Getting Started with the Fiber Laser Cleaner

Alright, so I finally got my hands on one of these fiber laser cleaning machines. Been curious about them for a while. The crate arrived, pretty heavy stuff. Took a bit of effort just getting it unpacked and into the workshop. Had to clear out a decent space for it.

First thing, I pulled everything out. The main unit, the laser gun thingy, cables, and a pair of those dark safety glasses. You definitely need those, the light is no joke. Plugged it all in, followed the basic connection guide. Not too complicated, thankfully. Just power, connecting the gun, making sure everything looked secure.

Figuring it Out

Turned the main power on. The machine hummed to life, fans started whirring. There's a screen with some buttons. Looked a bit daunting at first, lots of settings like power percentage, frequency, pulse width... I just wanted to clean some rust, you know? Didn't dive deep into the manual, mostly just played around with the basic power settings to start. Figured I'd learn by doing.

Safety first, seriously. Put on the glasses, grabbed some thick gloves too. Found an old rusty metal bracket I had lying around, perfect test subject.

The Actual Cleaning Part

Okay, here we go. Held the laser gun, pointed it at the rusty spot. It's got a trigger, like a spray gun. Pulled the trigger. Wow. Bright flash, crackling sound. You can literally see the rust vaporizing, turning into smoke. Had to make sure I had good ventilation going, opened the workshop door.

• Started with a lower power setting. It worked, but slowly.
• Cranked the power up a bit. Much faster! The rust just disappeared where the beam hit.
• Moved the gun back and forth, like spray painting but without the paint.
• Tried adjusting the focus, moving the gun closer and further away. Found a sweet spot where it cleaned best.

It was kinda mesmerizing watching the clean metal appear underneath all that gunk. Cleaned that whole bracket in maybe five minutes. Way faster than scrubbing or using chemicals. The surface felt a bit warm afterwards, but not crazy hot.

What I Noticed

The machine did exactly what it was supposed to do. Removed the rust clean off. No residue left behind, just bare metal. It's pretty precise too, you can clean small areas without messing up the surrounding parts much.

Tried it on an old painted piece next. Had to adjust the settings again, find the right power level so it took off the paint but didn't eat into the metal too much. Took a bit more fiddling, but got there eventually. It seems like different stuff needs different settings. Makes sense.

Wrapping Up the Session

So yeah, spent a good afternoon messing with this fiber laser cleaner. Pretty impressed overall. It's definitely a powerful tool. Need to spend more time figuring out the ideal settings for different jobs, different materials. But for just blasting away rust and crud, it's fantastic. Cleaned up the gun nozzle, wiped down the machine, powered it off. Job done for the day. Definitely beats wire brushing.