn the gas up a bit, too much for welding but enough to blow a hole in and cut it. That way the melted stuff that doesn't drop out ends up thickening at the edges and is easier to join onto. A small tip can get into places that no other cutting tool can.

Steve

[Truenotch]

IMO oxy makes too much heat for most panel applications, and when cutting around latches and tail lights there are lots of wires to burn.

[Simon]

[xsspeed]

Unfortunately c@$h does not allow me to splash out on dewalt products - though we did use one of these (corded version I presume) to chop my parts cars up to take to the scrappies...like a hot knife through butter