Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Quote:
I would never recommend compressed air of any type. But I do have a problem with using a brush. If the brush can lift the particles off then great. If the brush is 'sweeping' the particles across the glass that's a problem.
If you use a sweeping up motion, its just going to flick the dust off without dragging it much. Its impossible to get all the dust off with a blower, even the rocket blowers from giotto blow off only 50% of the dust...the rest you need to dust off or just clean with the liquid/cotton ball things.
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Skiba
member
Reged: 11/16/07
Posts: 16
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Hey thanks Dan, great tips.
Especially the one about letting the humid air out.
Still haven't cleaned the corrector. Having trouble finding distilled water. Theres some weird new law here that pharmacys can't sell distilled water unless it's gone through some lab tests to approve it, and thats gonna cost allot. Instead they sell "disinfected" water. They reassured me that it is similar to distilled water and all the other particles & minerals are removed from the water.
Anyone know if it will leave streaks on the corrector?
How about battery water? Is it "clean" enough? Everyone says it's distilled water, but I've heard it's done through some kind of carbon filtering, and actually isn't real distilled water.
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rmollise
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 1534
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Quote:
Hey thanks Dan, great tips.
Especially the one about letting the humid air out.
Still haven't cleaned the corrector. Having trouble finding distilled water. Theres some weird new law here that pharmacys can't sell distilled water unless it's gone through some lab tests to approve it, and thats gonna cost allot. Instead they sell "disinfected" water. They reassured me that it is similar to distilled water and all the other particles & minerals are removed from the water.
Yes. What do I use, and what have I _been_using for about 30 years? Original (blue) Windex and Original (white) Kleenex. Works like a charm and my correctors are the envy of all and sundry.
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Uncle Rod
Watch for Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using the New CATs--coming soon!
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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hey unk rod, does regular original plain windex harm the newer optical coatings like UHTC or starbright?
There are so many "special" telescope optical cleaning solutions on the market, and they all claim to be the safest in terms of preserving the actual coatings themselves.
What do you think of their effectiveness compared to regular windex? Does the windex degrade more atomic layers of coatings than special cleaners do?
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Stardaug
sage
Reged: 08/03/08
Posts: 203
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Where I am, I can get distilled and reverse osmosis water (basically the same thing) from pretty much any water supply store. Not sure if you have dedicated stores where you are for water only but check it out if you do.
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Shawn / Ontario, Canada
Celestron CPC800 SCT w/XLT
Ball bearing mod on AZ
Canon Rebel XT 350D unmodded
ADM Counter weight system
Equinox 80MM ED F6.2 (500mm) widefield refractor
and a Telrad!
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Dylan Gladstone
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/05/07
Posts: 948
Loc: Connecticut, USA
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Could you just use pure rubbing alcohol? That's what I used recently on my eyepieces and it worked VERY well.
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Orion SkyView Pro 127mm Maksutov
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Skiba
member
Reged: 11/16/07
Posts: 16
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I don't know. The all cleaning solutions I've heard of don't use 100% rubbing alcohol. I have a Celestron scope and on their site it's instructed to use 40% isopropyl 60% distilled water.
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Dylan Gladstone
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/05/07
Posts: 948
Loc: Connecticut, USA
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Maybe the 40/60 solution is for safety in case you get the solution where it shouldn't go? I imagine straight alcohol might disolve some glues and/or paints.
I just dipped Q-Tips into the alcohol, (didn't soak them, just got them slightly damp), then cleaned.
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Orion SkyView Pro 127mm Maksutov
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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how can you be using only pure rubbing alcohol without distilled water in the mix?
Alcohol cannot dissolve in water....so how can pure rubbing alcohol get rid of water soluble stains without doing a 40/60 mix?
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Dylan Gladstone
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/05/07
Posts: 948
Loc: Connecticut, USA
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Quote:
how can you be using only pure rubbing alcohol without distilled water in the mix?
Alcohol cannot dissolve in water....so how can pure rubbing alcohol get rid of water soluble stains without doing a 40/60 mix?
If alcohol can't dissolve in water, then how does the 40/60 mix stay a mix?
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Orion SkyView Pro 127mm Maksutov
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rmollise
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 1534
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Quote:
hey unk rod, does regular original plain windex harm the newer optical coatings like UHTC or starbright?
Nope.
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Uncle Rod
Watch for Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using the New CATs--coming soon!
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mikiek
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/10/07
Posts: 915
Loc: SE Texas
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Read the label!
Most isopropyl alchohol is already mixed. Somewhere on the label it will say 60%, 90%, etc. The only problem is you have no idea how pure their water is.
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___________________________________________________________
May there always be starlight on the path - R.Burnham
___________________________________________________________
Celestron CPC 1100
Radian 3mm, 5mm, 8mm, 12mm
Panoptic 22mm, 27mm, 35mm(the brick), 41mm (the cinder block)
Nagler 3-6 zoom, T4 17mm
Ethos 13mm
Everbrite Diagonal 2", Powermate 2X
FeatherTouch Crayford, Microfocuser
Telrad Finder, SV 9x50 RACI
Kendrick Dew System
TV NP-101(riding the CPC)
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Bob D
super member
Reged: 05/24/08
Posts: 118
Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA
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Normally, you can't get more than roughly 95% alcohol (190 proof!) because ordinary distilling will not remove the last 5% or so of the water. So, there will be at least this much water in the mixture unless the alcohol has been produced by unusual means.
