Eyepiece Cleaning

[bendiddley]

Hi all. Can anyone tell me the best way to clean eyepieces? I've seen these two products at First Light Optics, the Celestron Lens Pen and the Baader Wonder Fluid and I am wondering about these. Something that makes me question which is better is that the bottom of the eyepiece is very small on my x-cel lx and thought the pen might be easier to get into it than the fluid and cloth. What are peoples opinions, or any other techniques? Also can you recommend about blowing dust off with a blower or using a brush. Thanks.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/celestron-lens-pen.html

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/baader-optical-wonder-fluid.html

[moriniboy]

Rocket blower and Baader Wonder Fluid for me

[umadog]

Rocket blower. The propellant in compressed air may not be good for coatings (I've damaged a mirror with it in the past).

[John]

Rocket blower and Baader Wonder Fluid for me

Me too. Plus the baader micro-fibre cloth. You get loads of use from the £15 invested

[bendiddley]

Rocket blower and Baader Wonder Fluid for me

what make of rocket blower do you use?

[haitch]

I know what you mean about small field lenses. The pen will do you no good there the tip is probably too big.

Go for the wonder fluid and cloth. Just try to fold it so you've got a pointy corner or wrap it around something with a soft tip like a cotton bud. Don't actually use a cotton bud (the fibres in them tend to be quite scratchy) nor anything hard that could poke through the cloth.

The Baader cloth is really nice with a fine grain and doesn't lose any fibres but if it seems expensive a soft microfibre duster is nearly as good.

For the field lens just slightly dampen the cloth with the fluid to avoid any fluid getting inside the EP then follow up with breathing on it and wiping to remove the last streaks.

HTH

[Qualia]

I use in this order or application - if the desert dust and eye-grime has annoyed the given glass.

Large Rocket Blower (from chemist). Blows away all annoying bits.

Lens Pen's very soft brush to flick of bits if they can't be blown off (usually caught up in screw-up eye-relief).

Baader Liquid Wonder Fluid.

Baader Micro-fibre cloth.

Another blow from the rocket.

Len's Pen's carbon end to gently buff up the glass.

Little flick over with brush if need be.

Performed the same, but with a lot-lot more care with the frac and everything seems spot on - not a single micro-mm scratch to be seen.

My general rule - better to not clean too often, in fact, I only clean when I see there could be a potential promise of a problem. In the past 6 months, I guess I've cleaned the frac's glass twice and the EPs about 4 times.

[John]

.....The Baader cloth is really nice with a fine grain and doesn't lose any fibres but if it seems expensive a soft microfibre duster is nearly as good........

The £200+ to have the eye lens of a Nagler replaced is expensive. The Baader cloth is peanuts compared to that !

[haitch]

The £200+ to have the eye lens of a Nagler replaced is expensive. The Baader cloth is peanuts compared to that !

My logic was that if someone thinks the Baader cloth expensive they are unlikely to own Naglers ;-)

Personally I own the Baader cloth and also a couple of Naglers (bought the Baader cloth because of the Naglers) but have previously used other microfibre cloths (on cheaper EPs) and the fabric was essentially the same but not quite as fine which tended to leave streaks more easily. The Baader cloth is, essentially, a nice microfibre cloth.

[moriniboy]

This one

http://tinyurl.com/8go9zpy

[bendiddley]

that's great guys thanks a lot!

[pat]

The Kleenex brand plain tissue is completly safe. The specifications on the tissues chemical and physical properties are on par or better than a microfibre cloth. The tissure is throwen away after use. The microfibre can pick up contaminates. Pat

[yeti monster]

Thankfully, I have an enourmous supply of 'Kimtech' tissue wipes, used in conjunction with Uvex lens cleaning solution, all available FOC from my employer...

[Stargazer_00]

I bought a rubber bulb puffer from Maplins for £4. Sold as for getting dust/particles out of watches, for watchmakers. Really helps blow the dust out of the edges of the eyepieces which can typically be pushed there when cleaning

[M4lcs67]

Baader Wonder Fluid and microfibre cloth for me, although I have a rocket blowerbrush and I also invested in a couple of cans of compressed air from my local brance of staples for removing dust (where there are no contaminats actually on the lenses such as fingermarks etc). They just blast off the dust without you actually having to touch the lens.