Cleaning optics / lenses of Microscope / Mantis etc. with slime? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Pinkus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 24, 2017, 10:30:20 am
content: at Daves video about cleaning the microscope here:https://www.eevblog.com/2017/05/12/eevblog-992-part-2-how-to-clean-service-a-microscope/there is a comment from John Spry recommending not to use any fabric for cleaning but to use some polymer such as this:http://www.photoniccleaning.com/I fully agree: any wiping with a fabrics cannot be good for the coating of any expensive optics in microscopes etc. such as mirrors or lenses.But the stuff from the website above is expensiveSo I am wondering if it would be possible to use something like slime for cleaning?If you enter 'slime' to youtube you will find a lot of videos with recipes about how to make your own slime.What doyouthink? Any ideas or experiences of cleaning optics with such material?

author: BBBbbb
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 24, 2017, 04:56:16 pm
content: For microscopes the film method is probably the best, but as you said expensive. I have a bottle of that film somewhere around the house but haven't used it too often (actually only twice when I bought it, to try it out). I usually go for lint free lens tissues (I highly recommend Tiffen) and IPA, but for mscope optics you can use those specialized fluids, they ought to be better/less aggressive, used on camera optics.For laser optics usually only recommendation by the manufacturers is tissues + IPA or acetone, but some optics aren't allowed to be cleaned at all.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 12:12:04 pm
content: First Contact is expensive, but for small optics those bottles will last you many cleanings. It's a shame they don't seem to sell the little brush bottle on its own.For simple viewing optics, just about anything mildly adhesive would probably be fine for removing particulate, and you can always follow up with a suitable solvent to remove residue if necessary. Minute levels of residue aren't going to be a problem for a microscope like they could be for laser optics.On the other hand, how much of the particulate on your microscope is likely to be hard enough to scratch the lens/coating? Perhaps if you've been excavating PCBs under your microscope and throwing up all kinds of glass particulate that would be a concern, or perhaps if you live at a beach with really fine sand, but for normal household/office dust it's mostly skin cells, right? In which case I would probably just use a non-abrasive wipe and some IPA and be done with it. Of course the best thing to do is keep the microscope optics clean in the first place, by keeping it covered when not in use and perhaps fitting a protector over the objective (cheap barlow lens or filter) if possible.

author: Pinkus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2017, 12:45:22 pm
content: I found out that my Mantis contains a lot of mirrors. Most cannot be removed and with time they gather some dust as the housing is not 100% tightly closed. It is not a lot but they do gather dust.Wiping them seems not to be a good idea. As they cannot be removed, any cleaning procedure with liquid might be a problem. I thought something like slime could be a solution as by rolling over a sticky ball of slime will pick away all tiny dust particles without leaving any streaks.When I then saw FirstContact by accident, I thought maybe other stuff can be used.Maybe a spray coat as seen here:peeling starts from around 8:00 (though for optics I think instead of spraying some should better spray it into a container and apply it then with a brush).I will definitely not go and try this spray coat on my Mantis but I am hoping that maybe somebody has some substitute for the very expensive FirstContact stuff.