What Do You Use To Clean A Mirror
#1 
Posted 02 July 2022 - 09:03 AM
While collimating my Z12 dob yesterday, I noticed what appeared to be a build up of dust/clay/grime/organics on my primary mirror caught in the stray lite of my light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation and red LED headlamp. There is not like a ton of stuff on it but enough to notice it in the calorie-free. At what point would you remove and make clean the primary?
I know there are basically 2 schools of idea on this. One being DONT Always CLEAN IT, and the other existence that its required every couple years or and so especially with dobs beingness that their optics are exposed to the elements. 
I found this video on youtube, https://www.youtube....h?v=8rZP7mTEutE , and these guys seem to know what they're doing and the results looked good merely but figured I'd run this past the forum and get some opinions and experience that's superior to my own.
Thanks again...
Alan
#2
Posted 02 July 2022 - 09:09 AM
Can you blow off the buildup gently with compressed air? Can you post a film of the buildup and so we can see how muddied information technology is? 
#iii
Posted 02 July 2022 - 09:35 AM
Alan:
I used to use the cotton brawl method that is shown in the video just I now employ a simpler, safer and more than constructive method..
Cleaning your telescope mirror
The mirror is cleaned under h2o and you employ your fingertips rather than the cotton balls. Your fingertips are extremely sensitive and very soft so you can feel whatsoever particle that might exist on the surface. I have cleaned mirrors up to 25 inches with this technique and I accept been very happy with the results.
Jon
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#4
Posted 02 July 2022 - 09:54 AM
Tin can y'all blow off the buildup gently with compressed air? Tin can you post a film of the buildup then nosotros can see how dirty it is?
While I'd like to post a pic of information technology, I am as well not into removing the main at this moment. I'll see if I can get a picture of information technology downward the tube using the red LED. Like I said, its not a gross corporeality and I don't think its adversely affecting my viewing, simply simply enquiring minds desire to know for hereafter reference.
I like the compressed air idea equally long as the "dirt" isn't stuck to the main.
#5
Posted 02 July 2022 - 10:01 AM
Alan:
I used to use the cotton wool ball method that is shown in the video just I now use a simpler, safer and more than effective method..
Cleaning your telescope mirror
The mirror is cleaned nether h2o and you use your fingertips rather than the cotton balls. Your fingertips are extremely sensitive and very soft so you can feel whatsoever particle that might be on the surface. I have cleaned mirrors upwards to 25 inches with this technique and I have been very happy with the results.
Jon
I also ran across this video myself. One of my first thoughts that came to mind was the abrasiveness of fingertips vs cotton. On i hand, pardon the pun, I could see excessive pressure from my fingertips catching and dragging particles across the mirror thus resulting in scratches and on the other, I could likewise see cotton being more abrasive than the skin on of my fingertips.
What to exercise, what to do...merely one shot to become it right or else send the mirror off for recoating if I screwed information technology upwardly. 
#vi
Posted 02 July 2022 - 10:02 AM
If it'southward not too bad leave it lone. Generally I give mine a cleaning once a twelvemonth using the method Jon Isaacs recommends. In fact that's the method Gary Seronik recommends.
Edited by paul hart, 02 July 2022 - 10:04 AM.
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#7
Posted 02 July 2022 - xi:49 AM
Alan:
I used to apply the cotton wool ball method that is shown in the video merely I now employ a simpler, safer and more effective method..
Cleaning your telescope mirror
The mirror is cleaned under water and you use your fingertips rather than the cotton fiber assurance. Your fingertips are extremely sensitive and very soft then yous can feel whatever particle that might exist on the surface. I have cleaned mirrors up to 25 inches with this technique and I accept been very happy with the results.
Jon
I as well ran across this video myself. Ane of my first thoughts that came to heed was the abrasiveness of fingertips vs cotton fiber. On one hand, pardon the pun, I could run into excessive pressure from my fingertips catching and dragging particles across the mirror thus resulting in scratches and on the other, I could also see cotton being more abrasive than the skin on of my fingertips.
What to do, what to do...merely one shot to get it right or else send the mirror off for recoating if I screwed it upwardly.
With the cotton, you take no idea how much pressure level you are using and if you do take hold of something, you never know.. With your fingertips, you know exactly how much pressure level you are using and you can feel something if you catch it.
