30 replies to this topic

[Phucdang]

I have this piece of gem from 2014 (bought it secondhand but unused), and needless to say, as many others, I very much like it. I also used to think this kind of eyepiece will never be affected by mold or fungus under normal condition due to it JIS Class 4 weatherproof construction, and it's Japanese made! Yet I was wrong.  

 

This is what happen to my XW30 when I check it since it was last used about 3 months ago (you know how it feel when I discovered this!)

 

 

Fungus everywhere, not on the outer surface of the eye lens, its somewhere inside!!! 

After inspect the eyepiece visually, my initial judgment is these fungus grew only on a surface of one of the lens elements, and what I'm most concern at this moment is if the the coatings has been penetrated by the fungus or not? 

 

Disassembly the eyepiece for cleaning.

The easiest way to access the glasses inside is by unscrew the 2" nosepiece from the main body. 

 

 

It is easier said than done! After many failed trying to do it with my bare hand, I finally successful in unscrew the nosepiece with the help of some "heavy" tools.

 

The two main part has now been separated and reveal the glass inside (the field lens stay attached on the nosepiece) 

 

There is trace of thread lock residues on the threads

 

 

After a visual inspect, it is now obvious that the fungus is on the inner surface of the second lens (from the field lens), as shown in the photo below

 

 

Next step is to unscrew the retaining ring in the eyepiece main body to access the big glass.

Edited by Phucdang, 29 September 2019 - 11:56 PM.

[Phucdang]

Again, it is easier said than done! It's look like the retaining ring also been thread locked, so a pair of lens wrench does not work so well in this case (I'd tried using it and failed). My solution is to use a small flat head screwdriver and gently tap at the other end of the screwdriver, it works!

 

A piece of cardboard is used to cover the lens, in case my hand is not steady enough.

 

The retaining ring, and evident of glue on it.

 

The "big" lens with fungus on the inner surface

 

All the lens inside the main body just slowly came out at once after I remove that lens retainer.

 

Inside the empty XW3O body

 

The "big" lens after I clean all the fungus. Its a big relief for me when I see the coatings on this lens is unharmed.

 

After cleaning the "big" lens and the field lens (I do not want to mess with the stacked glass, so just leave it as it is), I put everything back together, and this is the XW30 after being cured from fungus:

The XW30 is as good as new now, however I still wonder how does Pentax waterproof for this eyepiece? Because there is no such thing called rubber O-ring or similar things in this eyepiece to keep moister from coming!

Edited by Phucdang, 29 September 2019 - 11:57 PM.

[areyoukiddingme]

Nicely done, and thanks for the report with photos. I had been wondering how these things open up.

[Disciplus55]

Wow :O

[starcam]

Bravo

[25585]

Thank you very much for sharing. 

[Jon Isaacs]

Phucdang:

 

Very nice work.

 

One thought: For I spanner to remove the retaining rings, it use a 150 mm digital caliper that no longer works. 

 

Jon

[Traveler]

When doing this fix i will bet i will sweating. Nicely done!

[Phucdang]

Me too! It took me 2 days to calm down and looking for the right tools to do the job correctly, haha.

When doing this fix i will bet i will sweating. Nicely done!

[Piero DP]

That's a great job!
Glad to read you rescued your 30mm ep.

[happycamperjohn]

Bravo! And what a valuable post this is - thanks for sharing.

I'm sure a lot of people will feel better about tackling an XW clean after seeing this.

Edited by happycamperjohn, 01 October 2019 - 02:20 AM.

[zirkel 2]

Good intervention and excellent result.
Normally in JIS-4 class he should not have this kind of problem...
It would be interesting to know: in what conditions was your eyepiece stored for 3 months?

[Phucdang]

Good intervention and excellent result.
Normally in JIS-4 class he should not have this kind of problem...
It would be interesting to know: in what conditions was your eyepiece stored for 3 months?

It is stored most of the time in the original bolt case, and is place on the book shelf in living room (open-air). Noted that I also have the XW14 and XW7 placed next to the XW30, but only the XW30 suffer from fungus. It is possible that the XW30 had failed its waterproof function some time before my last observing session with this eyepiece happen, so when I store it back, some moister already presented in the eyepiece.

