The particular laser I used was designed for another purpose and was a high power pulsed YAG laser capable of cutting thin metal. It would remove the paint cleanly, and multiple passes was not a problem. I am not sure what it cost, but a BMW would probably be much cheaper. The vacuum table was about 3 X 4 feet square! I just used it because I had access and it worked.
Excimer lasers are a good match for this application as well, since the UV light actually ablates the paint (a term for breaking chemical bonds and turning it into vapor). Again, cost is prohibitive. Now if someone wanted to make a small CNC table that moved a scribe around the board, that is more realistic, and perhaps there are new diode lasers that might be OK.
Bob
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Excimer lasers are a good match for this application as well, since the UV light actually ablates the paint (a term for breaking chemical bonds and turning it into vapor). Again, cost is prohibitive. Now if someone wanted to make a small CNC table that moved a scribe around the board, that is more realistic, and perhaps there are new diode lasers that might be OK.
Bob
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]