How To Use Laser Cleaning For Paint Removal

Laser cleaning provides a safe and efficient way to remove the hazardous coatings from targeted areas on ships, planes, vehicles, and equipment — without having to resort to the time-consuming process of setting up environmental protections and personal protective equipment. All that is required is the laser, laser safety curtains, and safety glasses.

In addition to easy setup and operation, clean-up and waste disposal for our lasers only requires a small vacuum of the floor and abatement of the filter. Otherwise, the part is clean and immediately ready for the next steps.

How Laser Paint Removal Works

Laser ablation works by sending nanosecond laser pulses into a surface, creating shockwaves that eject contaminants or turn them into gas. Laser cleaning can effectively clean the target surface without harming any substrate layers or surrounding material. We’ll help you find and calibrate the cleaning laser in order to optimize it to your cleaning needs.

Benefits of Laser Paint Removal

• Minimal setup and teardown times

• Environmentally friendly

• Cost-effective

• No harm to underlying or surrounding materials

• Safe alternative to other paint removal methods

Small-Area Laser Paint Removal

At LXSHOW Laser, we offer laser cleaning solutions that are ideal to remove paint and other coatings from targeted areas of your assets. Whether the area is inches or a few feet, our laser cleaning solutions offer a complete cleaning method – both the cleaning and clean-up is all done in one step with the handheld optic. Through the process of laser ablation, the coatings are removed to the bare metal without affecting the integrity.

Our technology can be used safely next to valuable electronics, other equipment, or people, and our laser cleaning solutions clean the desired area without interacting or bothering anything around it. When compared to blasting, abrasives, or needle gun cleaning, laser ablation is a far superior method of removing small area coatings.

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Hazardous Paint Removal

Paints and coatings for heavy duty applications are often fortified with toxic materials such as chromate primers, lead, and asbestos in order to ensure the highest degree of corrosion resistance and durability. Cleaning equipment with hazardous coatings, therefore, can be a dangerous task. Fortunately, laser ablation provides a safe and environmentally friendly way to remove hazardous paint and minimize any secondary contamination.

See How These Industries Are Using Laser Cleaning for Paint Removal

Laser Paint Removal for The Aerospace Industry

In aerospace manufacturing, it is common to deal with hazardous paints and coatings, such as hexavalent chromium. When these coatings need to be removed from the aircraft for maintenance purposes, it’s important to choose a cleaning option that can safely and effectively remove them without impacting the fatigue life of the aircraft like plastic media blasting and abrasives.

Conventional methods of cleaning, such as media blasting, threaten the substrate of the parts and release harmful and toxic particles into the air, putting the health of the operators at risk. Laser cleaning, on the other hand, is able to clean rust and coatings down to the bare materials without producing additional toxins in the air.

The built-in fume extraction of our laser cleaning solutions ensure a safe working environment, even when dealing with these hazardous coatings. Whether it’s landing gear, aircraft structure, outer mold lines, or other parts, laser cleaning outperforms traditional cleaning methods, even allowing for greater electrical conductivity and more efficient bonding/welding.

Laser Paint Removal for Automotive Manufacturing

For automotive manufacturers, efficiency is key. Being able to produce consistent, high quality parts without interruption, therefore, is invaluable. While methods like masking have been used throughout the industry to ensure a precise paint application, these often take longer than the coating process itself.

Laser cleaning provides an alternative to masking. You can simply paint the entire surface and remove the painted sections you don’t want, improving both the speed and consistency of the coatings process. Laser cleaning also allows for greater electrical conductivity and is especially well-suited for emerging automotive sectors, such as electric vehicle manufacturing and others who are able to incorporate new technology into their manufacturing process. Our laser cleaners can also be integrated into your operations as automated systems, which are perfect for repeated cleaning processes and can be tailored to the specific demands of your factory and workflow.

Laser Paint Removal for Power Generation Clients

Power generation clients constantly face the need for extreme caution and reliability, whether it’s due to radiological environments, toxic coatings, or otherwise hazardous conditions. Laser ablation is able to remove hazardous coatings — even in a contaminated nuclear environment — with the highest safety outcomes on the market. Even for non-hazardous coatings, laser cleaning can be an effective option because of the degree of precision that can be achieved through advanced optics systems.

Because laser ablation does not damage the substrate during cleaning, it’s an ideal technology for paint and coating removal when inspections or parts modification is required.

Laser Paint Removal for Defense & Military Applications

Defense and military clients such as the US Air Force, Army, and Navy, put their equipment through the most extreme conditions — even the rigors of battle. Maintaining this equipment, therefore, requires a cleaning solution that is equal in power but precise enough not to add any additional wear and tear.

Coatings on defense and military vehicles and equipment are often difficult to remove and can be hazardous to operators and even to the environment. Other methods of cleaning, such as media blasting or needle gun cleaning, have been effective in removing these coatings, but not without compromising the underlying materials and exposing operators to dangerous toxins or environmental hazards.

Laser cleaning, however, is able to effectively remove these hazardous coatings without damaging the equipment’s substrate. With built-in fume extraction, our laser cleaning solutions are also able to filter out those hazardous particles that arise during the cleaning process, creating a safer working environment for operators — which is even more important since service and maintenance of this equipment often falls to active duty members. The overall safety and usability of laser ablation technology have made laser cleaning one of the most trusted cleaning methods across the defense and military industry.

Laser Paint Removal for Other Industries

Many conventional methods for paint removal are either slow and precise (e.g. masking) or powerful and imprecise (e.g. media blasting). Laser ablation, however, is able to achieve high-powered paint and coatings removal that is both precise and operationally efficient. It also can be done in a much safer environment for operators, reducing the risk when removing hazardous paints or other toxic materials.

At LXSHOW Laser, we craft customized laser cleaning solutions for even the most complex projects. Contact us now for a quote!