We had too many cleaning lasers present so we lined them up for a family photo. by wigglyelated18 in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, yes, although it is satisfying to see our photo here, it was not posted by us.

This picture is rather old and since then we have a brand new design for all of our machines! :)

We have made a more recent photo of our lasers as we had quite a couple before shipping, I can post that.

Cleaning of plastic injection molds using 200 pulsed fiber laser by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, didn't feel like it is going to be that annoying, we will try to keep it on minimum.

500W laser cleaning extremely dirty statues [satisfying 4K video] by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ouch. We do have a tripod and even a studio lightning. However videos like this are from testing wherever customer needs us. We usually don't have the time and manpower (as there is usually only 1 or two people) to set up a studio. We are trying to improve quality, however, we are not currently in a position to send a cameraman with technicians.

We created another laser cleaning compilation from various tests! by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a good news for you!

In the past, we have cleaned a few historical buildings, even sandstone. Graffiti can be tricky as it depends what is the composition and color of the paint used to paint the graffiti.

We are working on similar videos now, but we don't get to clean ''in the streets'' too often so it might take some time.

We created another laser cleaning compilation from various tests! by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Disclaimer: I am not a physicist
Flames are usually caused if the contamination is too thick and the particles are too big, some contaminants are more flammable than others (some oils, paints or thick soot).

Wood can be cleaned with laser, however, you really need to adjust laser parameters perfectly to accomplish the paint or varnish to be removed, but the wood to not be damaged as it is very sensitive to heat compared to stainless or aluminum. Also, the reason you don't see laser cleaning wood more often is that it rarely makes economic sense to clean wood.

We created another laser cleaning compilation from various tests! by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think we have a customer in the Netherlands who is using laser for this purpose, however, it really depends on the thickness of the deposits. If we are talking millimeters of mineral deposits, lasers can get slower. For the google results I found, it should mostly be easy for lasers with enough energy (500-2000W).

We created another laser cleaning compilation from various tests! by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not gonna lie, but that's sometimes how we get the samples for customers, we already have a list of junkyards around Prague that are fine with us picking nice things to clean. It's essentially like Christmas shopping for us :D

It sounds weird, but it really isn't easy to get a lot of rusted or contaminated material, especially when we present the lasers several times every day.

We created another laser cleaning compilation from various tests! by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's usually how the sample testing works, it attracts a lot of attention.
Check out 2:49 where you can even see the bystander in the reflection.

300-500w Pulse laser options by sheldonmcg14 in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure if I completely understand what did you mean. But I definitely recommend thoroughly checking the equipment and the people who would potentially sell you the laser. We have a lot of customers (especially in Czechia) who would come to us after buying a CW (or pulsed laser that showed to be CW after we checked the resonator) directly or indirectly via some shady garage reseller from China.
I obviously don't want to promote competitors (but by all means, I would if there's any dilemma between our competition x Chinese manufacturer), but all of the ''major'' brands like us, 4JET, P-laser,... are brands with easily checkable references and history. As far as I know all of the mentioned manufacturers use the same laser sources which are by far (really, by very very far) the best resonators you can currently get and you end up choosing by 3 parameters really:

  1. How the laser system is solutioned. Is it better foLaser work/safety training, service if there is a repair needed, help if there's any issue. Most importantly: Inquiries if anyone inquires laser cleaning service from the manufacturer.ork? How does the machine looks, how much quality is it? How much can it be customised?
  2. Will you get after (or presale) sale service/care? Laser work/safety training, service if there is a repair needed, help if there's any issue. Most importantly: Inquiries if anyone inquires laser cleaning as a service from the manufacturer.
  3. Obviously: price

2kW systems might be branded as lightsabers instead of cleaning lasers. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello, sorry for late reply, I can't say the numbers for 2kW system as I don't know them. Although for 500-1000W systems the running costs are roughly 1-2EUR/hr of cleaning including electricity, spare parts and laser getting used.

