Advantages of Handheld Laser Cleaners for Rust Removal Compared to Traditional Rust Removal

Metal is widely used in the industrial field. Metal materials can be seen everywhere in life, but metal will inevitably rust if it is placed in the air for a long time. Metal derusting has also become a major problem in the industrial field. Traditional metal derusting methods include manual derusting, mechanical derusting and chemical derusting.

• Manual rust removal includes

1. Scraper
2. Hammer
3. Steel brush
4. Grinding wheel and other tools

Use methods such as knocking and scraping to remove the rust on the metal surface through physical vibration and scraping to achieve the purpose of rust removal. This method has low rust removal efficiency and high labor costs, and can only remove loose rust layers and aging coatings, and it is difficult to nondestructively clean many oxide layers.

• Mechanical rust removal

Mechanical rust removal includes：

1. Portable sand
2. Electric brush
3. Rust removal gun and other tools

They use physical impact and friction to remove rust and stains. Among them, spraying and shot blasting are widely used. However, this method is extremely polluting to the environment, and the follow-up cleaning is also very complicated, so it is only suitable for large-scale operations.

• Chemical derusting

Chemical derusting is to use acid solution to chemically react with the rust on the metal surface to be cleaned, that is, the oxide, so that it dissolves in the acid solution and then falls off. This chemical derusting method needs to immerse the entire workpiece in the solution, and it cannot be derusted well on some large structural parts and equipment, and this derusting method is easy to corrode the metal substrate, so it is not suitable for those with high surface requirements. product.

Compared with these traditional rust removal methods, laser cleaning machines are a new generation of smart products. It cleans stains without damaging surface metal and has

1. Simple operation
2. Easy to integrate
3. High cleanliness
4. Fast cleaning speed and other advantages.

• Non-contact cleaning

There is no cleaning media during laser cleaning. It can avoid a series of problems such as serious substrate damage and medium residue in traditional cleaning, minimize substrate damage and reduce loss.

• The cleaning objects are diversified

Laser cleaning is a complex physical and chemical compound change process, which can be applied to

1. organic matter
2. Metal
3. Oxide
4. Inorganic non-metals etc.

This is an advantage that traditional methods do not have.

Can be applied to：

1. remove surface dirt
2. paint
3. rust layer
4. Coating and other fields.

• Diversified operation modes

The hand-held laser head increases the convenience of the cleaning operation. The irregular surface of the workpiece is cleaned by manual operation, especially for the cleaning of corners, concave-convex surfaces and other special-shaped surfaces. If one cleaning is not in place, the same area can be cleaned multiple times.

• Environmental friendly

Laser cleaning only produces smoke and dust, which can be collected by a dust collector. It is easy to handle and produces no secondary products. Unlike other cleaning methods that produce waste water and waste residue, the impact on the environment will be minimized.

• The cost of use is low

Laser cleaning does not use consumables such as abrasives or chemicals, it only consumes electricity, which saves additional cost and time. Compared with other methods, the operating cost has obvious advantages.

Product configuration: 1500W continuous laser, water cooler, control system, hand-held laser cleaning head
Scope of application:
remove paint,
rust layer,
oxide layer,
Plating,
Grease,
other surface contaminants, etc.

Also suitable for pre-weld surface preparation and post-weld cleaning.

• HANTENCNC laser cleaning machine

The distance between the laser head and the substrate is 500mm, and the laser irradiation width can reach 200mm. It can be equipped with a laser head extension line, and the length can reach 70 meters. The weight of the laser head is 1.2 kg, which is convenient for one person to operate and clean. The overall weight is about 50 kg, and the weight of the host is 32 kg, which is easy to move.

Application fields: 

1. Metal or glass surface coating removal, quick paint removal.
2. Quickly remove rust and various oxides.
3. Remove grease, resin, glue, dust, stain, production residue.
4. Metal surface roughening
5. Paint removal, rust removal, degreasing before welding or bonding, oxidation and residue treatment after welding.
6. Mold cleaning, such as tire mold, electronic mold, food mold.
7. Oil stain removal after precision parts production and processing.
8. Rapid cleaning of nuclear power component maintenance.
9. Aerospace weapons, oxide treatment, paint removal and rust removal in the process of ship production or maintenance.
10. Metal surface cleaning in narrow space.
11. Cultural relic cleaning, rock cleaning, building exterior surface cleaning

Laser cleaning method

Hand-held cleaning: low-power, small-scale, multi-variety, scanning situations where the site changes frequently.

Semi-automatic cleaning: Using the platform and guide rail similar to the machining center, the scanning head is installed on the spindle driven by the servo motor to realize semi-automatic cleaning and maintain the optimal cleaning distance.

Fully automatic cleaning: For the batch cleaning of certain types of workpieces and molds on the production line, automatic programming of the mechanical arm can be used for cleaning.

We recommend you to use a 200W laser cleaning machine

From the perspective of carbon steel material, tests have been done for both floating rust and pitting corrosion:

The efficiency of cleaning floating rust can clean the rust layer at 5-8 square meters per hour. The surface cleaning efficiency with certain pitting can be cleaned 2-4 square meters per hour.

The 200-watt laser cleaning machine can basically meet the cleaning requirements and efficiency of most customers. The price is also moderate and the application range is wide. It is a cost-effective choice.

For example

1. Oxide cleaning on the surface of the weld;
2. Surface treatment before and after welding;
3. High temperature oxide skin treatment on carbon steel surface (slightly lower efficiency);
4. There is oil on the metal surface, but it is not transparent oil, and there is also thin oil;
5. It can clean oxides on the surface of various materials.

The efficiency of metal surface paint removal is not high. It is recommended to use a continuous laser cleaning machine for metal surface paint removal. The power of a continuous laser cleaning machine is basically 1000 watts or more, with high efficiency and low price. The specific power depends on the demand.

1. The scope of derusting:
   The general laser derusting is to fix the workpiece on the workbench for derusting operation. It can only clean small and movable workpieces, which has certain limitations. The portable laser descaling machine can clean those workpieces that are not easy to move, and selectively clean the workpieces.
2. Flexible rust removal:
   The cleaning of the workpiece by laser derusting equipment is more square, and some dead angles are not conducive to derusting. Portable derusting equipment can be controlled by hand to clean the workpiece, and it can also be used for flexible derusting cleaning of some dead corners.
3. Rust removal effect:
   The cleaning effect of portable laser rust removal equipment is the same as that of ordinary rust removal equipment.
4. Focus rust removal:
   When cleaning uneven workpieces, the portable laser descaling head can adjust the focus up and down for cleaning, and the cleaning effect is uniform.

Laser CNC will share these with you this week. Of course, all laser equipment above HANTENCNC also has sufficient stock. We look forward to your reply.