Sanding tubular rails

[Rebotco]

I'm soon going to have to de-rust and repaint the circular handrails along each side of the cabin and round the back deck of my cruiser stern narrowboat.  In total this amounts to around 100 ft. of 2" diameter tubing.  I really don't fancy sanding all that by hand if there are are any more effective ways to do it!

Any bright ideas or shortcut suggestions would be most welcome.

[Robbo]

Thin Belt Sander comes to mind, but I’ve not used one for this purpose yet.

[Rebotco]

29 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Thin Belt Sander comes to mind, but I’ve not used one for this purpose yet.

I do have access to one of those.  But is a flat sander the best thing on a circular section?

[Robbo]

5 minutes ago, Rebotco said:

I do have access to one of those.  But is a flat sander the best thing on a circular section?

Well you can get pipe sanders which wrap around the pipe, but they not the cheapest thing and you may not be able to do underneath as the tubing will be close to the roof (if like mine).  

[stegra]

If you're going back to steel then maybe an air hammer and needle gun; you'll need a compressor. If it's just to key for paint then perhaps a roll of sandpaper looped around the rail and worked with a back and forth motion. 

[Robbo]

This may also be useful?

100093 Electric Drum Sander Polisher 1250W https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00L906HFW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.5HmBbJCA7DT4

[Rebotco]

2 hours ago, stegra said:

If you're going back to steel then maybe an air hammer and needle gun; you'll need a compressor. If it's just to key for paint then perhaps a roll of sandpaper looped around the rail and worked with a back and forth motion. 

Yes, it will be just a key to repaint.  The loop would work around the rear deck rails, but the cabin handrails are joined to the roof with a vertical strip of welded steel, so couldn't work there.

[Boater Sam]

Get a body to do it, its toooo boring.

[carlt]

Mike Oldfield's second album failed to capture the magic of his debut.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, carlt said:

Mike Oldfield's second album failed to capture the magic of his debut.

But his first foray into matters tubular was very polished. No sanding required.

[BWM]

Knotted rotary wire brushes, a cup and a round one should cover that job. 

[Tony Brooks]

Just this moment finished keying my tubular hand rails ready for a very early repaint tomorrow. I had already ground any rust back with a Dremmel like tool, rust treated, anti-rust primed (twice), and locally fatted the primer with wet & dry.

 

Today I used sanding pads for Tooltsation. I chose medium labelled 100 grit.  The rails on both sides probably too about an hour and a half of very hot work. However I am not looking for a perfect or high gloss finish.

[Opener]

You can get ?carborundum tape ie a coil of carborundum faced cloth tape a couple of inches wide and X feet long (Scoobydoofix or similar). Cut off a comfortable length, loop it under the rail/tube and pull/pull alternate hands. Must say it is a tiring and boring process and I'm not wholly convinced how effective it is. Did mine last year and rust seems in evidence again but that must be down to how much rust I actually took off and how effectively the area was treated.

[Boater Sam]

The Little Chimney Company will take them off and replace with stainless steel. Never paint again!

[Rebotco]

Well thanks folks - it seems there's no quick and easy way yet been discovered!  

So we're all in the same boat, so to speak!

[blackrose]

5 hours ago, BWM said:

Knotted rotary wire brushes, a cup and a round one should cover that job. 

Yes, on a 4" angle grinder. Don't forget your eye protection. 

48 minutes ago, Rebotco said:

Well thanks folks - it seems there's no quick and easy way yet been discovered!  

So we're all in the same boat, so to speak!

Quick and easy is all relative. The method above will be a lot quicker and easier than doing it by hand. 

Edited June 26, 2018 by blackrose

[blackrose]

2 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

The Little Chimney Company will take them off and replace with stainless steel. Never paint again!

I have integral hand rails but wouldn't mind stainless rails as well. My only reservation is drilling holes into the roof for the screws. I just don't like the idea of potentially comprising a watertight roof with lots of holes which have to be sealed and might leak in years to come. 

[BWM]

6 hours ago, blackrose said:

Yes, on a 4" angle grinder. Don't forget your eye protection. 

