What to clean blue coated lens with?

My DX 200 came in and its amazing. However, theres some blooming around the dot after I attempted to clean it with a q tip. Im afraid to use nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol, because i dont know if that will remove the coating or not. Any suggestions? And is it ok to try to clean the diode window?

You're not really suppose to clean optics, but I would say maybe just water and a lens cloth maybe. Anyone please correct me if thats wrong. I would also say never try to clean the diode window. That's trouble waiting to happen.

I remember GooeyGus saying something about cleaning windows, so I know you can do that. But I don't see a problem with cleaning lenses. I do it all the time when my dot on my CNI laser gets bloomey from pocket fuzz and stuff.

You could always use eyeglass cleaner. The coatings on lenses just aren't too terribly robust. Then again, a laser pointer generally doesnt need to have a super clean beam profile since our eyes cant pick up on slight imperfections. I guess I'm just use to dealing with optics that you just don't ever touch.

It's the dot thats not clean, not the beam. That's what I don't like.

climbak said:

You're not really suppose to clean optics, but I would say maybe just water and a lens cloth maybe. Anyone please correct me if thats wrong. I would also say never try to clean the diode window. That's trouble waiting to happen.

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I came across an interesting method on Sam's FAQ a while back. I cant find the link, but it was simple enough (even for me) to remember. It said to take a clean piece of paper, dip it in your favorite solvent, and just drag it across the lens. I think it was to remove oily fingerprints. Acetone works well for glass, and pure alcohol for acrylic. Not too sure how well this works with coatings, but the friction involved is minimum. Also read somewhere around here that quartz is common in dust, so blowing it off may be a good idea prior to using this method.

Joe.

Don't you guys ever just clean off your lenses real quick when the dot gets messy?

You can take a bit of lens tissue, soak it in ethanol or acetone (not plastic lenses - they melt) and drag it across the lens. Or sometimes you can flow an ethanol stream past a small lens element. A flow of warm clean water works well for optics with general dirt/dust on them though not oils naturally.

From everything I've heard, the coatings on DX laser lenses will rub off if you look at them wrong... Other lenses coatings can take a lot more abuse... For instance, I wasn't able to remove the coating from a single surface of an aixiz glass lens with any of the following: 99% acetone, 99% isopropanol, 95% petroleum ether, 99% trichloroethylene, or 40% ethanol. (rubbing with q-tips)

I suspect some coatings are a type of paint or lacquer or something, while others are metal vapors which have been fused to the glass.

I think you should watch this guy http://youtube.com/watch?v=WFqrjaKC8QE
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360freak said:

Don't you guys ever just clean off your lenses real quick when the dot gets messy?

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You would think so, but you would be wrong.. Your lens was probably just fine, before you "cleaned" it.

It's much better not to get the lens dirty in the first place. Glass lenses are tough and the coatings can withstand being cleaned with acetone. But plastic lenses can be ruined by just looking at them at the wrong angle.

Most people ruin them just with "cleaning" attempts.. The #1 thing to use would be the small rubber air blower thingy. LensPens are great for glass lenses, but can take the coating right off a plastic one, also, they can scratch uncoated plastic lenses. And q-tips leave fibers on the lens. That's if you don't touch the tip. If you do, it also leaves oily residue.


And about the diode window. No, you shouldn't "clean" it. Seriously. Instead, you should try not to get it dirty. If particles get on it, they will cause gaps in the output, and even reduce the power, simply because the window is so close to the diode, that a tiny particle causes a large gap in the output. Still, people get dirt on it, and then make it worse with "cleaning". Again, particles should be removed with air. But you should not blow with your mouth, or you'll spit on it, even if you don't see anything. It's easy to check for dirt on the diode window - just point the no lens output on a desk.

Faint concentric circles are fine, dark gaps are particles.


You should never use cleaning fluids or impure solvents. Only analysis grade solvents should be used. And not acetone, if it's plastics.

I use compressed air and/or isopropyl alcohol to clean acrylics. Works like a champ. I use a q-tip, which leaves fuzzies behind, so then I use the compressed air to blow and debris out. Windex is also good for plastic optics, or at least I've never had a problem with it. If you want to be really safe, get some automotive window cleaner. It's ammonia free and designed to be safe for tinting, which is basically just really thin tinted plastic, so it will be fine on an acrylic lens, and I really doubt it will harm the coating.