Dirty lens on laser 303

[diachi]

My point was most optics are coated. I agree that if you have uncoated glass, acetone if fine. How often do you see uncoated laser optics? Sure, you can find an example or two, but really how many are uncoated?

I disagree that distilled water will damage coated optics. It is definitely a solvent.

The distinction is hard coated optics vs soft coated optics.

Some older lasers may have soft-coated optics using dielectric materials that may be water or alcohol soluble before. These were manufactured in the days before they could reach the higher temperatures needed to do nice things with materials like hafnium oxide and titanium oxide. I don't know what is used to clean a soft-coated optic without damaging it terminally. :-( Probably ethyl acetate or something equally exotic. It is likely that water, alcohol (isopropyl or methyl), and acetone, will degrade the surface almost instantly, rendering the mirror useless. If the active area is clean, gently blow off the dust but otherwise leave well enough alone!
How to tell if you have soft-coated optics? Carefully test the very edge of the coated area in a location that doesn't matter. If it is something you don't want to deal with, a bit of pure water, alcohol, or acetone (see the cleaning procedure below; drop and drag, don't rub!), will result in mottling, fine striations, or an otherwise ugly appearance to the surface after drying. The beam of a HeNe laser reflected off such an abused mirror onto a white card will show distinct interference patterns due to diffraction from the damaged surface.

 

[paul1598419]

Link to water soluble optics, please. I am unable to find any examples. Your own quote states there MAY have been some water or alcohol soluble dielectrics but give no examples. It sounds like somebody's hypothetical. Have looked to no avail.

 

[diachi]

Link to water soluble optics, please. I am unable to find any examples. Your own quote states there MAY have been some water or alcohol soluble dielectrics but give no examples. It sounds like somebody's hypothetical. Have looked to no avail.

https://www.repairfaq.org/sam/laseratr.htm#atrcln

It applies to water and various organic solvents, but on older soft coat optics, found mostly on old gas lasers.

Newer optics with hard coatings are, for the most part, just fine with water or various organic solvents, such as acetone.

 

[paul1598419]

Those are so old they don't even apply any longer. Those dielectrics are said to be degraded by any solvent, but those gas laser's internal optics are not something anyone today would ever consider cleaning. I thought it was hypothetical. Can you find a RELEVANT example? Not all coatings today are hard coatings either. Those are done by electron gun deposition or vapor deposition. Most of the optics we use around here are not safe from organic solvents. Water is a different story. It would cost us too much to get hard coated optics, unless you are using a pulsed YAG or similar, and those can be found surplus.

 

[dirtylens]

Those are so old they don't even apply any longer. Those dielectrics are said to be degraded by any solvent, but those gas laser's internal optics are not something anyone today would ever consider cleaning. I thought it was hypothetical. Can you find a RELEVANT example? Not all coatings today are hard coatings either. Those are done by electron gun deposition or vapor deposition. Most of the optics we use around here are not safe from organic solvents. Water is a different story. It would cost us too much to get hard coated optics, unless you are using a pulsed YAG or similar, and those can be found surplus.

Now if alcohol and acetone are harmful, what should we clean? A guy say buy a lenspen and clean it, but you said lens has melted and is now rubbish. Can a lenspen fix this?

 

[Rivem]

Now if alcohol and acetone are harmful, what should we clean? A guy say buy a lenspen and clean it, but you said lens has melted and is now rubbish. Can a lenspen fix this?

A lenspen may have helped before you used the acetone. Unfortunately, cheap lasers use acrylic lenses which dissolve in acetone, so the lens is destroyed and should be considered non repairable. You'd have to replace the lens or get a new laser to fix the issue. As said earlier, just getting a new 303 would make more sense.

edit: There are lots of ways to clean lenses, but using air or a lens brush is likely the best first choice for lasers. If you must use a solvent, the stuff used on glasses is pretty safe. You just need to let it sit for a while to dry. Use the forum search function for more information on various cleaning techniques for the different parts of a laser.

