how you get a spot free optical cleaning, maybe I'll never know!

[Ace Crysler]

I hate cleaning telescope lenses and mirrors. I know we're supposed to
seldom do it, but anytime I ever wanted to sell one of my optical toys,
I'd think the dust and spots were going to detract from the value,
especially after the camera flash, even though softened, would reflect
off of the lens/ mirror. So, I'd set about cleaning.

I've basically followed online suggestions and research and used the
method of first removing any dust and debris with a soft brush (or
canned compressed air IF kept level and IF already used just before
using on the lens or mirror), then patting with cotton ball soaked in
distilled water while wearing nitrile gloves, then patting once again
this time with distilled water/ drop of detergent (dawn) solution,
followed by distilled water again without detergent, and then drying
with dry cotton. I always wear the gloves and change cotton balls after
every pass. In between the detergent solution and final distilled water
rinse, I will use iso alcohol on cotton or acetone if allowed by the
manufacturer for stubborn oils.

However, despite the above, and being as careful as possible, I always
end up with spots on the lens. Why is this? I see videos of others
using the process and ending up spot free. Frustrating!

[Scott Dorsey]

In article <t0a9ld$mvs$1...@dont-email.me>, Ace Crysler <ace...@hal.net> wrote:
>However, despite the above, and being as careful as possible, I always
>end up with spots on the lens. Why is this? I see videos of others
>using the process and ending up spot free. Frustrating!

Don't know what this is doing in r.a.p instead of sci.astro, but my experience
is that there is always a little bit of dust that gets on everything unless
you are in a completely dust-free environment. Marty Forscher at National
Camera used to have a homebuilt laminar flow table in order to keep a
completely dust-free environment on a few square feet of bench space for
working on camera lenses.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."