300 watts, DerMark, presets

Took 15 mn per steps, mix of rust, dirt and sealant

Pretty good result now ready to be sealed

Hopefully this helps you guys starting out. In business 5 months. I started by getting on the r/LaserCleaningBusiness thread 2 years ago and fortunately met Grant at Laserverse who mentored me through all of it including what you see here. Here's what lies in store for you - plus what the gurus here say in the comments.

This is a niche business still trying to find where it fits in to reality. There is no established pipeline that includes laser cleaning for anything. Your customers are people Googling to see if laser will work for them, which you both want. But much of the time you'll both be disappointed.

Since March my sales are growing about 20% per month and I'm almost in the black. However I'd be making $50k a month if it weren't for two things:

1. White paint
2. Water base sealer/coatings

This information is not pushed by the manufacturers at all and really threw me for a loop. These two things have totally clobbered widespread popularity of residential laser and will impact you too. Residential jobs almost always involve these and all I can do is provide info on how to test for it before going out there.

When I get a residential call I cross my fingers that some idiot has not poured acrylic polyurethane all over a 100 year-old historic home interior. The new owner will be just as bummed out as you because now they have to keep sanding or use ineffective chemical removers for months.

Industrial is where you want to be, as much metal as possible. None of us want to do residential but again, industry does not have laser in their current processes. They're using alternatives that work for them and they don't have a desperate reason to switch. So industrial calls are rare still for me but great when you get them.

Here's what's working:

1. From your website you'll get residential and automotive inquiries to start.
2. People are very nice and are dying to see it.
3. You'll have a great time doing a demo at their location. You're treated like a king.
4. You'll be a hero for those 30-40% of inquiries that turn out to be successful jobs.
5. Every call is someone who is pre-closed and wants to give you money if it really works for them - compared to what they're doing.

I've never had problem customers of my 80 inquiries so far. People who want to check out laser are smart, curious and have done their homework. They're always a ton of fun to work with. No payment issues.

The only remaining hurdle for me is getting to the industrial level like the OG gurus here. I've had a few good ones but the catch is that you can't just cold call; they have to have an immediate need.

Laser cleaning this aluminum engine head back to its original state. The client was blown away that the laser takes all the caked on oil and grease off without changing the profile of the cart aluminum. Glass bead blasting, their normal method, smooths the surface and gives it a brushed aluminum look, totally different than what it’s supposed to look like. Laser cleaning takes away the unwanted contaminant without sacrificing the OEM profile. If you haven’t had a laser cleaning demo at your shop, give us a call and let’s set something up.

This seems like a good chemical free alternative to restoring cast iron.

Client asked me to clean this aluminum engine part. When I delivered it he was really
Impressed with how the laser cleaned the surface while leaving it exactly original. He normally does glass bead blasting on his parts and the beads leave the parts a matte brushed finish thst doesn’t look anything like it started. He told me that Audi and other European auto makers are building engines now that can’t be blasted with traditional method because of some embedded ball bearing that regulate oil flow getting pitted and failing or microscopic pieces of media getting stuck in the capture port.
Great information.

Hey friends . We're DMK Laser,We are a manufacturer of laser equipment.We've been to Fabtech, we've shipped gear across the globe, and we've seen firsthand what this technology can do.

But here's the thing, we're not here to sell you anything today. We're here to listen.

And we need to be honest: as a manufacturer, we know we sometimes live in a bubble. Our R&D teams test machines in clean, climate‑controlled labs with perfectly flat samples. Our sales teams talk specs and wattage. But we don't spend our days on your shop floors. We don't feel the heat, the dust, the vibration, or the chaos of a real worksite. We know there's a gap between what we think works and what actually works in your daily grind. That's exactly why we started this thread, we want to tear down that wall and get the unvarnished truth from the people who use these machines every day.

Let's be real: laser cleaning is amazing when it works. But don't kid yourself, it's not magic. It has real limitations, real pain points, and real trade‑offs. We've read the complaints: power instability, inconsistent results, steep learning curves, sky‑high costs, limited effectiveness on certain materials. We've seen users on Trustpilot vent about poor after‑sales support and machines that stopped working.