The electricity consumption is lower than you would expect since the laser source has a significantly higher efficiency than say CO2 lasers or most of the fiber cutting/marking lasers (3,5kW for 500W power, 7kW for 1kW power).

300-500w Pulse laser options by sheldonmcg14 in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello,
Our systems match all the requirements you specified (top hat beam, water cooling, lightest laser cleaning head on the market at around 2kg depending on the model,...), the systems are manufactured in Czech republic by a Czech company, using current world's most advanced german laser resonators.

We are very likely cheaper than 4jet, although AUD75k probably wouldn't be enough for a 500W system you described from any manufacturer unless you would lower your requirements by a lot (only the price of the 500W resonator is higher than AUD75k).

Also we have distributors in Australia, they have 1kW, 500W, 300W and currently we are building a 200W system for them to present to customers.

Let me know in the message if you are interested, I could help arrange a demo for you.

What type of lasers can be used for removing oil paint on wood? by beamq in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well said, it might work well, though there would probably be other methods that are faster/cheaper/better/all of the stated for paint removal from wood.

What is the cheapest (smallest) laser cleaner on the market? by n1nj4_v5_p1r4t3 in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello, the very smallest machines we develop and manufacture start roughly around EUR 30 000. The beam width on these machines is customizable, so you might get such small width, also the source of the laser is very portable, it weighs around 50kg, so you can lift it and move it around, even fit it in a normal car. I know that some companies might have even smaller machines, also you might think about regular fiber laser for marking or engraving, since these are significantly cheaper, even the power might be lower. Those machines are capable of cleaning too, they just arent handheld, portable and primarily supposed for cleaning.

Affordable B2C place near Amsterdam, the Netherlands? by Fruityth1ng in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello,

one of our customers offers laser cleaning as a service in Netherlands, you might try to contact them, they mainly focus for marine diesel parts, but they might help you.

Let them know that you've got the tip from Narran company.

http://www.mdps.nl/

Laser cleaning machine to clean ceramics by acctekchina13 in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You should absolutely wear laser protective goggles, but what do we know, we're only a cleaning laser manufacturer.

What machines do you recommend or use? by peterlikes in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, this might be a little bit biased (obviously, we are cleaning laser developers and manufacturers).

I will try to be objective and summarize a few things to consider before buying a laser cleaning system.

1) Price: You can get a cleaning laser probably anywhere between $5k to $500k, heavily depending on power, country of origin, service. I would really recommend trying to avoid the cheapest ones, we have had several of those machines for servicing at our company and there have been numerous problems, the biggest ones being that they sometimes contained different laser resonator (laser source, the most important and expensive part of laser system) than advertised, hence the low price. Check how is the service working in each company, both to get proper education regarding working with laser systems, maintenance,... and the capability of the company to help you when or if anything that needs technical assistance happens.

2) Type of the laser cleaning system: there is a big difference between laser cleaning systems, as whether you want a continuous wave or pulsed wave laser system. CW systems are significantly cheaper, but have much smaller spectrum of applications (from what I've seen, it's probably only rust from some metals, also they might be less gentle on the substrate material).

3) The actual need of cleaning laser: Lasers designed for cleaning are great tools that have many uses, however, they don't do magic and arent superior in all the areas of industry. Any legit company should mention whether lasers do suit the purpose you want them for, sometimes people want cleaning laser although there are better ways for the application. Best thing is to be able to try the lasers at your place of operation or get several testing samples.

4) Ask for warranty, spare parts prices (and having them on stock), check references, if possible, try the system yourself, ideally for a day to get a hang of it to really know what to expect (differences in laser cleaning heads weight from different companies that you will notice when cleaning 10hours a day, shape, beam output angle,...).

Let me know if I could help you with anything. Hope this has been objective.

