For those of you talking about using a laser for removing rust.
There have got to be issues doing this - it’s too easy and effective and Star Wars to not be in regular use otherwise…
Or am I totally off the mark?
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It is in regular use in industry, just not in home / small business laser cutters.
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Considering what it does to rust, you can imagine the potential hazard of a hand held laser with that power. Just listening to that thing operate instilled a healthy respect. (anything that makes my hair stand up has that effect 
)
I imagine the insurance premium to cover a human operating that thing is just as impressive!
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I have a 1950 Ford truck just begging for one of these!
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Phasers set to obliterate.
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A cursory Google search shows it being a German-made product. The only prices I came across were mentioned on Reddit - purchase price of $250-300k or monthly rental for ~$12k!
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How is that a handheld device? That’s like holding a light saber… Seems like a box (with fume mitigation) with laser opaque glass might be just a bit safer. I imagine any “oops” with that thing is bad (big twinkie bad)? And according to @jbmanning5 it’s also insanely expensive, so if you trip you just dropped a Ferrari on the ground…
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They let people as crazy as me play with 1 Million Dollar plasma tables. I guess it depends on how much profit is to be made. But yes don’t want to know what happens if this hits skin.
“1 Million Dollars” (I can’t even type that without hearing Dr. Evil)
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I looked for more info, although it was pretty obvious this was rather pricey. The gun they are holding is apparently just a small part of the system. There is a much larger box that drives it from what I can tell.
I use one of these scaled up to a 55Gal. plastic drum. Rebar for the electrodes, car battery and 20A charger for power. It works great, and a $40 plus a scrap battery and charger it’s hard to beat!
I tanked some radiator parts I was restoring. The first pic is straight out of the tank, next to finished primer. The second pic is what they looked like before. The third pic is out of the tank, and wire brushed. The wire brushing removes the black scale,a nd any remaining paint. the black scale comes off easily. The best part of this process is it will NOT remove any good material, it also won’t distort thin pieces like sandblasting can.
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I did the electrolysis remove once on an old Dutch Oven. It worked very well. I’ve been eyeing some blue 55 gallon drums and wondering what I could use them for. Now I know. Love those radiators.
Yes, reversal of the plating process I know as electro-stripping. Generally performed just prior to plating, is good to ensure a clean surface to accept the metal deposition.
Great for surface oxides, but not as good for removing oils.
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