 

[diachi]

Those are so old they don't even apply any longer. Those dielectrics are said to be degraded by any solvent, but those gas laser's internal optics are not something anyone today would ever consider cleaning. I thought it was hypothetical. Can you find a RELEVANT example? Not all coatings today are hard coatings either. Those are done by electron gun deposition or vapor deposition. Most of the optics we use around here are not safe from organic solvents. Water is a different story. It would cost us too much to get hard coated optics, unless you are using a pulsed YAG or similar, and those can be found surplus.

I don't even know why we're arguing about this now, my original point was that acetone can be used to clean optics, not all optics, but it can certainly be used to clean many. You said acetone should never be used to clean optics, which is false.

Plenty of optics are hard coated these days, especially the higher performance lenses we use. I've been using 99% isopropyl to clean optics for years and have only encountered issues on the cheapest of the cheap low performance optics.

It's arguably cheaper to hard coat now than it is to soft coat given that there's more automation and repeatability.

Anyway, point stands, you can use acetone to clean optics. Make sure it isn't acrylic, test an edge first if you're not sure it's hard coated. Done.

 

[Encap]

Double posting again? Why?

This thread that has been dead for 1 1/2 months.

 

[diachi]

Again with the double posts? Use the multiquote button to respond to multiple people or the edit button to update your previous post.

 

[Encap]

Again with the double posts? Use the multiquote button to respond to multiple people or the edit button to update your previous post.

Exactly

 

[deadshadow]

Bradford just stop making double posts and simply use the 'edit' or 'multicuote' button

 

[GSS]

Bradford, these 301's 303's are around $8 or even less if you look for deals.. If you paid $30 then you over paid..
Some members might not be able to take apart these glued cheapies and will "destroy" them in the process as not all are built the same "as far as glue placement and tightness tolerance"..
Using acetone to loosen the glue? Lot's of plastic in these??
Looking for a replacement lenses from China will still take 3 weeks for delivery...
that said, good info but it's not for all and I suggest you cool it with gun ho i'm this mysterious dude attitude and know it all right from the get start

 

[Bradford717]

ok it was said....well if you paid $30 for yours then you overpaid.....and the waiting time for having a lens sent from China.....Ok if you could buy one for $8.00 just what watt of a laser pointer are you getting? You didn't ask watts? So if the lens is $0.75 then how much is shipping going to be for something that can easily be sent in a regular first class envelope in the mail? Did you research this enough to see if there were American merchants that carried the same lens? This guy was complaining about a dirty lens but it was suggested that he simply buy a new laser pointer....if that pic was his laser pointer all scratched up.....and he is complaining about a dirty lens.....what are the chances that he may attempt to clean the lens on a new one without using proper techniques and cost himself even more money?
So after FDA then he may only be able to get say a 5mw laser pointer as a replacement and possibly get overcharged...when the one he has may be anywhere from 100 - 500 mw? Sorry but NO! you are not going to buy an SD 303 replacement laser for $8.00 that is 500mw. That would not make any business sense to sell a laser for less than the cost of just the diode itself. The guy obviously came to the forum with legitimate questions...you cost this guy money and he steps down his laser pointer from 500mw to a 5mw laser under your advice...then he might not be very happy and may not come back and once again there are members who do have merchandise to sell but if he felt ripped off by members of the forum are they going to get any of his business leaving a satisfied customer?

 

[Encap]

ok it was said....well if you paid $30 for yours then you overpaid.....and the waiting time for having a lens sent from China.....Ok if you could buy one for $8.00 just what watt of a laser pointer are you getting? You didn't ask watts? So if the lens is $0.75 then how much is shipping going to be for something that can easily be sent in a regular first class envelope in the mail? Did you research this enough to see if there were American merchants that carried the same lens? This guy was complaining about a dirty lens but it was suggested that he simply buy a new laser pointer....if that pic was his laser pointer all scratched up.....and he is complaining about a dirty lens.....what are the chances that he may attempt to clean the lens on a new one without using proper techniques and cost himself even more money?
So after FDA then he may only be able to get say a 5mw laser pointer as a replacement and possibly get overcharged...when the one he has may be anywhere from 100 - 500 mw? Sorry but NO! you are not going to buy an SD 303 replacement laser for $8.00 that is 500mw. That would not make any business sense to sell a laser for less than the cost of just the diode itself. The guy obviously came to the forum with legitimate questions...you cost this guy money and he steps down his laser pointer from 500mw to a 5mw laser under your advice...then he might not be very happy and may not come back and once again there are members who do have merchandise to sell but if he felt ripped off by members of the forum are they going to get any of his business leaving a satisfied customer?