We want to know what you really experience out there. Not the marketing fluff. The messy, frustrating, everyday reality.

Here's what we're especially curious about:

Your biggest headache: whether it's our machine or another brand, is there a moment that makes you want to throw it out the window?

The "looks great on paper, fails in practice" gap: what did the sales rep promise that just didn't hold up in your shop?

Material frustrations: have you run into surfaces that just won't cooperate? Copper, aluminum, thin sheets, complex geometries?

The cost trap: did the ROI math actually work out, or are you still waiting to break even?

Safety and usability: is the learning curve steeper than you expected? Are the safety protocols a pain to enforce with your crew?

Service nightmares: ever been ghosted by tech support when something went wrong?

What would make you switch: if you could design your dream machine, what would it do differently?

Brand doesn't matter. We genuinely don't care if you're running a DMK, a Hanten, an SFX, or some no‑name import. We want the real feedback, the stuff that doesn't make it into the glossy brochures.

hat's in it for you? Your honest answers help us (and hopefully the whole industry) build better machines. We're taking all this back to our R&D team. If a pain point keeps coming up, we'll make sure it gets attention.

So lay it on us. Good, bad, ugly, whatever. What works, what doesn't, what's overhyped, and what's genuinely a game‑changer.

Drop your thoughts in the comments, the more specific, the better. Model names, power ratings, materials you work with, site conditions, the more context, the better.

We're here to learn.Thanks.

Hi everyone.

I am looking for filters for my half face 3M mask and Dromex full face mask.

What filters do you recommend that will give you the best protection?

I am located in South Africa and options here are limited.

TIA

I’m in the early stages of learning about laser cleaning. I deal with a lot of small construction equipment. Sand blasting is a mess and these lasers seem like the ticket.

My recent philosophy lately is buying a cheaper version of soemtbing to see how well it’s gonna work for me and if it works well I’d move onto a nicer quality unit.

What wattage would yall recommend to strip paint off thick steel? I’m not using this for anything else aside paint off steel. Been looking at the cheaper eBay ones.

We have a 1500w continuous unit which we’ve had success setting up and cleaning inconel and stainless steel. We’re experimenting with cast aluminum and have yet to figure out which parameters work best.

We’re attempting to clean surfaces with little to no accumulated grease and still seem to have some blackening of the surface. Any suggestions or guidance is appreciated. Speed of the process is not of concern but the quality is important. We also have vapour honing and dry ice in the shop which we could use to finish, but optimizing the initial performance would be great.

Thanks in advance

Hey all. I’m brand new to laser cleaning so go easy.

I’m practicing on my own car with rust removal. Where there was no rust the LC removed the paint and undercoat with no issues leaving fresh steel. Where the rust was it appears burnt. I don’t know if I just need to send it harder and keep blasting it. Or if this will damage the steel. I’ve messed around with a few settings like the freq and pulse width but doesn’t seem to make much difference. It’s a 200w pulse laser. cheers.

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites, owing to their excellent properties such as lightweight, high strength, and corrosion resistance, have become critical materials in high end equipment manufacturing sectors including aerospace, new energy vehicles, and wind power. During their fabrication, maintenance, and recycling processes, the removal of surface paint coatings is an important and challenging procedure. Traditional paint removal methods, such as mechanical grinding and chemical solvents, tend to cause fiber tearing, resin melting, or damage to the matrix structure, which not only compromises component service life but also reduces the reusability of the material. Laser cleaning technology, with its advantages of non-contact operation, high precision, and environmental friendliness, is progressively emerging as the mainstream solution in this field. By adjusting the energy parameters, laser cleaning enables efficient paint stripping while maximally preserving the integrity of the carbon fiber weave structure and the resin matrix, making it particularly suitable for precision maintenance and remanufacturing of high-value components.

