laser rust removal

[Hayden Watson]

I saw this and could not help but think of the treads about many who have had to remove the rust from their iron keels. Looks interesting.

https://great.seeuper.com/products/...OJ2mpUarDNP73ATUJksFvK_4vv8Y97rYmpo2Gira2NquM

 

[Justin_NSA]

Sounds too good to be true, but I'd love one if it worked. Anywhere to read reviews on it?

 

[rgranger]

Hmmmm....???? The spectroscopist in me is thinking that if this is true then there are only two ways to get this to work...

1. They are exploiting a narrow absorption band in Fe2O3-nH2O (rust) that does not exist in the steel... and they have created a high intensity laser beam tuned to that narrow band within the rust. The rust would quickly heat up and evaporate. However, this seems unlikely since the "boiling point" of rust is extremely high.
2. They have tuned the laser to cause a rapid evaporation of the water molecules within the rust molecule..., the steam "burst" acts much as a sand blaster and ablates the remaining rust molecule from the surface.

I'm guessing it is the second mechanism and if I'm correct the instructions probably ask you to sprits the surface with a little water before you start.

 

[kloudie1]

At $500,000 US, we won't be seeing those at the boatyard any time soon !

 

[jssailem]

Claude... there is the smaller model for $80,000... or you could spend the money a new rest free boat.

But it was a cool idea for a tool. I sure made quicker work of the rust than I could with a wire brush.

 

[kloudie1]

I agree, John.. what a boon to folks messing with old cars. First thing that I thought of was how would it work on barnacles! It'd be great to be able to blow those little buggers off the boat bottom without harming the gel coat!!