I have used both techniques and I'll never utilize the cotton balls on a mirror again.. With my finger tips, the mirrors come up out clean...
As far as when to clean your mirror, shining a flash lite on your mirror is guaranteed to make it look dirty.. But look downwardly the tube with normal room lighting...
Jon
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#8
Posted 02 July 2022 - 12:46 PM
Last night our kitten crawled inside my 15" dob equally I observed Albireo... in that location were half-dozen little cat human foot prints on the mirror. 
For this job I upped my dishsoap content in the water a LOT, and so gently sprayed the mixture on the mirror to lube up the fines (and sand...), permit it sit and then sprayed more on to let the junk slide off. This was repeated many times until the stuff was off. Then like Jon I used my fingertips with the water soap mixture on the mirror, very gently moving around. Rinse, repeat etc.
I but got done this task really and no scratches! 
The lather is the key (for me, I employ Sunlight) and the water is RO.
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#9
Posted 02 July 2022 - 01:12 PM
Air compressors MUST be lubricated to survive. Compressed air from those units is contaminated by the lubricants. Multiple stage filtration units can remove most of the contaminants from compressed air. Laboratory filtration tin create clean air.
This is the only air compressor I'd apply on my mirror and I apply information technology all the fourth dimension. https://www.walmart....3&wl13=&veh=sem
If you accept to shine a light on your mirror to come across that it'southward dirty, information technology's not muddied.
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#10
Posted 02 July 2022 - 01:46 PM
Cleaning mirror topics compare well to "oil topics" on a motorbike forum lol
That said the link Jon provided outlines the method I take used for years now with no issues.....and while it says a final rinse with distilled water is an option, information technology is not for me....distilled water is cheap and I always use it for the final rinse......I also don't lay information technology flat for drying but rather prop it up at a steep bending so that virtually of the droplets run off and those that don't are blown off using a condom seedling blower.
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#11
Posted 02 July 2022 - 01:59 PM
My propose is to practice zip if your mirror looks fairly clean under normal daylight illumination. I think more harm tin can be done by unnecessary
cleaning. If it's but dust (not splotches or blobs) you tin utilise those compressed air cans sold past camera shops, only be careful to to milkshake the tin or concord information technology in anything but an upright position, or you gamble getting some of the propellant sprayed on your optics. In general for dust, I employ the compressed air tin can in conjunction with a wide, very soft sable brush. Good luck!
Ron Abbott
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#12
Posted 02 July 2022 - 02:05 PM
What well-nigh the oils in your pare?
#xiii
Posted 02 July 2022 - 03:09 PM
The dish soap is a balmy de- greaser...
#14
Posted 03 July 2022 - 12:50 AM
What about the oils in your skin?
Never been an effect over many many cleanings for me....I do wash my hands well prior to proceeding and since I am using dish soap while cleaning the mirror I wouldn't expect whatsoever issues.
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#fifteen
Posted 03 July 2022 - 03:29 AM
Thanks all, looks like I'll be leaving the cotton wool out of the equation when the time comes to clean the master.
How about concluding rinses? Distilled h2o or a 50/50 DW isopropyl alcohol mix?
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#sixteen
Posted 03 July 2022 - 04:19 AM
Distilled water is fine for final rinse.
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#17
Posted 03 July 2022 - 06:46 AM
Air compressors MUST be lubricated to survive. Compressed air from those units is contaminated by the lubricants. Multiple stage filtration units can remove most of the contaminants from compressed air. Laboratory filtration can create clean air.
This is the only air compressor I'd use on my mirror and I use it all the time. https://www.walmart....iii&wl13=&veh=sem
If yous have to shine a light on your mirror to see that it's muddied, it's not muddy.
At that place are oil less air compressors that use a diaphram rather than a piston to compress the air.. They're relatively common.
Also: Never use a brush to dust a mirror. Information technology will scratch the coatings.
Jon
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#eighteen
Posted 03 July 2022 - 09:10 AM
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#19
Posted 03 July 2022 - 10:35 AM
I set mine in a tub of warm soapy water and exit information technology for v minutes. I then pick it up by the edges and slosh it around in the h2o a bit and so elevator it out and wait what came off. If there's yet some "klingons" I put it back in the water and apply the fingertip method to remove them. I feel fingertips are safer than using any cloth. Rinse with purified h2o and set somewhere safe at a nearly upright position.
