Cleaning a Lens

Hi all,
A newbie here and looking for info on cleaning a lens. Found some great info on the forums and a couple of links people may find useful:

Lens Cleaning - Best Practice Review

Cleaning your Microscope Lenses

Cheers
Mick

There are several ways of cleaning a lens, but one I have been told is to use a Q-Tip and isopropyl alcohol and gently rub the lens. Other types of alcohol may not be as useful, such as ethyl alcohol. In the procedure you must be careful not to press too hard.
And one last note.

Never fire up a diode while there is still alcohol on the lens.

USAbro said:

There are several ways of cleaning a lens, but one I have been told is to use a Q-Tip and isopropyl alcohol and gently rub the lens. Other types of alcohol may not be as useful, such as ethyl alcohol. In the procedure you must be careful not to press too hard.
And one last note.

Never fire up a diode while there is still alcohol on the lens.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. As for your final tip, did that the first time I cleaned a lens with my blue build. Took a lot of effort to get it clean after that.

I think I have made just about every mistake that can be made so far. Probably a bit impulsive and need to take my time.

BTW - I have a diode where the diode windows itself got dirty. Tried to clean it with everything I could think of from the forums and internet - isopropyl alcohol, water, vinegar, windex, etc I used Q tips, lens cloth, tissues. Pretty much tried everything I could think of and all I achieved was getting it back to being mildly dirty - when shining on the roof without any focusing lense you could see patterns.

Out of desperation I tried gently wiping with the end of a wooden tooth pick, as I had nothing else small enough for the window, and it actually looked better. I then dipped a wooden toothpick in isopropyl and gently went round in circles and then used another toothpick covered in a lens cloth to dry it. There was still a few spots so I got another clean toothpick and gently wiped and now the window is near perfectly clean.

I'm sure this has risks but it worked for me.

Yes. Taking your time is important. I recently used a high speed drill press on a m140 diode because I was impatient.

USAbro said:

Yes. Taking your time is important. I recently used a high speed drill press on a m140 diode because I was impatient.

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hey usabro, whats this crap in your sig?
"
I stole this from Cyparagon just as Laser Project did. Cyaragon is a member on this forum, who likes neg repping newbies, especially me. He has taken my rep down a large amount. He is especially irritating. He never gives positive rep, and never lets things fly. The only good thing he does is bring some knowledge to the forum. Otherwise, he is a nuisance."

show me where he said that about hisself and you stole it from there.

you say he never has gave +rep? wanna bet me?

nuisance? LWT

^ I thought the same thing. Its immature in my opinion.

mickeyjames what type of lens and what coating it have?

at first when I read toothpick I was like 'oh no'! , but hey! it worked

lens cleaning is a wide subject with many variables, one substance that is pretty popular with laserists is called First Contact, it is expensive though

Thanks for your links

LaserCo said:

mickeyjames what type of lens and what coating it have?

at first when I read toothpick I was like 'oh no'! , but hey! it worked

lens cleaning is a wide subject with many variables, one substance that is pretty popular with laserists is called First Contact, it is expensive though

Thanks for your links

Click to expand...

Yes, I looked at First Contact and it is expensive.

It was actually the small little diode window on a the M140 I got from DTR. I managed to dirty it and the only way I could get it clean was the toothpick.

Will First Contact work on something as small as the diode window (am I using the correct term "diode window"?).

Anyway, got to go my wife is getting annoyed. Told her I would leave for shopping 2 hours ago

First contact will absolutely work on a diode window. I tested it myself. It can even be used on the facets of open can diodes or C-mount diodes.

And yes you used the term correctly

Thanks for the post, I read one of the links, good info.

Signature, I took what I posted down earlier this evening, only wanted to gripe one day about it.