Every laser manufacturer says their machine cleans everything. We would rather publish what we actually measured, including the combinations where the answer was no.
The ablation database is a record of tests we run on real substrate and coating combinations, published with the full parameter set and the honest result. It exists because the single most common question we are asked has no general answer, only a specific one.
"Will it remove this?" cannot be answered from a brochure. It depends on the substrate, the coating, the thickness, the pulse energy, the frequency, the pulse width, the scan speed, the focal distance and the number of passes. The only useful answer is a documented test of that combination, and almost nobody in this industry publishes them.
That last-but-one field is the one that makes this worth reading. "Removed the coating" is a half-answer. "Removed the coating, left a light residue in the grain that needed a 180 grit pass" is something a business can plan around.
We publish parameters so the tests are reproducible and auditable, not so they can be copied. Two boards of the same species with different histories will not behave identically, and a parameter set lifted from this page and applied blind to a customer piece is how surfaces get marked.
The programme is being set up now and the first results will be published here as they are completed. We are starting with the combinations customers ask about most often: powder coat on mild steel and aluminium, varnish and paint on oak and pine, mill scale on structural steel, and release agent on composite tooling.
If there is a combination you need answered, tell us through the application enquiry form. Requests shape the testing order, and if you can supply sample material we will usually prioritise it.
Because the alternative is what the market currently offers: a video of a laser removing rust from a plate, and no information about anything else. Documenting where the technology struggles is more useful to a buyer than another success clip, and it is the thing we would want to read if we were the ones spending the money.
Applications
The combinations we are working through first, based on what customers ask.
Which machine
Every result is recorded against the specific machine and configuration used, because a result without a machine attached is not a result.
Machine finance is available to UK businesses through an FCA-regulated broker. Limited companies can be funded on any machine; sole traders only above £25,000. Check whether you qualify → LaserStrip is not a lender. See also the Business Launch package.
Further reading
Standards and guidance
A pulsed fibre laser is a Class 4 device. These are the primary UK sources, linked so you can read them rather than take our word for it. Our own measured results, including the combinations that did not work, are in the surface ablation database.
Common questions
Please do not treat them that way. They are published so the tests are reproducible and auditable, not as a settings library. Establish parameters on your own material every time.
Often yes. Send the detail through the application enquiry form, and if you can supply a sample we will usually prioritise it. In exchange we would like to publish the result.
Yes. A database of successes only would be marketing, and it would be useless to anyone making a purchasing decision.
Application enquiry
Tell us what you are trying to remove and what is underneath it. We will tell you honestly whether a laser is the right tool, where it would sit in your existing process, and which machine would suit. If conventional preparation is the better answer for your job, we will say so.
We reply within one business day. Your details are never shared.