[zirkel 2]

Okay,

 

That's pretty amazing the storage is ok .. a design flaw on your particular model?
Even a little moisture should not cause this...
JIS-4 is a level of water protection, higher than simple projection.

The important thing is that your eyepiece is operational again 

[payner]

Excellent job you did on your 30mm XW; congrats on restoring it for use. One thing to consider is placing desciccant in your bolt case when storing it. I know you are in a humid environment, so be prepared.

 

Regards,

[Bill Barlow]

How does your 30XW perform now?  If I did this, I would worry that one of the lens elements would be slightly misaligned after reassembling it and screw it up.

 

Bill

[Phucdang]

How does your 30XW perform now?  If I did this, I would worry that one of the lens elements would be slightly misaligned after reassembling it and screw it up.

 

Bill

It perform excellently now.

About the risk of misaligned, of course, it's all depend on the eyepiece mechanical design, but for this particular model, to re-assemble, I first stacked all the lens elements on top of a riser column (diameter of this column must be a little smaller than the ID of the XW30 body), then slowly lowering the XW30 shell from top down until I could see the eye lens sit firmly in the eyepiece. Do it this way can minimize the risk of misaligned the lens elements. 

 

And the the best way to screw things up is to put the lens elements - one by one - back in to the eyepiece! Ask me how I know !

[areyoukiddingme]

It perform excellently now.

About the risk of misaligned, of course, it's all depend on the eyepiece mechanical design, but for this particular model, to re-assemble, I first stacked all the lens elements on top of a riser column (diameter of this column must be a little smaller than the ID of the XW30 body), then slowly lowering the XW30 shell from top down until I could see the eye lens sit firmly in the eyepiece. Do it this way can minimize the risk of misaligned the lens elements. 

 

And the the best way to screw things up is to put the lens elements - one by one - back in to the eyepiece! Ask me how I know !

Yep, been there done that with 27 Panoptic. Got it figured out in the end, but involved putting the eyepiece in an oven to release a badly wedged lens.

[Castor]

Excellent report with great step by step photos,  congratulations on a great job and thanks for sharing!

[denis0007dl]

Good job!

[BillP]

Beyond OUTSTANDING work!!!! 

[lylver]

You can lock the spanner wrench with the work table, and put the eyepiece over it to unlock. Then you use the flatness of the tube to do the best move. If the ring dent are then well fitted in the screwdriver part. The circular move on the orthogonal is efficient.

Yes it is much safe not to touch lenses.

I prefer round spanner if right diameter available : https://www.thorlabs...ctgroup_id=1430

Glueing parts strong is not always the best idea. I prefer soft blue threadlock : choose the appropriate strength.

[Phucdang]

You can lock the spanner wrench with the work table, and put the eyepiece over it to unlock. Then you use the flatness of the tube to do the best move. If the ring dent are then well fitted in the screwdriver part. The circular move on the orthogonal is efficient.

Yes it is much safe not to touch lenses.

I prefer round spanner if right diameter available : https://www.thorlabs...ctgroup_id=1430

Glueing parts strong is not always the best idea. I prefer soft blue threadlock : choose the appropriate strengthYea

Yeah, I'd tried to lock the lens spanner on a mechanical vise and put the eyepiece over it with the hope to unlock the lens retainer, exactly what you suggest, but did not success, it's not because my hands is not strong enough, but because the spanner tips just keep slipped over the ring dents due to the V-shape of the tips. I could re-shape the spanner tips to fit the dents by using a bench grinder, however I decided not to do it, mainly because I felt uncomfortable (and unsafe also) to put the lens over the spanners (well, the safe way is the best way!).

 

I also thought about round spanner (saw some youtube videos about optical technician assembly camera lens in factories using round spanner), yet a pair of adjustable pliers and a chain wrench is easier to access to me, so I end up using these tools (luckily it worked as I expected).

 

Pentax might have a reason to lock the XW that ways, however, on the users side, I totally agree with you about using soft thread lock instead of gluing! 

Edited by Phucdang, 04 October 2019 - 10:41 AM.

[pancho61]

Wow very nice and good job!!! 

 

Question=> which product do you use to remove the fungus?

 

Thanks for the review

[gnowellsct]

I wish you would put that together as a photographic essay and submit it to cloudynights.  That way it would be up where we could find it.  I hope I never have to do that.  Greg N