Quick and easy is all relative. The method above will be a lot quicker and easier than doing it by hand. 

Thanks, I only remembered about the grinder just after the ability to edit expired. Beauty of this method is there will be no flat spots and with a little patience you can remove all paint and rust, leaving a similar finish to sand blasting. 

[Rebotco]

11 hours ago, BWM said:

Thanks, I only remembered about the grinder just after the ability to edit expired. Beauty of this method is there will be no flat spots and with a little patience you can remove all paint and rust, leaving a similar finish to sand blasting. 

Ok it seems the knotted wire brush method is the best of a bad lot.  This I will try - unless I invent an amazing tool that would make it a doddle, beforehand.

Thanks for your input all.  Even those who were so off-topic, I didn't know what they were talking about! 

[BWM]

10 minutes ago, Rebotco said:

Ok it seems the knotted wire brush method is the best of a bad lot.  This I will try - unless I invent an amazing tool that would make it a doddle, beforehand.

Thanks for your input all.  Even those who were so off-topic, I didn't know what they were talking about! 

Cheers. It is a good method, one thing I would suggest is to change the knotted brushes when you start having to use a lot more effort to achieve the same results, they will begin shedding the steel wires soon after! Don't be put off, they will have done a lot of work by that stage. Decent ones will cost around £8, much cheaper and they are likely to be poorly balanced. 

[cereal tiller]

31 minutes ago, Rebotco said:

Ok it seems the knotted wire brush method is the best of a bad lot.  This I will try - unless I invent an amazing tool that would make it a doddle, beforehand.

Thanks for your input all.  Even those who were so off-topic, I didn't know what they were talking about! 

Some chain and good gloves can give Rapid results ,especially if the Paint is Thick.I have used a 30 Inch length by Pulling it back and fro while holding both ends of the chain.

[blackrose]

5 hours ago, BWM said:

Cheers. It is a good method, one thing I would suggest is to change the knotted brushes when you start having to use a lot more effort to achieve the same results, they will begin shedding the steel wires soon after! Don't be put off, they will have done a lot of work by that stage. Decent ones will cost around £8, much cheaper and they are likely to be poorly balanced. 

I just bought a box of 10 flat wire wheels off ebay for £18 and they're fine. You might want wire cups for rails. They only get unbalanced if they start to wear unevenly and then you'll know all about it because the vibration on your hands is unbearable. A decent pair of leather work gloves is a good idea and don't get the grinders mains cable anywhere near the wire wheel. 

Edited June 27, 2018 by blackrose

[WotEver]

8 hours ago, blackrose said:

I just bought a box of 10 flat wire wheels off ebay for £18 and they're fine. You might want wire cups for rails. They only get unbalanced if they start to wear unevenly and then you'll know all about it because the vibration on your hands is unbearable. A decent pair of leather work gloves is a good idea and don't get the grinders mains cable anywhere near the wire wheel. 

And don’t wear a floppy jumper (unlikely in this weather of course). 

[BWM]

12 hours ago, blackrose said:

I just bought a box of 10 flat wire wheels off ebay for £18 and they're fine. You might want wire cups for rails. They only get unbalanced if they start to wear unevenly and then you'll know all about it because the vibration on your hands is unbearable. A decent pair of leather work gloves is a good idea and don't get the grinders mains cable anywhere near the wire wheel. 

Are you talking about knotted ones or straight? There is a big difference in performance and the straight are less prone to wobble. I have yet to use a twisted (Knotted) brush that wore unevenly, the speed of rotation makes that near impossible, but have had awful experiences with cheapo versions. having worked on grinders a lot as a youngster I am borderline with the white finger and suffer from numbness brought on by vibration. 

[blackrose]

Knotted. 

 

I did it for a living for 2 years. Scurfed out the bilges of two 90ft 1890s Thames steam boats that we completely renovated. Took all the railings and canopy rails and upstands back to metal and even scurfed and repainted the boilers and coal bunkers.

 

Hardest job I've ever done but I'm glad I had the experience.

Edited June 29, 2018 by blackrose