I have just finished cleaning a Wild rotating polarizer 367929 and the (outside) two small bottom lenses on the zoom unit of the M8. Especially the polarizer was covered with a pretty hefty oily/greasy film that was difficult to clean.
I achieved a pretty satisfactory result by this protocol: 1) blowing dust off with a manual "bladder" dust removal gadget 2) washing gently in soap solution (water & regular non-liquid soap) by using tiffen lens papers, then rinsing with distilled water 3) repeating an alternating cycle of tiffen lens paper doused in pure isopropyl / lens paper doused in distilled water.
Some stuff still remain near the edges where glass meets metal but that shouldn't influence optical quality. More annoying are the small drying specs that both isopropyl and distilled water seem to leave behind. Any golden tips on that?
Also made the discovery that pressurized, canned air is not good for dust removal: several time the can would spit some liquid on the glass. This splash pattern then had to cleaned off.
What are your protocols for cleaning lenses and other optical surfaces? Tips and discoveries welcome as well, especially nasty/bad ones...those provide the best learning experiences :-)
Cleaning microscope lens surfaces
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Hi,
my experience with isoproanol is mixed, if you use it out of glass bottels it is fine, if you store it in plastic containers (falcon tubes) it leaves a white residue - i guess there is something dissolving in the isoprop
our olympus service technician uses petroleum ether which evaporates nicely and leaves not marks.
i also tried the approach with xylene and chloroform and it also works nicely. xylene dissolves almost everything but leaves an oily residue, the chloroform takes care of this nicely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz4Dy5D6kdw
my experience with isoproanol is mixed, if you use it out of glass bottels it is fine, if you store it in plastic containers (falcon tubes) it leaves a white residue - i guess there is something dissolving in the isoprop
our olympus service technician uses petroleum ether which evaporates nicely and leaves not marks.
i also tried the approach with xylene and chloroform and it also works nicely. xylene dissolves almost everything but leaves an oily residue, the chloroform takes care of this nicely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz4Dy5D6kdw
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Ichthyophthirius
- Posts: 1152
- Joined: Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:24 am
Hi,
"The clean microscope" from Zeiss is a good start. They have a very cautious approach. The publication also warns explicitly against canned air:
"Do not use any of the optical spray cans containing pressurized liquid air. The pressurized air from these sprays leaves a slight, but difficult to remove, residue."
I use pharmacy grade petroleum ether or condensed breath as the last step, which won't leave traces.
Link: https://microscopy.duke.edu/sites/micro ... scsope.pdf
Regards, Ichty
"The clean microscope" from Zeiss is a good start. They have a very cautious approach. The publication also warns explicitly against canned air:
"Do not use any of the optical spray cans containing pressurized liquid air. The pressurized air from these sprays leaves a slight, but difficult to remove, residue."
I use pharmacy grade petroleum ether or condensed breath as the last step, which won't leave traces.
Link: https://microscopy.duke.edu/sites/micro ... scsope.pdf
Regards, Ichty
Re: Cleaning microscope lens surfaces
I am a fan of the Giottos rocket air blower, size large:Rorschach wrote:... Also made the discovery that pressurized, canned air is not good for dust removal: several time the can would spit some liquid on the glass. This splash pattern then had to cleaned off....
It is meant for cleaning camera objectives and cameras, but it will blast clean more powerful things, guns, for example. Well, some do say that some old microscopes are well built – like a weapon.
– John
I use that solution recommended by Zeiss, 85% n-hexan and 15% Isopropanol both in pure quality. No residue, cleans excellent and no problems to plastic.Ichthyophthirius wrote:Hi,
"The clean microscope" from Zeiss is a good start.
Regards, Ichty
I fill it in a drip glass bottle so that I do not contaminate the bottle opening.
Micro fiber cloth also works good for cleaning.
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iconoclastica
- Posts: 486
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- Location: Wageningen, Gelderland
That Zeiss manual tells to use petroleum ether with boiling point <44 degrees. How does that translate to the boiling ranges on the label (should the lower one or the upper one be less than 44 degrees)?Ichthyophthirius wrote:I use pharmacy grade petroleum ether or condensed breath as the last step, which won't leave traces.
Link: https://microscopy.duke.edu/sites/micro ... scsope.pdf
--- felix filicis ---
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discomorphella
- Posts: 607
- Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:26 pm
- Location: NW USA
My cleaning solution changes depending on the nature of the filth...
First pass (if I don't know if the dirt/stain is polar or nonpolar or a mix of several components) is usually Edmund Optics cleaner. This is a mixture of Butyl Cellosolve and 2-Propanol, which is a good intermediate polar solvent mixture. If this removes the problem successfully I follow it up with reagent grade ethanol or similar, and dried off with a filtered electronic-grade freon dust-off. I use Berkshire LensX-90 optical wipes.
Where I can see (using a stereo scope or hand lens) that the contamination is a salt then the first pass is distilled water, repeated if needed if this works. Followed up with EtOH as above.
If the problem is more greasy then 1:1 diethyl ether : ethanol is my goto, although xylene or hexanes also work well.
I do store all my cleaning solvents like xylene in glass bottles with teflon-lined caps. The exception is the Edmund solvent mix which comes in a plastic bottle, but its for gross removal. Any residue that it leaves gets removed by the final solvent pass.
I have seen really horrible surface contamination get dealt with using SDS (basically shampoo) to clean off a heavy coat of polymerized organics from a UV optical system. Followed by a solvent.
Good luck and happy cleaning.
David
First pass (if I don't know if the dirt/stain is polar or nonpolar or a mix of several components) is usually Edmund Optics cleaner. This is a mixture of Butyl Cellosolve and 2-Propanol, which is a good intermediate polar solvent mixture. If this removes the problem successfully I follow it up with reagent grade ethanol or similar, and dried off with a filtered electronic-grade freon dust-off. I use Berkshire LensX-90 optical wipes.
Where I can see (using a stereo scope or hand lens) that the contamination is a salt then the first pass is distilled water, repeated if needed if this works. Followed up with EtOH as above.
If the problem is more greasy then 1:1 diethyl ether : ethanol is my goto, although xylene or hexanes also work well.
I do store all my cleaning solvents like xylene in glass bottles with teflon-lined caps. The exception is the Edmund solvent mix which comes in a plastic bottle, but its for gross removal. Any residue that it leaves gets removed by the final solvent pass.
I have seen really horrible surface contamination get dealt with using SDS (basically shampoo) to clean off a heavy coat of polymerized organics from a UV optical system. Followed by a solvent.
Good luck and happy cleaning.
David