Cleaning Scope Lens

[Shane916]

I sifted through dozens and dozens of threads on SH about how to and not to clean a scope lens. Wipes? Rubbing alcohol? Distilled water? I read to use q-tips then I read that's the worse thing. I read how microfiber cloths are best, then I read they are the worse.

What do you gentleman use?

The general consensus is to use a dust can to blow off any residue and then .....?

[ColdSteel]

http://www.usoptics.com/video/cln1.wmv

[Shane916]

The best of the best.
http://www.usoptics.com/video/cln1.wmv

I watched that a few days ago but then read this:

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=84873&Searchpage=1&Main=6270&Words=%2Bmicro+_fiber+%2Bzeiss&Search=true#Post84891

At the expence of offending some...

... this thread is NUTZ.

I haven't heard so many home made "theories" in a long time - where do you guys get this ****??

Acetone WILL desolve the cement use to put together lenses, and most lenses (including the objective and eyepiece) are two or more pieces of glass sandwitched together with optical cement.

I learned this lesson the hard way when I was a young grasshopper, and cleaned the lens of a 70mm Panavision motion picture camera, and the front element was ruined, because the acetone got onto the edge of the lense, then was drawn into the lock ring, and into the cement - the lens cost $12,000 (the camera was $170,000)... I got another taste of unemployment!

Also remember that synthetic gaskets (rubber-ish neoprene and other synthetics) are used to seal lenses in scopes that are waterproof. Acetone will attack most of these.

Unfortunatly... USO has a lot of BS on their website - most of it was put there by "Dr" John Sr... who was not a PhD, but has a two year degree in some nonsense - not optics. He was ubder a court order to stop impersonating a PhD. When I have called USO on the garbage on their website, they didn't know anything about it.

Glass is NOT hygroscopic, and is NOT affected by being wet - if it were, we could not wash our glasswear in the dish washer - and the coatings on scopes are NOT water soluable... doesn't anyone ever question the crap they read???

If these statements were true, we could not use our scopes in the rain.

USO's adversion to water comes from the fact that they are NOT waterproof.

I have washed Nikons and Leupolds in the kitchen sink, completly wet with detergent, with no problems... DON'T that with a USO, you may get fogging later.

IF your scope gets dirty while hunting, or in a match, you can wash it with warm water and a little liquid dish detergent. Rinse it in warm water, and blow it dry with one of those canned air things you get at the camera store.
This will remove dirt and grease.

You can use q-tips, tissue paper, or toilet paper. Wet is better, but dry is OK in the field when necessary (with some warm breath on the lens). Chamois is not on anyones optical maintainance list. Don't use ANYTHING that you can't use new, and throw away after use.

That's all you need to do - Industrial solvents like Acetone are off limits to the average user and professionals don't use it on lenses after they have been assembled. Professionals will use Zylene or ether, and nothing else, on finished optics.

Some of you guys need to stop making this crap up, or some other poor schnook will pay the price for the mis-information.

and this

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=84873&Searchpage=1&Main=6270&Words=%2Bmicro+_fiber+%2Bzeiss&Search=true#Post84902

Holy crap there is a lot of misinformation here. I have my PhD in chemistry so take my word for whatever you feel it's worth.

First off, glass (aka silica aka silicon dioxide) does indeed attract water. It would not be technically incorrect to refer to it as being hygroscopic, it is not water soluble like most hygroscopic materials. The surface of the glass attracts a thin layer or moisture (hydrogen bonding).

Water can of course be used to clean lenses without harm and it generally will not damage most seals. I would not consider water to an ideal cleaning fluid however. Unless it is distilled it will leave a residue and while it may work fine for lifting off flint dust and such, but it will not clean any organic materials (gummy, oily, greasy, sticky things). In order for water to clean such materials you need to add a surfactant or wetting agent (soap essentially) but this leaves a residue making it a poor choice for cleaning optics.

This brings us to organic solvents as cleaning agents. How do organic materials end up on lenses of a fire arm? There are many different ways... Finger prints are made of oils water does not easily clean. Firing a creates a great deal of high pressure gas that can deposit oil, grease, powder residue and other organic materials on the lens. Additionally, rain drops can contain oily materials picked up from plants they ran across or even from pollution. Suffice it to say, we are absolutely surrounded by organic materials that can dirty lenses and these are best cleaned with some type or organic solvent, but which solvent to use?

Organic solvents vary a great deal in term of polarity and aggressiveness towards polymers. Whatever solvent you use, you should make sure it's very pure so it does not leave a residue upon evaporation. There are many options here, but some type of very pure small alcohol is probably the best choice in terms of availability, cleaning ability and safety with seals. Methanol (aka methyl alcohol and wood alcohol IIRC), ethanol (aka ethyl alcohol and grain alcohol) and isopropanol (aka isopropyl alcohol and rubbing alcohol) are all excellent choices. Acetone would also be an good lens cleaner, though it might damage the seals used by certain brands. USO claims it is safe for use with their scopes, but it is more aggressive than alcohol and might attack some brands seals. I would strongly advise against use of methylene chloride (aka dichloromethane) as it will aggressive attack polymers. Whatever solvent you use, use it sparingly.

This brings us to swabs. Glass is very hard and scratch resistant, but you don't want to damage the coatings. Debris on your swab may even be hard enough to damage the glass. I would avoid q-tips (even high end ones) and cotton in general. Many nice materials have been developed for cleaning lenses, why not use them? Visit some photography stores or other optics stores. Pick up a lens pen and/or some microfiber cloths. Store them in such a way that they stay very clean. Keep them in a film canister or something. If they get dirty, clean them or dispose of them, don't ever use them dirty.

In summary, very pure alcohols and dedicated lens cleaning swabbing materials are you best choice IMO.

*In case anyone is curious... Finished my PhD in Organic Chemistry (researched nonlinear optics) in March 2006 from University of Washington.