It is the first decision and the one most buyers get wrong. Wattage is negotiable; laser mode is not.
A pulsed source delivers energy in nanosecond bursts with long gaps between them. Peak power during a pulse is enormous, but average heat input stays low because the surface cools between shots. A continuous-wave source delivers a steady beam: more total energy per second, and more of it ending up as heat in the part.
Anything where the substrate matters more than the schedule. Mould cavities and textured tool steel. Thin sheet that would warp. Bronze and stone where the patina is the object. Electronics where components sit millimetres away. Parts that get measured after cleaning. Our pulsed machines run 2–500 ns adjustable pulse widths precisely so the operator can dial energy down for a delicate layer and up for a stubborn one.
Square metres of heavy rust and thick coating where throughput is the whole problem: hull plate, bridge steel, pipeline exteriors, structural sections. A 1000W–6000W CW machine removes mill scale at a rate no portable pulsed unit approaches. The substrate is thick enough that the additional heat is not a defect.
If the part is expensive, thin, textured or will be inspected, buy pulsed. If the part is large, thick and simply dirty, buy continuous wave. If you have both kinds of work — which most workshops do — a mid-power pulsed machine covers more of the range than a CW machine of the same price.
Both modes look similar on paper and behave completely differently on your material. Send us a sample. We run it on the machine we would recommend and send back before/after photos, video and the parameters used, at no charge.
Between a portable cleaner and a full CW industrial system there is a gap: work that needs more than 500W of pulsed energy, all day, on parts where heat input still matters — hardened dies, machined castings, thin structural members, anything that will be measured after cleaning.
Hull plate, bridge steel, pipeline sections, wind-turbine towers: square metres, not square centimetres, covered in mill scale and heavy rust.
Send the material, the contaminant and the area per part. You get a recommendation within 24 hours and a free test on your own sample.
