First attempt to implement the laser technology into the project.

[MarkCan]

I have a mix feeling about it. It’s not all that easy, quick and nice as you see in the commercials. First of all, components need to be properly pre-cleaned. De-greased, scrubbed maybe wire brushed to remove as much of the contaminants as possible. Only than component is ready for laser. Unless of course one is ready to pay the laser shop it’s hourly rate to do all this for you. Nevertheless about 10 work hours later my axle was preped to meet the laser. I had an appointment in the morning and figure I’ll just go for a coffee, read a book and pick it up when it’s done. Well, it didn’t pan out this way. It turned out to be a much longer process and as a result I had to leave the axle with the shop. Fast forward a week and here are the results. Some areas are really nice while other still require attention. Nothing that good sandblasting can’t take care of though. To sum it up, will I implement this technology again? Probably not. There is just to much involved  and at the end I still have to blast!

[BaronYoungman]

Sorry , thank you for giving it a go and letting us know the results. I will say I have contemplated trying it but never took the plunge.
Bob
Baronyoungman

[DavidAPease]

Mark,

For those of us (or at least me) who have no idea what you're talking about, what is the laser used for?

      -David

[MarkCan]

Mark,
For those of us (or at least me) who have no idea what you're talking about, what is the laser used for?
     -David

Sorry, you are right, I should have mentioned a little about the technology.
So in a nutshell;
Controlled laser beam is used to vaporize contaminated surface. In theory anything on top of the solid metal surface will be vaporized provided there is sufficient beam power.
That’s where it all becomes interesting. From what I experience this far a single pass of the laser may take care of 2thou per 100 watts at best, depending on the speed of linear movement. Average machine will have 500W. You do the math.
I would love to give it a shot one more time. For the heavy duty parts like axles and alike 1000 Watts capability will be a must before I commit time and money to the project.

[Pawel66]

Something like that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DSCNQ3_wCE

Theoretically.

[DavidAPease]

Thanks, Mark and Pawel!

          -David

[rwmastel]

Interesting.  Another option to dry ice blasting.  Maybe each system has certain situations where they work best.

[Pawel66]

It is becoming more and more widely available here. Here is how it looks while working on a car frame:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS9r2whwU9w

[Kevkeller]

What was the power of the machine? 100w, 500w?
Thanks for sharing. I could sure use one but I hate sending money to China.

Kevin

[Pawel66]

Here is more videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3CGI9Sg25f4tt8vAYKwN6A/videos

The one in the video was 2kW, here: https://eclpolska.pl/ecl-laser-czyszczacy-D2000MCW.html

And this is the site, you can choose English there if it does not start in English: https://eclpolska.pl/

They say 200W unit they used to clean knight's armour  .

[JamesL]

I'm not sure Knight's used lasers to clean their armour. More likely they had Serfs do it