cleaning eyepieces and lenses

[neil phillips]

I use Eclipse cleaning fluid for lenses. But its expensive. Could 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol be used ? Either pure or diluted ?

Does anyone know ? what do you use ?

[Don Pensack]

Alcohol is fine, but it isn't as good a solvent for some organic debris as something else.

I prefer a commercial cleaning fluid called ROR.

Its ingredients include alcohol, ammonia, soap, salt, and distilled water.  It's used in the phot industry to clean lenses before they are assembled into camera lenses.

It's the best cleaner I've found for removal of eyelash oil, mascara, and other similar crud.

Not surprising, since ROR stand for residual oil remover.

[neil phillips]

27 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

Alcohol is fine, but it isn't as good a solvent for some organic debris as something else.

I prefer a commercial cleaning fluid called ROR.

Its ingredients include alcohol, ammonia, soap, salt, and distilled water.  It's used in the phot industry to clean lenses before they are assembled into camera lenses.

It's the best cleaner I've found for removal of eyelash oil, mascara, and other similar crud.

Not surprising, since ROR stand for residual oil remover.

Alcohol is fine, as in undiluted ?

Not heard of ROR cleaner

 

[mikeDnight]

I use Caloclean solvent free spay and Caloclean cleaning cloth. Available from your local optician and used not only for spectacles, but also for high quality camera lenses. I've used it to clean my Takahashi objective since 2015 and its superb.  After blowing off any dust with a rubber bulb blower, spray onto the cloth and not directly onto the lens. Sometimes just breathing on the lens and wiping carefully and lightly with the Calocloth is sufficient. Not too expensive either! Lasts for years!!

[johninderby]

ROR can be picked up on Amazon.

I’ve used the Baader Optical Wonder fluid for years and it does a great job.

[Paz]

I use Baader optical fluid but when it comes to cloths I use special wipes that I use once each and throw away.

[Mr Jones]

I use the Baader fluid when needed. So far only needed it once on just one of my eyepieces.

When (clearly too often for my own good) bored; I shine my red-light torch down the tail end of my eyepieces and project through the lens onto a wall to see if any major debris is present. Not sure if I should be admitting to such behavior?!

The only time I saw something that looked like a container ship stuck in the Suez Canal, I used the Baader fluid, a microfiber cloth, and a q-tip. 

[neil phillips]

Thanks for the reply guys. A few options here to think about trying. Though i have a large bottle of 99.9% isopropyl alcohol here. But from what ive read so far its safe on lens coatings. But may not clean organic matter as well as other solutions

[oldfruit]

Plus one for Baader fluid and microfiber cloth.

[bingevader]

20 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

It's the best cleaner I've found for removal of eyelash oil, mascara, and other similar crud.

You need a good make-up remover, Don, not a lens cleaner!

[bingevader]

And then I forgot to ask!

Don, do you notice any deleterious effects of any of the ingredients on the lens coatings?

I use BWF too btw, sparingly.

[Don Pensack]

23 hours ago, neil phillips said:

Alcohol is fine, as in undiluted ?

Not heard of ROR cleaner

 

http://www.ror.net

[Don Pensack]

3 hours ago, bingevader said:

You need a good make-up remover, Don, not a lens cleaner!

LOL.

I once worked in a store that sold binoculars in large numbers.  We had many many pairs on display for people to try out.

Every few days, we had to clean the goo off the eyepieces of the binoculars.  One particularly dirty set had what looked like black crayon streaks across the lenses.

Isopropyl alcohol simply wasn't strong enough.  ROR took it right off on the first pass.

I also used to use a Nikon Lens Cleaning fluid, and it was pretty good, too.

I also learned that the cheapest binoculars' anti-reflection lens coatings was simply a dye applied to the lenses, as the Q-Tips came off the lenses tinted blue and the "anti-reflection" coatings simply wiped off with the fluid.

We are talking binoculars that sold for less than £20, though.

[Don Pensack]

3 hours ago, bingevader said:

And then I forgot to ask!

Don, do you notice any deleterious effects of any of the ingredients on the lens coatings?

I use BWF too btw, sparingly.

I've cleaned some eyepieces at least a hundred times, and they look brand new (in the case of a couple, cleaner than new).

[Louis D]

ROR MSDS:

• Ammonia 26° - 0.775%
• Sodium Chloride - 0.830%
• Isopropyl Alcohol - 4.266%
• Liquid Soap - 9.011%
• Distilled Water - 85.118%

Baader Wonder Fluid MSDS:

• Ethanol - 25%
• Propan-1-ol (n-Propanol or n-Propyl Alcolhol) - 35%

Zeiss Lens Cleaning Wipes MSDS:

• AQUA = Water
• Propan-2-ol = Propanol
• Ethanol = Ethanol
• 5-CHLORO-2-METHYL-2H-ISOTHIAZOL-3-ON = Methylchoroisothiazolinon
• 2-METHYL-2H-ISOTHIAZOL-3-ON = Methylthiazolinon

Windex Glass Cleaner MSDS:

• 2-Butoxyethanol - 0.5-1.5%
• Ethylene glycol hexyl ether - 0.5-1.5%
• Isopropyl Alcohol - 1-5%
• Water - 60-100%

So, some combination of distilled water, ammonia, isopropyl or propanol alcohol, ethanol, and liquid soap would seem to be the common thread here across cleaners.

I've found that the purely alcohol based ones do a poor job of removing organic crud like tree sap.

[Stardaze]

On 28/03/2021 at 16:12, Paz said:

I use Baader optical fluid but when it comes to cloths I use special wipes that I use once each and throw away.

Are these like a thin paper? Could do with some single use wipes of some sort. I seem to be cleaning my binoculars far too often at the moment.

[Paz]

5 hours ago, Stardaze said:

Are these like a thin paper? Could do with some single use wipes of some sort. I seem to be cleaning my binoculars far too often at the moment.

Yes they feel like thin paper. You have to hold them carefully to avoid finger planting.