Cleaning Lens on SBIG A-08

[loc46south]

Hi - can anyone help me with what cleaning fluid to use on the lens of an A-08. It has been in storage for a number of years and I took it out the other day and it looks as if there is mould growth or something similar on the lens. It is only very minor so I don't want to damage the lens any more than I need to to clean it off.

Cheers
Geof Wingham

[Peter Ward]

You'll need the following:

Can of "dust off" compressed gas
box of plain white brand name, Kleenex tissues
brand name "windex"
bottle of pure acetone.

The procedure is: blast the element with dust off to remove any grit, be careful first purge the spray and avoid tipping the can to avoid spraying fluid onto the element.

spray windex onto the tissue, wipe the element. one ( gentle) wipe, one tissue. tissues are cheap, lenses are expensive.

purge any debris with dust off

if clean stop now.

if not dampen tissue with acetone, one wipe one tissue, quickly follow up with a second dry tissue to clear any evaporation marks before they dry.

blast any debris with dust off.

if it's still not clean, then possibly try isopropyl alcohol in the same manner as acetone.

if still not clean...the coatings are likely etched/damaged ..... Ajax is not recommended :)

[Slawomir]

You could also try First Contact Polymer Solutions from Photonic Cleaning Technologies.

[Peter Ward]

It is a great, albeit quite expensive product ( I also used it for a number of years)

Hence while excellent for oil based spots, sadly, it is not very effective water based ones...particularly mould.

[Slawomir]

Good to know, thank you Peter.

[loc46south]

Thanks Peter, Slawoir - I've got isopropyl alcohol and acetone plus surgical tissue wipes. Didn't want to get too carried away in the beginning in case I destroyed the A/R coating. Will only try Ajax as last resort.

Cheers
Geof Wingham

[Peter Ward]

Be really careful using and other sort of tissue.

I used a "lint free" product called Kimwipes some years ago....and learnt the hard way.

It puts sleeks on the lenses! Do not use them!

[loc46south]

Thanks for the concern Peter, I bought the tissues on the recommendation of a mirror maker in the USA to clean my Mewlon 250 mirror - they are soft, lint free and feel like a microfiber cloth - everything worked OK, whatever it was cleaned off with Windex and the lens is bright, clean and streak fee.

Cheers
Geof Wingham

[Slawomir]

Great news Geof :thumbsup: