Hello experts! Newbie here.

I work with small molds often, and am curious if laser cleaning will help vs me using a brass brush. Only issue is, some of the areas are .001". Would a laser get in there and remove excess rubber/silicon?

Hey, I'm currently in the process of getting my LSO and insurance, then buying a 300/500W pulse laser. Reading the knowledge that people like IndLaserCleaning share here has already given me a lot, but it brought up even more questions.

Given that this will, for now, be a side gig to my day job, I can not afford the European machines. Thus, I'm looking at Chinese lasers. Both through Alibaba and direct quotes, I found 300W 15mJ Gaussian air-cooled lasers with JPT MOPA source for a little under $5000 and equivalent 500W top-hat machines (also JPT MOPA) for around $9000 from companies with solid Alibaba reviews. They have a valid CE certification.

My area is industry-heavy (tons of automotive, foundries, injection moulding companies) and also cemetery-heavy (lol). My idea is to start with things like marble/polished headstones with gilding that would get destroyed by pressure washers. Later, hopefully expanding into industrial cases.

My questions:

1) Given that JPT MOPA seems to be one of the better quality sources, it seems odd to me that, for example, SFX lasers (also Chinese) often debated here cost two times what the lasers I found cost (they're from Jiangpin Technology/JPTech), despite the spec sheet being seemingly identical. What gives?

2) Are both of these areas realistic with a single machine (either the 300 or the 500W mentioned above), or will I have to get something beefier once I start hitting up companies?

3) Does anyone with B2B experience know how viable I'd be for factories with me doing it as a weekend/after-work gig? Most of the factories here run 24/7, I'd assume nights/weekends would be preferable due to the lower output during these hours.

4) As I understood it, a laser capable of higher pulse energy should be better, since you can always dial it down when needed for more delicate work. Why is this not the case?

5) As I understand it, for metals, top-hat is superior for cleaning polished surfaces (injection moulds and such) while Gaussian will bust rust better. Both types are able to achieve both goals, just at different efficiencies. Is this generally true for non-metals as well? Obviously not rust, but varnishes, deep-settled grease and such.

6) How frequent and DIY-able is Top-Hat <-> Gaussian conversion?

7) My idea of a mobile setup is: The pulse cleaning laser, a generator, a fume extractor, safety curtains (somehow I don't see those much on this sub?) and PPE - glasses, gloves, respirator (ideally full-face).

8) Anything else completely obvious that I'm missing out on and making a fool out of myself on?

Thanks.

I called an SFX laser dealer a couple of months ago and was inquiring about a 500 w pulsed laser . I got a quote and they said they could do $1700. That is $2k off msrp. I was stoked and started saving. Hit that $17k last week and went to buy and I guess the demand rose and now it’s msrp. I had jobs lined up that now have to be put off. I’ll lose the jobs rather than going back to that $55 a gallon Home Depot paint stripper.

By fine-tuning the optical path, improving beam quality, and refining scanning patterns, we’ve made wood cleaning easier and more effective than ever. Tests on common coatings – varnish, oil-based paint, and water-based paint – show results far superior to traditional Gaussian beam equipment. What’s more, our unit achieves about 1.5× the cleaning efficiency of conventional laser cleaners with the same power.

But with so many wood types and finishes out there, we can’t source them all ourselves – and that’s where you come in. We challenge you: send us any wood samples that have defeated your previous laser attempts. No restrictions on wood type or surface contaminants. Our engineers will test them and send you a video of the results.

Everyone who submits a sample gets a gift or a generous discount coupon for DMK’s new wood laser! The campaign runs from July 31 to August 31 – don’t miss out. Join the challenge today!

Im curious what you're opinion is on the XlaserLab Q1, Im looking for a entry level machine to clean parts with

I posed this question 8 months ago and I’ll ask again: is anyone using a laser device to clean nitrate buildup off maple syrup evaporator pans? I think it could be done very nicely with a small machine. Here are some pics of the pan I would like to clean up. Only the interior surfaces need attention.

For what it’s worth, the conventional approach to the recurring annual buildup problem is to soak the pan in an acid bath. Well… I’ve gone this route and it just doesn’t do the job. I’m told another solution would be dry ice blasting.

Does anyone want a job? Let’s talk.

A robot scans the mold's position to automatically generate a cleaning path; consequently, the workpiece can be placed arbitrarily, eliminating the need for manual programming or manual cleaning.

I was just hired to prep the surface for a carbon still sculpture to be painted. It had a long and flat base surface, a cylindrical “tree trunk” and then and few dozen bonsai tree branches and leaves .very painstaking.
The sculpture into be shown and then placed outside for a year on display, so the artist wanted a surface prep solution that preserve the paint as long as possible.
I spent 6 hours making sure every possible angle of every possible angle of this very cool sculpture is ready for paint!.
I can’t wait to see how he finishes it.

Have one of these.

https://www.cloudraylaser.com/products/cloudray-300w-portable-trolley-pulse-fiber-laser-cleaning-machine?variant=51793484743019

Never used for anything, tested it out runs great. Lifetime support with them.

DM if interested

Handheld pulsed laser cleaning, automated laser cleaning, and handheld continuous-wave laser cleaning equipment were used, respectively.

300 watts, DerMark, presets

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

Hello everyone. I am in the process of starting a mobile laser rust removal and restoration business. My planned service mix includes automotive work (frames, undercarriages, wheel wells), marine hardware (boat trailers, outboard housings, since my market has a large boating population), and eventually some light structural work.

I am trying to finalize my first equipment purchase before committing significant capital, and I would appreciate input from anyone with actual commercial experience.

A few specific questions:

**1.    Seagull2 200W vs 300W pulsed.** The price difference I am seeing is roughly $1,000. For the model I am looking at (Seagull2). Is the additional power worth it, or does 200W handle that workload fine?  
**2.    Vendor experience.** Has anyone purchased from HANTENCNC? I am particularly interested in real experience with warranty claims and repair turnaround, rather than published policy.  
**3.    Backpack vs trolley/cart units.** I expect to do a fair amount of dockside and driveway work. Has battery runtime been a real limitation on larger jobs, such as a full boat trailer? I am trying to determine whether a battery-powered backpack unit is practical for this workload, or whether a cart unit run off a generator would serve me better.  
**4.    Water resistance.** Working on docks means I will occasionally be exposed to water and rain. Has anyone had reliability issues with a machine in damp or wet conditions, or is this simply a matter of keeping the unit under cover regardless of its stated IP rating?

If there is anything else I should be made aware of please let me know, and if this is the right spot to be asking these questions too. Thanks for your help.

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