Real World Laser Cleaning and Rust Removal

Markos

Markos

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The problem with functional transmission cases and motors is that you can’t shoot them with traditional media. If you do, you run the risk of getting media in the internals.

That leaves you with three decent options
  • Hand scrubbing, rotary brushes etc
  • Dry ice blasting
  • Laser cleaning
I met up with a guy who sells laser cleaning machines. Used to clean casting molds in an industrial setting. I wanted to see how it behaves on aluminum.

Overall impressions… It works well at removing oxidation, but doesn’t get to the pitting the way that traditional media blasting does. I still intend to use dry ice blasting based on these results.

Testing the dogleg with his most popular 100w machine

Standard Setting:

Concentrated Beam, high setting:

Testing on steel drain grate:
 
I'm impressed by the results on steel. But it really is hard to beat dry ice. Is there an affordable machine out there yet?
 
$13k for the machine but that is actually the cheap part. An air compressor that can handle the huge draw (100cfm pretty much continuously) as well as all of the moisture trapping and filtration is going to cost more than that, not to mention the power to run it and the media. You're going to pay $50k before you shoot your first pellet.
 
wkohler said:
$13k for the machine but that is actually the cheap part. An air compressor that can handle the huge draw (100cfm pretty much continuously) as well as all of the moisture trapping and filtration is going to cost more than that, not to mention the power to run it and the media. You're going to pay $50k before you shoot your first pellet.
Click to expand...
I think you'd have to work hard to get another $35k into the system....even if you had to buy an adequate compressor. Many home shops are already equipped with one that would meet the spec. Moisture trapping and filtration is already there with any hobbyist that paints. Media will cost more than that for traditional media blasters, but not THAT much more.
 
Dick Steinkamp said:
I think you'd have to work hard to get another $35k into the system....even if you had to buy an adequate compressor. Many home shops are already equipped with one that would meet the spec. Moisture trapping and filtration is already there with any hobbyist that paints. Media will cost more than that for traditional media blasters, but not THAT much more.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It isn’t difficult to get a high column compressor a for a cheap. Especially if you have access to 3 phase.

I think @autokunst made a nice dryer setup in his super garage. :)
 
Blush.
20210112-copper drier 1.jpg20210112-copper drier 2.jpg
The air is pretty dry for not a lot of money and a few hours of time "sweating pipe". From here I ran a Rapidair pipe system that brings air outlets to two or three other locations in the garage mahal.
 
I have done a lot of research on this as anyone that does this work charges a huge amount of money for it. There's a lot of time involved of course, but in talking with professionals, the compressor is the most expensive part of the system. A guy I know in the NW just got up and running with a bunch of used stuff and it was almost $40k.
 
Update:

My buddy took his stainless downpipes in for laser cleaning. Although we have a new vapor blasting outfitted right down the road, he didn’t want to create a satin finish on his pipes. Laser cleaner worked well!

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106AC26B-BA88-4529-A550-C3654E90AEB4.jpeg
 
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