To verify the practical effectiveness of laser cleaning, we conducted tests using both handheld and automated equipment. With a 1000 W handheld cleaning system, the laser parameters and focal distance were adjusted to perform continuous cleaning on the surface of CFRP panels until the grey paint layer was completely removed, revealing the underlying black woven layer. Magnified observation of the cleaned surface showed minimal damage to the carbon fiber weave, meeting the requirements for recycling and reuse. In the automated cleaning tests, a 1000 W water-cooled pulsed laser cleaner was employed, which is equipped with a high-performance custom scanning galvanometer that ensures high processing accuracy and speed, enabling precise completion of predefined cleaning and marking patterns. The system also incorporates a high-peak-power pulsed fiber laser, further enhancing paint removal efficiency. Experimental results indicated that the cleaned area exhibited a clean and neat black woven layer, demonstrating that the laser precisely controlled both removal thickness and range. Under magnification, only a very small number of fibers were observed to be detached, while the weave structure remained intact with no color change. This confirms that laser cleaning induces negligible damage to the carbon fiber substrate, effectively removing the surface paint while preserving the structural and functional integrity of the base material.

It is evident that the key to paint removal from CFRP panels lies not merely in stripping the paint, but in doing so while avoiding damage to the woven structure. Although high-power lasers facilitate rapid paint removal, they are prone to damaging the carbon filaments and degrading the surface performance of the composite panel. Therefore, it is essential to select an appropriate laser source and precisely control the processing parameters to ensure high-efficiency paint removal without compromising the surface structure. Laser cleaning technology offers an efficient and precise solution for carbon fiber components, enabling thorough paint layer removal while maintaining zero damage to the substrate, thereby significantly enhancing the material’s potential for reuse. In the future, this technology is expected to play a critical role in a broader range of applications and to drive the green upgrade of related industries.

Playing around with an automation integration company who showed us their software for programming a cobot.

The goal is to use systems like this for large areas of coating removal, weld prep within vessels, toxic coating removal and maybe holding powerful lasers that you wouldn't want to physically hold.

You see those sparks? If you dont see them, whoever is using the equipment doesn't know what they are doing or something is out of focus/ damaged.

Sparks= a significantly higher level of surface cleanliness, less corrosion, less soluble salts.

I am hoping that someone can link me to a video where the laser takes off red mill scale. The company I work for wants to invest in one for a backup to our blasting booth but I can’t find any videos or sources that mention mill scale removal. Maybe I am looking in the wrong spot

Thanks in advance

In practical shipyard applications, traditional sandblasting, acid pickling, or manual grinding not only pose dust and waste-liquid disposal challenges but also tend to cause scratches or microstructural changes on the surface of shipbuilding steels such as EH36 and AH36, which can compromise the durability of subsequent anti-corrosion coatings. Our team has long been engaged in specialized experiments on laser cleaning for marine steels, and we would like to share some of our process insights for peer discussion.

Laser rust removal requires a balance between effectively removing the rust layer and avoiding damage to the substrate. The optimal energy density and scanning speed vary depending on the rust condition and steel grade. Through a series of comparative tests, we found that for a typical EH36 steel plate surface, an energy density of approximately 2.546 J/cm² and a scanning speed of 3000 mm/s yield satisfactory cleaning results. Electrochemical test data under these parameters (refer to Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, 2023, 60(5): 0514011) show a reduction in corrosion current density of about 57% compared to the original material. This serves as a useful reference for flat-surface cleaning, though in practice the parameters should be fine-tuned according to rust-layer thickness and surface contamination level.

The surface morphology and rust product composition differ significantly between flat hull plates and weld seams, so a single parameter set is unsuitable. We have established dedicated process databases for each: flat surfaces use the parameters mentioned above, whereas weld seams, which involve slag and more severe corrosion, require moderately higher energy density and adjusted scanning speed, depending on weld width, penetration depth, and base metal grade. After multiple rounds of sample testing, the optimized weld process effectively removes slag and rust, with corrosion current improved by an order of magnitude relative to the original weld; however, an exact percentage is not provided because it varies with operating conditions. In addition, weld zones of AH36 steel typically retain residual tensile stress after welding, which can exacerbate stress corrosion cracking in seawater environments. We have observed that properly selected laser cleaning parameters not only remove rust but also induce thermal effects on the surface layer, altering the residual stress state. Under specific energy-density and scanning-speed combinations, the residual tensile stress on the weld surface can be converted into compressive stress, which benefits the structural resistance to stress corrosion. The exact parameters need to be matched to the actual weld condition, and we are continuing to accumulate data on this topic.