#twenty
Posted 03 July 2022 - 02:23 PM
I've had great results with:
1. Mild water pressure level to remove the large particles.
2. Soaking your easily in warm water for 5 mins, to get the skin genuinely soft.
3. Covering the finger tips with washing upwardly liquid and gently dragging them across the mirror.
Softened skin + washing up liquid layer between skin and mirror coating = really gentle.
4. Tap water to wash off all the soap and finally use distilled h2o and absorb off the globules.
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#21
Posted 03 July 2022 - 05:45 PM
Large scale dust? I go out it on until I tin can see it in the daytime when looking down the tube from the pinnacle.
Small scale dust/oils/pollen/haze that won't blow off no affair what? You lot have to clean the mirror to restore the reflectivity.
For me, it is the 2nd issue that causes me to make clean my mirrors 3x-4x a year. I don't know the exact crusade of the adherence of minute particles, but
the mirror turns subtly grayer over a fairly short menstruation. Adjacent cleaning, I'll accept a picture after one pass of my fingertips across the center of the mirror.
There volition exist a shiny line across a less-cogitating surface.
I don't fight it, I simply clean it.
One of the articles on-line dealing with reflectivity on a large observatory scope mentioned cleaning every two months.
Of course, that'south later a LOT of hours of use, and on every articulate nighttime.
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#22
Posted 05 July 2022 - ten:19 PM
And so I took the plunge tonight and pulled my principal from the tube. Information technology had a layer of evenly distributed fuzzy haze on it is the all-time way I can depict it. I washed my hands THOUROGHLY twice then used the above described OWL method to gently clean the mirror in tepidly warm water. I laid it on a safe mat in the sink and sprayed it with the spray nozzle showtime for a few seconds so filled the sink just to where the water came over the edge of the mirror while calculation almost iii drops of Dawn.
Every bit I ran my fingertips over the surface, I felt no serious grit which furthers the tail of this telescopic only having been outside twice in its life before I got it. This fuzzy haze but seemed to be storage filth from sitting in the corner of a closet for days on end...a dang shame.
After a concluding rinse with distilled water, I was completely amazed at the difference. My mirror now looks like you could autumn into information technology. Not i scratch, not ane blemish, not 1 sleek. It looks admittedly perfect.
Sad thing is that I will have to wait to check out the results since its crazy humid outside right now and I am non nearly to betrayal my air conditioned optics to ~90% humidity and lxx degree dew point. So I volition put it off until meliorate conditions come up well-nigh, I'm sure it will exist worth the expect.
Thank yous all for the help, though it seemed taboo at offset, I will at present never use whatsoever other method to clean my mirror. Such a uncomplicated technique for such stunning results. 
Edited past Muddman97, 05 July 2022 - 10:twenty PM.
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#23
Posted 06 July 2022 - 08:45 AM
Yeah, I chickened out midway through my first attempt with fingertip cleaning.
Afterwards, the 'fingertiped' parts of the mirror were visibly much cleaner than the areas without...
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#24
Posted 06 July 2022 - 09:09 AM
Aye, I chickened out midway through my first endeavour with fingertip cleaning.
Afterward, the 'fingertiped' parts of the mirror were visibly much cleaner than the areas without...
Simply do it! 
Its so satisfying after its done, fabricated me a laic for sure and I'll never exercise it any other way.
#25
Posted 07 July 2022 - 10:30 PM
I do my mirrors a little differently, especially with my truss scope. I wash them about once a year using the cotton swab-less method {using only finger tips} Then nigh every 6 months I lay the mirror on an well-nigh vertical angle and generously cascade distilled water over the surface of the mirror, and let air dry. Distilled h2o leaves very few h2o spots behind. Then nigh every month I accident off the dust with a battery powered air pump, like those you use to blow up air mattresses with, with a heavy plastic straw duct taped to the pump nozzle for velocity. That seems to blow off near of the dust that accumulates, I don't worry about the little stuff, I tin't see it anyhow.
David
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Source: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/582791-dobsonian-primary-mirror-cleaning/
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