Cleaning CCD sensor

[Spookyer (Brett)]

Hi all

I have seemed to have gotten one of my SBIG8300M sensors dirty (long story). I have have tried cleaning it with a sensor brush/blower etc however there seems to be a couple of more durable spots which I think I can see on the sensor that won't come off. (see attached image)

Does anyone have experience with wet cleaning? Can I try one of the sensor swabs I got years ago for my DSLRs? What does everyone else do? Is there somewhere in Brisbane I could take it?

The filters are okay. Scope is an RC-12

Cheers
Brett

[Hans Tucker (Hans)]

ATS Peter Ward has a cleaning service for SBIG cameras.

http://www.atscope.com.au/sbig/CCDclean.html

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

In most camera models the sensors have a glass cover, so you cannot actually get to it. It's the glass cover which is dirty, so any lens cleaning method should work.
I think that cameras with a bare sensor have to be ordered specifically.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

FWIW, breathe on it and then move down the chip wiping side to side with a cotton bud, only taking the bud off the surface when it is outside the sensitive region (moves any sticky bits away from where they can do damage). Repeat in the cross direction. If your eyes are as bad as mine, inspect with a magnifier. Coverglass/coatings seem to be fairly tough.

[DarkArts]

Hope this helps: How to clean a CCD Sensor on an Astronomical Camera

[Peter Ward]

I’ve cleaned quite a few senors over the years.

Some come clean first go, some take a few iterations...however, 2-3 micron motes are all but impossibe to see with the naked eye. Suggest you invest in a really good magnifier or stand-off microscope to avoid problems if you choose a DIY solution.

[gregbradley]

I use Bintel cleaning fluid and a micro fibre clothe.

I use a bright light or torch at an angle to see residual tiny dust particles that as Peter said are very hard to see.

You can get a magnifying glass with a light on ebay I am pretty sure.

Greg.

[Spookyer (Brett)]

Is it okay to have the camera on and the shutter open taking an image when I am cleaning it. I am not sure how else to get the shutter open to access the sensor glass?

[Spookyer (Brett)]

Update

I had a crack at cleaning the window yesterday. I used some sensor swabs I bought years ago for dslrs. They have E2 on them. I got one the spots easy but the other in the centre was persistent. I ended up getting a cotton bud and putting some filter cleaner called Formula MC on it and rubbing it fairly hard to move it and it worked.

I did some flats and it looks much better. The subs from last night look clear of the previous problems so that is good.

The shutter is a rotary thing so I just rotated it so I could access the window and rotated it back once done.

Brett