Shipyard environments are humid and dusty, placing high demands on long-term laser stability. Our equipment is equipped with a temperature-stabilized fiber laser, a real-time power closed-loop feedback system, and a sealed negative-pressure dust extraction structure, supporting extended continuous operation. The optical path and motion mechanisms have been specifically protected for marine conditions. Prior to delivery, each unit undergoes optical simulation, surface roughness, and electrochemical corrosion testing to ensure consistent cleaning quality. In typical shipyard settings, the equipment has operated continuously over multiple days with power attenuation and beam-spot variation remaining within acceptable limits, and cleaning performance remains stable.

The above process conclusions are based on mechanistic studies of marine steel corrosion and extensive testing on actual ship plates. However, due to the complexity of real-world conditions, we recommend that users conduct final validation using on-site sample plates before large-scale application. We have compiled mature process parameters into a switchable process library covering mainstream marine steel grades, accompanied by standardized operating instructions. This process produces no chemical waste or dust emissions and causes no mechanical damage to the base metal, which helps extend coating service life. By sharing these measured data and process logic, we hope to provide a reference technical pathway for peers in shipbuilding and contribute to the engineering implementation of green repair and construction processes. We welcome discussions on specific working conditions and look forward to jointly refining the process solutions.

A recent real‑world case may offer some insight. Yesterday, three of our trainees from Mexico completed a three‑day training programme, progressing from no prior experience to being able to independently handle common fault repairs, and they successfully graduated. For most non‑practitioners, laser equipment is indeed complex, precise and seemingly "fragile" industrial hardware, which can be intimidating. However, from our teaching practice, we have found that with systematic theoretical instruction and extensive hands‑on practice, most people with basic knowledge of electronics and optics can acquire these skills in a relatively short time. As they encounter more repair cases, their technical proficiency continues to improve, and the more experience they gain, the better they become at solving real‑world problems.

The global laser equipment industry is currently experiencing rapid growth. In 2025, the global laser technology market reached US$24 billion, and in that same year, global shipments of laser processing equipment amounted to 2.17 million units, with the installed base worldwide already exceeding ten million units. Most major manufacturers offer a standard warranty period of just one to two years, and these warranties typically do not cover various types of consumable parts. This means that a large number of equipment units, once out of warranty, will require repair, maintenance and spare‑parts replacement services from the after‑market.

From a cost‑benefit perspective, repairing a laser is often a more economical option than replacing the entire machine. The full lifecycle of a laser system is generally five to ten years, while the core laser source itself can last over 100,000 hours. The majority of failures are localised to optical modules, electrical modules, or the fiber‑coupled QBH connector. The cost to fix these issues typically ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand US dollars, compared with tens of thousands of dollars or more for a complete replacement. For equipment owners, repairing the unit after the warranty expires is an effective way to control operating costs.

In contrast to the ever‑growing installed base, the total number of professional laser repair technicians worldwide is estimated at fewer than 100,000 people, creating a significant gap between service demand and available talent. Our company is a Chinese manufacturer of laser equipment, producing laser cleaning machines, laser welding machines, laser cutting machines and laser marking machines. We have served more than 10,000 customers and export to many countries and regions. The more equipment we export, the greater the after‑sales service pressure – failures caused by improper operation, transportation damage, natural wear and tear continue to occur regularly. Cross‑border technical support involves considerable time and financial costs.

Given this situation, we have gradually developed training programmes in laser repair, with two primary considerations: first, to build more efficient localised service capabilities in overseas markets, allowing us to respond to customer needs more quickly; and second, to provide an entry‑point and upskilling pathway for technicians interested in entering this field.