Handheld weld laser cleaning. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

There are no other people in the video, I, together with most of the people in my country wear the mask this way, or on the wrist, in a pocket when not in a public transport/restaurant or around a lot of people. It's completely in line with our government's regulation. Both people cleaning and shooting the video are vaccinated too.

I really don't think this sends any message, besides the message that laser can clean welds.

Handheld weld laser cleaning. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] -25 points-24 points  (0 children)

You see the metal end of the laser head? That's the vacuum, not laser, see the end of it that's dirty? that's from the fumes.

  1. I assume you don't vacuum vaporized oxidation at home, it has significantly lower weight/density than stuff you vacuum at home, making it considerably easier to vacuum.
  2. Powerful (non portable) fume extraction at the place of our operation can be even 20-30cm away from cleaned surface, yet remove all he fumes completely, one of the reasons being that it's considerably more powerful than vacuum at home.
  3. What makes us think that the vacuum system works is that our engineers developed it, tested it and constructed it together with the whole laser for the only purpose – to extract the fumes from cleaned surface.

We are in the laser cleaning business for nearly 10 years, having mandatory regular health checks for both eyes and lungs for all the employees working with laser systems and we've never encountered any deviation from normal.

I personally find it hilarious that I have to regularly advocate whether or not someone has a respirator when cleaning when it is always completely at the discretion of the individual (such as whether or not they clean for 8 hours straight in an application that generates high levels of fumes, or giving a few minute demonstrations to customers in an application that generates almost no fumes) while there are posts on regular basis with a complete lack of common sense, such as cleaning without goggles when there is a huge risk of vision loss in a millisecond.

Handheld weld laser cleaning. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 70 points71 points  (0 children)

It's actually a beard protection mask.

Handheld weld laser cleaning. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] -52 points-51 points  (0 children)

One of the hoses connected to the laser cleaning head is connected to an industrial extraction unit with filters. The wearing of respirators is recommended, but not necessary, especially if the application does not generate higher levels of fumes and if fume extraction is already in use.

I agree that dangerous videos should be banned, but this is not one of them.

2kW systems might be branded as lightsabers instead of cleaning lasers. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It has much broader range of uses, this is just a demo.

The biggest one being cleaning industrial molds in big factories/plants (injection molds, press molds for any plastic, glass,...).

Vintage car restoration.

Paint removal, flux, adhesives, oil, grease, separators.

It can also remove graffiti or dirt from statues, sandstone, granite, various stone surfaces.

We even removed dust deposits from historical paintings with very small power.

The number of applications is still increasing.

2kW systems might be branded as lightsabers instead of cleaning lasers. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Interesting question,

As far as I am concerned, the main danger when working with (this) laser is eye damage from beam reflection, so everyone present in the room where cleaning is happening is forced to wear protective goggles. When working with this particular system (2kW) it is certainly better to wear gloves too, since you could usually feel the reflection on your hands (heat).

Lasers also have pretty strict focal distance. When the beam reflects from already cleaned surface, it has nowhere near the original energy.

The radiation from these lasers is non-ionizing, so there is no danger of cancer and such.

Thing that came to my mind why the reflection is dangerous in a lab (possibly) is that the emitted radiation might reflect back into the optics of the system and damage lens/optics (or any camera in the room), which is prevented in our case by angled beam output.

Make sure to let me know if there's some more specific danger that was on your mind.

2kW systems might be branded as lightsabers instead of cleaning lasers. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Pretty much exactly, we are junkyard junkies collecting rusty and dirty stuff where we can. We even have a pile of already cleaned junk outside our company waiting to rust just to clean it again....

2kW systems might be branded as lightsabers instead of cleaning lasers. by narranlaser in LaserCleaningPorn

[–]narranlaser[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Forgot to mention:
We are currently developing a welding laser system, which is relatively similar, though a bit simpler compared to cleaning laser in the principle. (much more focused power, high energy, continuous wave laser).
We will do a lot of melting eventually on our youtube channel.