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Bob
CPC 925 XLT
JMI EV-1c + Smart Focus
TV Everbrite 2" diagonal
TV 3x Barlow and a few eyepieces
Orion SSSSI-II
Canon 450D/XSi, D60, and many lenses
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Midnight Dan
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 554
Loc: Brockport, NY
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Rubbing alcohol & distilled water:
First, "Rubbing Alcohol" is not a scientific term so it doesn't mean anything specific and there's no such thing as "Pure" rubbing alcohol. Types of alcohol are isopropyl, ethanol, etc.
Getting 100% pure of ANY kind of alcohol is extremely expensive and generally only available as laboratory reagents, not at your local pharmacy. So, the kind you are looking for is 90% isopropyl and should be readily available.
As for the distilled water, you're really looking for water that is just very low in contaminating chemicals, and also very clean in terms of particulates. Distilled water is chemically pure, but other types such as de-ionized water and reverse-osmosis water are too, and probably the "disinfected" water will be good enough. To remove any remaining particulates, run it through a good quality coffee filter as Dr. Clay recommends.
-Dan
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Scopes: Celestron NexStar 8, Orion EON 72mm ED/APO on Astroview mount (EQ3)
Eyepieces: Celestron 40mm, 25mm, Baader Hyperion 13mm, 8mm, 5mm
Other: Telrad, 2x Barlow, 0.63x Focal Reducer, Dew-not strips, DewBuster controller
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HaleBopper
sage
Reged: 01/14/08
Posts: 234
Loc: Great White North
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Isopropyl alcohol or 2-propanol, IS water soluble.
The 95% alcohol water mixture refers to ethyl alcohol, or ethanol. The one we drink to forget our troubles... It forms an azeotrope with water. Roughly 95% ethanol and 5% water by weight.
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8" SCT CG5 mount
Canon Digital Rebel 400
Kodak Easyshare 2.0 Megapixels
5, 8, 13, 17, 21, 24mm Orion Stratus
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Ahh i understand...
Normally, they always say you cannot use 100% alcohol to clean a water soluble stain, since it will not dissolve that stain.
Since as you say 100% advertised alcohol is actually 90ish%, it still has the water available to dissolve the water soluble stains and then clean the area with the alcohol.
Here i found some online retailers who have almost pure alcohol:
100% pure?? for only 13 bucks? nice deal here, I wonder if this is what meade/celestron recommend for the cleaning solution.
http://www.amcsupplies.com.au/catalogue/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2020
http://www.first-aid-product.com/industrial/isopropyl-alcohol.htm
Here are 99% pure, and regular 70% which is of course not useable on our telescopes.
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Midnight Dan
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 554
Loc: Brockport, NY
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>> ... regular 70% which is of course not useable on our telescopes.
To be honest, I'm not sure it matters all that much. Dr. Clay specifies 90%, but I think that's more just to produce a known concentration with a specific amount of distilled water added.
If you use 70%, you could calculate the concentrations and you'd have to use more alcohol and less distilled water. Since distilled water is cheaper than alcohol, it's just a bit more cost effective to use the higher concentration alcohol.
In addition, I seriously doubt that Dr. Clay did controlled scientific studies on the cleaning effectiveness of various concentrations of alcohol vs. water. More likely, he tried what seemed like a reasonable concentration, it worked well, and that's what he recommends.
I think there's probably not one "magic" solution that has to be mixed just so to do the job correctly. In Dr. Clay's solution, the water and alcohol mix will dissolve different kinds of gunk so the two of them together is good. The addition of Windex adds a solvent that is designed to work on glass and will help with loosening tough contaminants from the corrector. And the Photoflo just provides a small amount of sheeting action that keeps the solution from beading up on the surface.
There's probably a range of mixes that will work fine. I just try to follow Dr. Clay's as closely as possible because that particular mix has been tested and is known to work.
-Dan
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Scopes: Celestron NexStar 8, Orion EON 72mm ED/APO on Astroview mount (EQ3)
Eyepieces: Celestron 40mm, 25mm, Baader Hyperion 13mm, 8mm, 5mm
Other: Telrad, 2x Barlow, 0.63x Focal Reducer, Dew-not strips, DewBuster controller
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mikiek
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/10/07
Posts: 915
Loc: SE Texas
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Don't for ROR. It's outstanding for removing oil based residue.
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___________________________________________________________
May there always be starlight on the path - R.Burnham
___________________________________________________________
Celestron CPC 1100
Radian 3mm, 5mm, 8mm, 12mm
Panoptic 22mm, 27mm, 35mm(the brick), 41mm (the cinder block)
Nagler 3-6 zoom, T4 17mm
Ethos 13mm
Everbrite Diagonal 2", Powermate 2X
FeatherTouch Crayford, Microfocuser
Telrad Finder, SV 9x50 RACI
Kendrick Dew System
TV NP-101(riding the CPC)
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