reflectors cleaning

If compressed air is not enough or if it fails to do the job, a camera sensor cleaning swab kit is probably one of the best. Can be on the pricey side though.

I cleaned a reflector of debris and what looked like a fingerprint using very very hot regular water under pressure and rinsed it with distilled water, air dried nicely with absolutely no water spots. I did not use any cleaning solutions or touched the reflector surface in any way.

alcohol leves the withe lines and maybe is too agressive for some reflectors plating

The white lines from alcohol are almost certainly non-volitile impurities. Tap water can leave residue, if you have hard water (we don’t though water systems often add some minerals to adjust pH and reduce pipe corrosion).

I’ve seen light abrasion from various “soft” materials on a reflector. On the other hand, a wet q-tip with minimal pressure can help move stuff along without leaving a mark.

A good way to prevent streaking when water or alcohol dry on a reflector is to make sure they don’t dry on the reflector. I quickly “chase” them off the reflective surface with puffs of canned air.

Microfibre cloth slightly moist with water, alcohol may damage the aluminum coatings.
Not too much water, just slightly damp.
Only use alcohol if there is something stuck and dried on it, alcohol will work better than water because it is a stronger solvent.

I had some spots and impurities on my Trustfire TR J-19 reflector. I attempted to clean it. I tried water and soap, but it left marks, tried distilled water, the marks remained. Tried technical alcohol and damaged the finish. Now it is slightly OP. Fortunately the difference is small, but I will never touch any reflector again to clean it. If compressed air does not work, it is highly probable you will only worsen it.

That was my experience with it to. If you can’t turn the faucet on full blast and clean it, you will only make it worse trying anything else.
I used a very high quality cloth and you could still see fine scratches in the direction I had cleaned it, there just to delicate to rub.
This is what I did to fix the problem after I had scratched up my reflector. Post #5 shows a few pics.
It works really good. The key to it is when you go to spray it don’t push the button all the way down like you where painting something. You want to slightly give the button pressure until it starts to spray, it will spit the clear coat out in stead of spray because your not pushing the button hard enough to let enough air out to mist the clear. I have sprayed several reflectors and the look like they are factory made. It helps the beam be more uniform. I would practice a little with the button pressure to achieve the spatter effect before actually spraying the reflector. Its really not hard to do once you get the feel for it.

Tried cleaning a dusty reflector with canned air.
That is: propane-butane.
Some of the liquid propane-butane hit the reflector before evaporating and left a residue on it.
What next? Flush it with isopropyl alcohol?

OK, tried that.
Most of the residue is gone, but there’s one place with some left.
Tried again, no success.
Also, I learned I have quite a lot of dust in the air. The reflector is not cleaner than before……

A soft microfiber cloth work the best.

You need the clothes with microfiber strands that stand out or else it may still scratch.

I use a certain brand that i know works.

Just be careful that you have no debris inside the reflector like metal or even plastic or else it may scratch when cleaning so i usually dab the cloth so i don’t rub so much.

“Rubbing alcohol” contains some oils, I believe, in order to not be as drying on the skin when used as - rubbing alcohol. 91% isopropyl is a better bet for leaving less residue. “Distilled water” that you normally buy in the store is rarely distilled, usually deionized, not bad but not as pure as truly distilled. You could probably boil some water and use the steam coming off it to go directly on the surface if it will tolerate the heat, or collect it to cool. Or you can exhale on the surface, the way we did for years to clean the surface of lenses. Relatively little residue.

anyone tried the ultrasonic cleaner usually for jewelry?

ive tried on mirrors but not on flashlight reflectors

those cleaners still needs you to dip it in water doesn’t it?
because it may leave watermark and in my mirrors it does leave watermark depending on how dirty it is

Several months before,I had seen a video here in BLF, showing a cleaning, plus shining, of a flashlight reflector, by some Russian guy.Remember it?
It was those days we talked about the quality of the GT reflector.
The guy who put the link,wrote that the Russian wanted $25.00 for this cleaning.

I have an ultrasonic cleaner and it works well on small reflectors where the factory vapor deposition process was done properly at the correct temperature. Your milage may vary with reflectors from really, really budget lights though.

I use medical grade 99% pure anhydrous alcohol which is often labeled Isopropanol at drug stores for cleaning larger reflectors and the primary mirrors of my telescopes.

A low budget hack if you don’t have an ultrasonic cleaner is to pop a fresh battery into a new battery powered toothbrush and dip the head of the turned on toothbrush into the Isopropanol bath the reflector is soaking in. The small amount of vibration from the brush head soon gets the fluid in the container moving in a manner that touchlessly scrubs the reflector surface until the battery runs down to zero juice.

It works!

The one thing you should avoid at your own risk is physically wiping the reflector surface with anything…yes, anything. Do Not Touch.

I use a spray for cleaning glasses. The dutch brand is Talba Glashelder AKA Seesoo. Unfortunately I could not find the chemical composition of the stuff. It comes in form of a small spray bottle. Spray the reflector until droplets are visible. Wait a (short) moment. Then poor destilled water down the reflector. Most of the water will disappear without a trace. Get rid of the rest by dry-waving the reflector. I won’t say it is perfect but it helps a lot when having a dusty reflector. Please avoid touching the surface of the reflector!

Guys,

Solution is very simple. It is LCD screen cleaning adhesive like this:

And someone mentioned no microfiber cloth? I disagree… There are different gradients of microfiber cloths.
If you are hunter use that kind of microfiber cloth we mostly use for cleaning of our expensive rifle scopes. Every serious manufacturer like Zeiss or Swarovski provides it.

So first blow all visible particles with air. Than lightly spray reflector and gently clean with super fine microfiber cloth (don’t use that one provided with LCD adhesive cause it is rough).

Same technique works for dirty aspheric lens.

For simple cleaning, a neutral detergent rinsed off with distilled (not de-ionised) water. When properly clean, the water will run off, no beading.

I use Teepol L (laboratory glassware detergent). http://teepol.co.uk/products/l.html

If no true distilled water is available, scrape some frost out of your freezer and melt it. It is pure H2O, sublimed.

For more contaminated reflectors, lenses etc. ROR fluid ROR Optics Cleaner - Residual Oil Remover - distributed by Newpro UK Ltd

It is basically dilute ammonia solution, with some stabilisers and magic ingredients. Ultra pure, no residues. I’ve tried making my own, but nothing like as good. Convenient and works so well.

Applied with ideally a PEC pad, https://photosol.com/products/pecpad/ These can also be used for cleaning digital camera sensors, with “Eclipse fluid” (actually analytical grade methanol).

Or a good microfibre lens cloth Amazon.co.uk

Do not use e.g. strongly caustic household detergents, thickened with salt, or strong alcohol, on aluminium reflectors, they can corrode them. Maybe not immediately, but the chemicals are not compatible.

Edit: Not for reflectors, but if you have something really grubby, a chemical/nuclear decontamination fluid such as Decon 90 works wonders: http://www.decon.co.uk/english/decon90.asp

lol i found that the hard way. :person_facepalming:

I use a microfiber cloth that I got for cleaning glasses. It does not scratch reflectors. I just blow air from my mouth on the reflector and use the cloth for any remaining pieces of dust. I wait to wipe it until after any condensation from my breath evaporates.

For the lens, I spray Windex (glass cleaner) on both sides and wipe it clean with the same microfiber cloth. I then blow air on it to remove any dust, wipe it again, and repeat until all the dust is gone.

Then quickly assemble the reflector and lens and inspect to make sure I didn’t miss any dust before tightening everything up. If any specks of dust are discovered later, I’ll decide if it’s worth redoing since sometimes redoing it may make it worse.