If the items just have small amounts of rust and discolouration you might be better with bead blasting. This used small glass beads and is not abrasive. The beads come in a variety of sizes and can be used in sandblasting equipment but you would need to clean all the abrasive out of the equipment first.

Brian

The cleaned surfaces need treating quite soon after blasting as they will flash rust given half a chance. So have something ready to treat them when you strip them if you are not going to paint them as the next step.

Martin C

It is a myth that glass bead is not an abrasive. That is only true for the first time it passes through the gun and hits something.
As that happens it starts to break down into smaller, but sharper angular particles which can be very abrasive.
In industry we monitor the size of the beads and progressively remove undersize media during the process, in a home environment this will not be possible to achieve with a great deal of success, so you end up with a mixture.

We have some customers who replace the media entirely after only one use, just for this very reason.

I agree, it is best not to blast any critical surfaces with it, you can mask them off if you need to blast other areas for paint removal. You could use walnut shell media which is nice and cheap and is non abrasive.

Phil

3M Scotch Brite has aluminium oxide in it just like a grinding wheel only not so much.

If you are unable to use wire wool, try a phosphoric acid rust remover like Jenolite rust remover, you don't want anything that converts rust.

If your surface plate has flaky rust on it then a suitable use for it will be a doorstop. Likewise rusty slip gauges may already be scrap, try cleaning two and see if they still wring and stick together

I have walnut shell media for paint but never did get around to trying it on light rust.

Any pvc insulating tape will resist media providing it will stick down, the soft surface has 'give' to the grit. Same goes for any plastic sheet roughly the same thickness as long as it's held tight enough not to flap in the air blast.

Agreed – very noisy but effective. It might be worth noting a small compressor will not keep up and the needles will mark softer metals.

I was dismayed to find my lever-action tailstock chuck fitting had rusted while in its box, luckily not deeply. A foam nest in a cardboard box (the original packaging) is clearly not best for long-term storage.

Obviously I did not want to damage its M2 taper shank, but I dismantled the device and treated the rusty parts with Restore rust-remover (from ARC – usual disclaimers). It seems very effective, leaving a matt grey surface that needs immediate cleaning and protecting, but didn't seem to have attacked the steel. Admittedly the rusting was only shallow.

Afterwards I greased the device lightly and put it back in its box, but having wrapped it in a greaseproof bag.

On things like slip-gauges, small, scattered pits might not be a problem but if the entire surface has rusted the chances of restoring to full accuracy are slim to say the least.

Careful wire-brushing with a brass-bristled brush might work on delicate surfaces..

I have two sets of these one for woodworking and another for working with metal they come in various grit sizes. https://chestnutproducts.co.uk/product/nyweb-pads-single-sheets/

I find them very good the white ones I use on my bandsaw cast table before applying wax which I find keeps the rust away and allows wood to slide but without contaminating it