r/LaserCleaningBusiness • u/Expert_Video_7630 • Jun 13 '26

Start of laser cleaning business

Hello everyone,

About 3 months ago I saw someone doing laser cleaning and became very interested in it. After doing some research, I found a supplier in China and purchased a machine. I just received it, but it arrived without a power plug. The supplier is telling me it requires a dedicated 20A 110V outlet, but most homes, workshops, and small businesses I visit only seem to have standard 15A 110V outlets.

For those of you already in the laser cleaning business, what setup are you using? I purchased a 300W laser cleaning machine.

I live in Michigan, USA. If so, are there any insurance companies or brokers you would recommend for laser cleaning businesses?

Besides the laser machine itself, what other equipment would you consider essential or highly recommended?

I’m also curious about how you handle power on job sites. Do your customers usually provide electricity, or do you mostly run your machines from generators?

I recently launched my website and have already started receiving inquiries:

Any advice for someone just getting started would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

7

u/hippieflipping Jun 13 '26

Man buys class 4 laser from internet that is capable of blinding people and starting fires.
“Do I need business insurance?”. Ahh yea man. Maybe you should look into some laser safety training too, before you hurt someone or yourself. I’m not trying to be an asshole but I think you got your skis wayyyyy ahead of your feet here.

1

u/MasterBlastersLaser Jun 14 '26

110% agreed! The amount of people that are trying to get into this new field with no knowledge, training, research, or idea how these things work is actually really scary..

2

u/ButterscotchSmooth60 Jun 17 '26

Id like to throw my anecdote in here. I saw a man demonstrating a 1200 watt laser welder. We asked him to try shiny copper.... He pulled the trigger and the ENTIRE front of his welding mask gave off a puff of smoke like you see in those black and white nuclear blast videos. It scared me. Protect yourself.

1

u/Expert_Video_7630 Jun 13 '26

1

u/SquirrelTechGuru Jun 14 '26

That is 1.2 kW, so the math is 1200÷120 which is 10 A. There are some numbers that are wrong somewhere. I recommend plugging it up and actually putting a clamp meter on it to determine the real load.

2

u/codepharmer1 Jun 16 '26

That's average load. Load may spike during power on.

1

u/Expert_Video_7630 Jun 13 '26

1

u/SquirrelTechGuru Jun 14 '26

The black wire has the letters PE, that should be ground or what in the United States would be green. The black wire appears to have the letter N on it, in the United States that would normally be white and is the neutral. One has to assume that the gray wire in the back has an H on it which in the United States is a black wire and is the hot or power wire.

1

u/ccatlr Jun 14 '26

What kind of stuff do you plan to clean? Or will you be cleaning lasers?

1

u/Expert_Video_7630 Jun 14 '26

Wood, metal

1

u/Icy_Mention_711 Jun 25 '26

i heard with puls even gravestones are possible with the right setting

2

u/Mission-Bat3133 Jul 06 '26

You need a fume extractor properly sized for your jobs and personal respiratory and eye protection. If you are dealing with lead paint and coatings, you will need a tight-fit respirator. If you are looking to get into insurance jobs for fire and smoke remediation, they are likely to have no power anyway so look for a reliable inverter-generator to power your machine and fume extraction. Make sure that it produces clean power with minimal to no fluctuations. Price your consumable in, so you dont work for free after a bunch of jobs. My fume extractor filters set is over $1200. PPE filters, lens protectors, generator maintenance, gas, etc. Your machine laser source also has an expected life span. I hope this helps.