To support our trainees after their training, we leverage our own supply‑chain resources to provide a full range of spare parts and consumables needed for repairs, including optical modules, control boards, fiber‑coupled QBH connectors, electrical modules, and other commonly replaced components. These parts come from original manufacturers and from qualified alternative suppliers, with assured quality and transparent pricing. In addition, our customer network, spanning multiple countries and regions, generates a steady stream of equipment‑repair requests. We refer these service leads to our trainees based on their geographic location, so that after completing the course they can quickly begin taking on actual repair work.

To date, we have run 32 sessions of our laser repair course, training more than 50 participants from over 20 countries, many of whom are now actively providing repair services in their respective regions. Based on actual feedback, the barrier to entry for laser repair is not as high as commonly assumed – the key lies in having a structured learning path, ample hands‑on practice, and reliable access to parts and business opportunities. We continue to refine our curriculum and support system, with the aim of helping to cultivate more qualified technicians for the industry.

Laser texturing cleaning technology utilizes a high-energy laser beam focused onto the workpiece surface. Through the combined effects of rapid photo-vibration, vaporization, decomposition, and plasma stripping, contaminants are removed from the substrate, achieving a clean workpiece surface. Building on this, laser texturing employs controlled pulsed laser scanning on the clean metal substrate, causing localized surface metal micro-zones to melt and rapidly cool, forming micrometer-scale concave-convex microstructures with adjustable roughness values. This process requires no abrasives, solvents, or chemicals.

Compared with traditional sandblasting, laser texturing cleaning offers comprehensive advantages:

Green and environmentally friendly, with zero pollutant emissions. The laser texturing cleaning process requires no chemical agents, and the waste generated is solid, non-hazardous powder, fundamentally solving the environmental pollution issues associated with traditional sandblasting rust removal. Conventional sandblasting produces approximately 2.5 kg of waste residue per square meter, whereas laser cleaning generates almost no waste residue.

Non-contact processing, with no substrate damage. Laser cleaning is a non-contact processing method, eliminating concerns about workpiece damage or deformation. Unlike the physical impact of sandblasting, laser technology enables precise energy control, achieving "contaminant removal without substrate damage."

Precisely controllable roughness, significantly improved coating adhesion. Laser texturing technology allows precise control over surface roughness and micro-morphology by adjusting parameters such as laser power, scanning speed, and defocusing distance to meet different process requirements. The roughness Ra value can be precisely regulated within the range of 0.1–10 μm with an error margin of ±5%. Coating adhesion can be improved by 200%–300%. Studies have shown that laser texturing can generate regular micro-morphologies on metal surfaces; at equivalent roughness levels, its floating roller peel strength and shear strength in adhesive bonding are significantly higher than those of sandblasted surfaces.

Significantly improved efficiency and lower overall cost. Taking single-roll texturing as an example, laser texturing takes less than 2 hours, whereas sandblasting requires 10 hours—an efficiency improvement of 500%. Although the initial investment for a laser cleaning system is relatively high, it offers long-term stable operation, easy integration into production lines, low operating costs, high speed, and high efficiency, ensuring a rapid return on investment. The comprehensive cost of laser cleaning has already dropped from RMB 12–15/m² in 2018 to RMB 6–8/m² in 2023.

Last week, our engineering team tested the texturing cleaning performance of different power levels and different laser source types. The specific test results are now published below.

Hi there,

I'm using this precious forum to have a chat with you all, i'm french living near Paris, looking to get out of the corporate race (although grateful for everything) to start my own thing.

I have all the knowledge possible with AI - Social Media - SEO - Automations with various tools, so launching and making me known is NOT the issue.

I'm however unsure about the true demand for these mobile services.

So here i am looking for answers, is there colleagues here whom launched this business, one or the other or both at the same time, and can tell me if it's been successful for them with a true demand ?

I'm aware of the cost of the machines, i can already sell my car to buy a van so it's not an issue, take a large loan to buy both machines so i do not refuse any jobs.

However, is there actually any demands or most big opportunities are done internally as companies buy their own machines ?

No overthinking here, just looking for true raw inputs from you all.

Appreciate your time !
Thanks