Care of Fluorite Refractor

[Rocket (Ed)]

I recently bought an FL80 Vixen via the IceInSpace classifieds. Do I need to take any special storage precautions to protect the flourite lens element from humidity, or are flourite lenses as robust as normal glass lenses? I am in Canberra, so humidity is generally low to moderate. Thanks, Ed

[multiweb (Marc)]

The less you touch it the better. Ideally keep a dewshield on and the lens free from water with a dew heater. Fluorite is not as hard as glass. It can be scratched easily.

[gregbradley]

The fluorite element is on the inside of the objective?

Take care with sudden temp shifts in Canberra winter bringing a cold scope inside a warmed room.

Greg.

[Rocket (Ed)]

Thanks for the helpful replies. Canberra's winter evenings can be challenging! The fluorite element is the inner element of the lens. Ed

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Rocket

Thanks for the helpful replies. Canberra's winter evenings can be challenging! The fluorite element is the inner element of the lens. Ed

I thought so. So cleaning it then is not something you should have to do.
Tak developed a hard coating for their so they had the FS series fluorite element on the outside.

If you get some dust on the inner element or an insect you can take off accessories on the focuser, hold the scope focuser end down and use a Makita blower to blow stuff off and let it fall out.

Greg.