Posted this in the restoration area as well, will update that thread with the results if interested.

I'm fortunate enough to work for a large industrial laser manufacturer and we got this new toy in recently and want to give it a shot. This was the initial test this morning with very low power.

laser cleaning (resized).JPG

first pass result (resized).JPG

IMG_5398 (resized).JPG

Well, how many lock down bars would it take to pay off the $22k price?

Well in these crazy pin times I guess that's a pretty stupid question when people ask $15-$20k for a pinball machine!!!

Wish I could, boss is ok with personal use but not for personal profit with the lab equipment. These things are starting to show up and coming down in price too. The Chinese models are typically half the cost.

It's kinda hard to get a good picture of the result. The rusted location are cleaned but you can see the pitting in the steel. Will get a pic of it installed tonight.

I was going to dunk it last night but I didn't have enough de-ruster or a big enough tub for it, so thought why not try a new method

Great tip on the pvc tube, didn't even think about that!

Light is always reflecting when using a laser, from the smallest laser to the largest.

Eye safety is a concern with any laser source over just a few milliwatts. Different wavelengths of light produced by each laser design causes damage to your eyes and skin in different ways.

The traditional CO2 lasers with a 10 nanometer wavelength will not pass through your eyes or skin as the light is absorbed at the surface of your body first.

But a solid state laser with a 1 nanometer wavelength passes through your skin and eyes. The laser light is focused by the lens in your eye on the retina, causing permanent blindness. I use to be in service and did burn my finger with this wavelength. It never scabbed up and stayed gooey on the surface for a few weeks. Very intense burn.

So eye protection is a must. Production cells that use lasers are typically in their own light tight enclosure to ensure safety. Lasers have been used in production environments for decades and their use is constantly increasing as they have become less "expensive".

CO2 lasers use to rule the industry in the 1990's. They had better reliability and higher power levels than solid state lasers. In 2001 a 4kW solid state laser costs $1 million dollars, I shit you not. Today a 4kW solid state laser with beam delivery is less than $200k.

I was very fortunate to get into this industry in 1999. The advancements and growth of the industry has been incredible. You can't build many of the modern assemblies without lasers. The modern automotive vehicle could not be built without lasers, from small 5 watt marking lasers to 6kW lasers.

The robot below is my best buddy at work, never complains and does exactly what I tell it to do, for better or worse

The white box with the laptop on it is a 6kW laser. The beam is generated in the cabinet and the power is delivered through a fiber optic cable. The fiber is plugged into the weld head that's on the end of the robot. The weld head is simply focusing the light, in this case to a spot size of 100 microns. This weld head can manipulate the beam in a few different patters such as a circle, figure 8 or line.

In the apps lab we see the future of what is coming. We deal with new products and prototype designs that we weld for customers in support of a laser sale.

The picture is lap welding 3mm steel to 3mm steel.

laser welding (resized).JPG

laser weld surface (resized).JPG

It is vaporized. The beam interacts directly with the oxidation at a low enough power that does melt the surface of the material.