The OP is a 16 year old in Turkey and was more than satisfied 1 1/2 months ago with the real answers given to him by LPM members. He has not returned because he had all answers he needed.

What if the OP lives in the real world not your meaningless daydream world?

Very clearly you make no sense and have no idea of what you are writing about and are disconnected from the real world.

Stop trolling/spamming the forum with your meaningless nonsense.

 

[lasersbee]

First off, "OP" who do you work for? Canadian Intelligence? I thought this was a forum member? I made perfect sense and gave a thorough tutorial on properly disassembling an SD301 - SD 303. That's backwards you and laserbee are the ones who instigate and could have chosen not to comment but you seem to stalk my every post waiting to jump like monkeys from the trees swinging your laserbee producsts by the power cord..oooooh ooooh ahhh ahhh ahhh. Troll? Then why do you two look like monkeys? Is this a canadian invasion? Laserbee started swinging appliances at me because I posted pictures of a Tenergy brand (American Brand based in California) power meter and he is the ceo of laserbee products (Canadian Products) huh? So is this a laserbee forum or an lpf one? He went after me like he was smoking crack after I posted that photo and then got in my message box to personally attack me. Since you are so concerned about Americans and your laserbee products that I was attacked over it....(For you and laserbee' (CEO's ) level of professionalism "troll!!")

How about a Post quote of your imaginary appliance swinging.....

Jerry

 

[Bradford717]

That may help with the camera lens jerry but not a mirror. There are other effective brands of spray on anti antiperspirant jerry but I understand you want your biker harley davidson image. I should warn you, I took desktop publishing and portfolio design in College so I know your little company strategy. The pic of the troll with spray is intended to confuse people or we could learn in an lpf forum. It's using reverse psychology just like I previously mentioned him doing. Is it a troll holding the can of spray? Then why is a troll holding a can of anti troll spray? So are you saying that you are a troll too? Are you trolling? Then what is the difference between the two of us? Basically the signature image where you are advertising your company.

Laserbee doesn't look bad now does he? him or this company?
So he deliberately attacks "newbies" "rookies" "trolls" every
opportunity. Not to teach them. Kids don't learn when the
teacher is calling them a n***r or "troll" etc. He fluffs his
ego while advertising his company.

Before you do:

stop giving advice when you know nothing! there are only two effective ways to clean dirty lenses and neither involve sprays of any kind

Oh but wait you thought I was just some dumb illiterate.....(wouldn't correct 'grammar' be 'when you don't know anything!' ?)you are just one step away
from being a forum neo nazi with encouraging people here to group attack newbies,rookies
or trolls. You going to be sending messages calling African Americans N****rs next?
Some of this stuff like on his rep tab....these are lasers! They are not your dick!
That's not a friendly learning place for women either. I know some of this was caused
by tv "use the shwartz" and darth vader's weiner helment stuff...but this isn't tv.

stop giving advice when you know nothing! there are only two effective ways to clean dirty lenses and neither involve sprays of any kind

Who posted the picture of spray? Now if that is a reference to my tutorial? Yes canned airspray is effective to remove things like
plastic particles as long as the laser hasn't baked them to the lens. (2) you don't want any amount of water dripping inside a laser so it is effective. That is mis-information. Reverse psychology again...2 pictures of spray jerry holding his troll spray and a picture in my tutorial of canned air spray one is attempting to help other forum members the other is intended to confuse and insult forum members. But we're all smarter if we buy laserbee products huh? I saw your banner looks like you sat down on it maybe it needs some more construction. I know this is a forum but this is why schools don't allow advertising on campus there john wayne.