mirror cleaning

[knobby]

Spoke to a work colleague today who told me he cleaned his mirror monthly using nilglass and soft cotton wool ... and he's adamant its fine!

has he just been lucky or is the mirror cleaning just not that hard ... gonna look at doing mine soon??

He has a Meade 8" lightbridge

[hemihaggis]

unless a squirrel has built a nest inside your scope and left big lumps of &*&@ inside it you will not need to clean your scope ....

mirrors have delicate ultra high tranmission coatings and other exotic stuff on them ... you really dont want to be touching them if you dont have to .

if there is dust water marks ect on the mirror ,just leave it , if you have lumps of stuff try an air blower ,

cleaning with anything that touches the mirror is a final resort .

baader do a wonder fluid , some people use isoproypl alcohol weak solution .

i dread to think what nilglass has done to the aluminium and magnseium fluoride coatings on your friends scope .

the advice from the zeiss on cleaning mirrors is DONT lol and if anyone knows about lens and mirrors its them

[E621Keith]

Here is a tutorial on how to clean you mirror, but it's best to just leave it alone.

Some mirrors do not have protective overcoat and the metal coating can be scratch very easily. Monthly clean will wear out the mirror very quickly.

btw, Mirrors use reflective coating, transmission into the mirror won't do the image any good.

[MikeD]

I clean my mirror once a year and have been doing so for the last 8 years.

It's not difficult and will not damage your mirror if you do it right.

Steve (Stepenwolf) has done a great demonstration on how to do it right,

.

Hope that helps.

Mike.

[MikeD]

Beat me to it.:headbang:

Mike.

[laser_jock99]

Optics are best left well alone, clean only when absolutley neccessary. A small amount of dust will be unoticable in use. Only when you see an effect then it's time to clean the optics. Inexpert cleaning probably damages more optical systems than anything else.

[knobby]

yep, i'm with you all on this, i'll have to get him to bring it to work one day so I can see for myself ! but he is adamant its ok.

I'm guessing he just hasn't noticed the deteriation as its been gradual

[Zachariah]

I bought an old tal1 and when I checked the mirror it was seriously filthy. Being a newbie I removed the mirror housing got a soft cloth, breathed on it and hey presto it was like new. However as the saying goes dont try this at home.!

[cosmological]

The best way to make sure your mirror stays clean is to always make sure the front cover is always on when not in use, and even better, store it in it's original box when not in use.

[hemihaggis]

who saw this months "sky at night" program ??? if you saw it did you see the kielder observatory`s 20" dob ?? can you tell us wither or not the mirror was clean ??

it was filthy !!! i wonder why they dont clean it ??

answers on a postcard please ..

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

who saw this months "sky at night" program ??? if you saw it did you see the kielder observatory`s 20" dob ?? can you tell us wither or not the mirror was clean ??

it was filthy !!! i wonder why they dont clean it ??

answers on a postcard please ..

Their sink is too small?

[knobby]

They've run out of scotchbrite!

[hemihaggis]

they cant find the black n decker to polish it

[Tribal-Wolf]

Wire wool and wet n dry give your primary a lovely shine.

[knobby]

The last bloke was so thorough he didn't stop til he'd got all the silver off

[perrin6]

I dont understand all this 'dont clean' lark - My optics get covered in oily blobs every few sessions that dont dissolve in detergent, alcohol, meths nor acetone - only washing powder dissolved in water gets it off.

[E621Keith]

I dont understand all this 'dont clean' lark - My optics get covered in oily blobs every few sessions that dont dissolve in detergent, alcohol, meths nor acetone - only washing powder dissolved in water gets it off.

Where do you keep your scope. My optics only need to get clean once or twice in their lifetime and it's usually to remove fungus or biological contaminations which may attract fungus.

[Tribal-Wolf]

I think if you ask someone who makes the mirrors they will say it's ok to clean them as long as you don't scrub or rub. I think it is a bit mad to make a mirror that's open to the elements and make it so fragile it can't be cleaned regularly(within reason). Maybe it's about time they made better quality, tougher mirrors lol.

Maybe if they coat them in teflon all the muck will fall off when we tilt the scope eh????

[LeeB]

nice clean mirrors are best, done 7 this year so far, good quality distilled water is the key. and soft hands(soak them in fairy), and don't do any brick laying in the week before!!!

[E621Keith]

I think if you ask someone who makes the mirrors they will say it's ok to clean them as long as you don't scrub or rub. I think it is a bit mad to make a mirror that's open to the elements and make it so fragile it can't be cleaned regularly(within reason). Maybe it's about time they made better quality, tougher mirrors lol.

Maybe if they coat them in teflon all the muck will fall off when we tilt the scope eh????

I'm not sure a mirror with the reflectivity of my non stick pan will be any good. It's a balance of optical performance and longevity of the mirror.

[Tribal-Wolf]

I cleaned mine after reading this thread

[E621Keith]

I cleaned mine after reading this thread

LOL

[mt01]

dont clean mirrors , ever , unless there is a big piece of stuff stuck to it , dont clean because its dusty , dont clean because it has water marks .... dont clean because it seems like a good idea ...

just dont do it , anyone who cleans thier mirrors regularly is damaging the surface/coatings .

ps fao tribal im sure the people who make mirrors would go mad if you told them they said it was okay to clean mirrors as long as you dont scrub ....

there is some good info on the ziess website , when one of the main mirror makers was asked his opinion on how to clean a mirror or lens (this guy is 77 years old he has made the best opitics in the world for over 60 years ) he said the only thing that should ever touch a lens or mirror is a huff (exhaled breath) .

but im sure some of you know better

[perrin6]

Where do you keep your scope. My optics only need to get clean once or twice in their lifetime and it's usually to remove fungus or biological contaminations which may attract fungus.

I keep them indoors but I'm sure the deposit appears while they're outside because they only get bad after long observing sessions.

[E621Keith]

Just out of interest, do you live near a restaurant? It may be condensed oil droplets from their kitchen.