Telescope Reviews: Disassemble Astro-Physics Triplet Lens Cell?

The arrival of the Astro-Physics Optical Cleaning System on Thursday (8/14/08) only increased my anxiety. I kept vacillating between "nervous nellie" and "aw, just go for it" until Friday, when I settled down to a more reasonable attitude somewhere in the middle. I removed the lens cell and brought it in the house. The cleaning kit contains Baader cleaning fluid, Purosol, (both in misting bottles) and a package of lint-free wipes. According to the instructions, however, what you use most is plain old kleenex - and lots of them.

The first order of business is to remove surface dust and dirt by blowing it off. I used a bulb and a soft round camel hair brush. I would actually push the brush forward a short distance to gently lift any dirt, then blow air; clean off the brush, and repeat this until I'd done it over the entire objective.

Once that's done, they say to spray the Baader on a kleenex and start wiping the lens a small section at a time. Being more cautious than not, I elected to mist a kleenex, drape it over the lens, and gently press it down all over using the brush, then slowly peel it back and away. Using a new tissue each time, I repeated this 10 - 12 times. The lens got cleaner with each repetition. Only a couple tiny dots remained, so I tried the Purosol, but it still didn't remove them, so I ended up not using much of the Purosol at all. Besides, it tended to leave purplish areas.

Finally, I breathed on the lens and gave it a light polish with the lint-free wipes, and brushed and blew off any dust. There's always dust! Get rid of one particle of dust and three more show up. It's a battle you can't win - not in the average home, anyway. When it comes to optics, "pretty good" is often best. The less fooling with it try to achieve perfection the better.

That was the front. The problem area - where all this started - was the back side of the lens. The whitish haze was clearly visible as being on the inside (tube side) of the innermost lens element. To my great relief, most of it came off with the first damp kleenex application. It took only a few more to completely remove it, whatever it was. Hooray!

It took a little over an hour altogether, and I couldn't wait to get the cell back on the scope where it belongs and be done with it. I must say, the results are very satisfying, and we're back in business in time for clear skies tonight when I can try out the new GSO 30mm Superwide that also arrived on Thursday.

As promised, here are some pictures starting with the front of the objective before cleaning. I set it on a piece of black cardboard for photographing.

Jono