Cleaning Corrector Lens/Plates

[Dragons Egg]

I'm trying to remove what looks like pollen stuck all over the front of the corrector lens of my telescope. I did buy a bottle of Baader's Optical Wonder Fluid and their microfibre Cloth, and it has had some beneficial effect, albeit leaving behind a number of smears, which I suspect is my doing rather than that of the fluid. Unfortunately, my inexperience here led me to being extremely wasteful when it came to applying to the cloth to the lens: I should have first cut it into a number of small strips, rather than using a good part of the cloth in one fell swoop. This being so, rather than buying a replacement cloth - which I'm prepared to do if no other option presents itself - does anyone know of a cheaper (and more readily available) alternative? Surgical, lint-free cotton pads, for instance, appear to be as rare as dragon's teeth here in the UK. Many thanks. 

[Dragons Egg]

PS. The title of this post should have read: "Corrector" Lens - not Collector Lens. . . a consequence of a rather late night last night. Hi ho. 

[NGC 1502]

You could try washing the dirty microfibre cloth, give it a couple of washes in warm water and detergent, then a couple of rinses in plain water, dry thoroughly. Or maybe visit a good chemists (avoid pound shops) get some plain cotton top quality pads.

Regards, Ed.

[NigeB]

Hi Graham

I've "been there and done that" with a 12" LX200 corrector plate that had all manner of "stuff" on the front - much I believe was pollen from the cherry tree next to my observatory.

My solution was to use Kimwipes. These are lint free "scientific tissue" - we use it in our laboratories for cleaning delicate optical and electro-optic systems. The key is to use a generous amount of fluid (in my view!) and not to apply any pressure - just apply the solution and drag the tissue over the plate, relying only on the surface tension bonding between the tissue and the corrector which comes from the solution.

I got my plate clean through several iterations of this process. Each iteration leaves smearing which is less severe than the last. But avoid being neurotic - a little smearing is unlikely to have a significant effect on the image. Stop before you scratch!

My lens fluid was a home concoction of isopropyl alcohol, distiller water and a few drops of a cleaning fluid called "Teepol".

Here's a link to the tissues:

http://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/kimtech-kimwipes-science-delicate-task-wipers.html

Hope that helps. Remember - don't go to far. You need a lot of dirt on the optics before you get noticeable image degradation, and deposits are inevitable when a telescope is exposed to the outside environment.

Best Regards

Nigel

[NigeB]

Graham, I should also have mentioned: use lots of tissues - these are very high performance optical engineering tissues but of course as soon as they have picked up particulates from your optic, they're no longer clean and the scrunge you pick up could scratch the plate. So don't try to economise by reusing - be liberal and change tissues at each iteration - it may seem wasteful but it's safer.

N.

[Dragons Egg]

NGC 1522 - I did try buying cotton pads from virtually every chemist (including Boots) but drew a blank every time. Cotton pads appear to have gone the way of cathode ray tellies and steam engines, at least here in the East Midands. About my Baader cloth: yes, I will give it a wash as recommended. Nonetheless, Kimwipes seem to be the way forward thereafter. So I've ordered a box and I look forward to its arrival. NigeB - Many thanks for your timely advice and helpful link. Much appreciated.     

[Dave In Vermont]

The following link is to Dr. Clay Sherrod's website and his cleaning-guide. Dr. Clay is a worldwide authority on all things SCT's. He is based in Arkansas in the USA:

http://www.arksky.org/asoclean.htm

To read his site and the many posts and a forum, you need to join. It's free and he does this to weed out would-be spammers. I think his knowledge is something all SCT owners should be encouraged to know for the health & welfare of their family CAT. Here it is:

http://www.arksky.org/index.php

Purrrrr.....

Dave