Running water and soap foam (not normal soap) and your bare clean finger can work. Afterwards you need to wash it off with distilled water and let it dry. Don't use any cloths, they will easily scratch your reflector. In most cases it's best to not clean it at all. The chances of ruining it are high.
“Don’t use any cloths”… Hmmm… I will disagree with most guys here.
There are clothes - and “there are clothes” Super fine microfiber cloth will not damage reflector…. Fine microfiber cloths are used for super expensive 2000+ Euro riflescopes like Zeiss and Swarovski. For cleaning their lenses and AR coating on them(which is btw more sensitive than reflector) so it will definitely not scratch Simon’s reflector :laughing:
Hi The Driver! Where are you man 
Maybe check if you can get a new reflector before cleaning, just in case it gets fubar.
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The coating is pure aluminum and is soft as warm butter, so basically untouchable ( exception for Enderman’s method ).
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Even can air will damage it, if Freon comes out accidentally as it has already happened to me twice.
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Only the small cheap plastic reflectors are chrome coated and are easily cleaned without damage.
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I will try the warm sink water, then distilled water, can air method on a spare reflector.
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I just screwed up an S3-21700's host reflector, luckily there are spares. But it's very easy to damage the reflector surface with alcohol, super easy. I gave it a bath of isopropyl alcohol, rubbed it with a q-tip, and I was already noticing some subtle white streaks. Then, after another bath in ethyl alcohol, the white streak index increased… :facepalm:
It's hard not to be judgmental with this stuff; with how easy is to screw up standard reflectors, that is. I don't think there's a real need to make something so fragile. :|
Hope I learn the lesson this time. O:)
Nice info. I would love to see all reflectors made with a durable coating.
So no one want to listen to me? Than fine you’ll all destroy your reflectors… Enjoy on a hard way
For the last time LCD TV soapy fluid & superfine microfiber clothes!
Microfiber clothes that is used for riflescope cleaning, and there is nothing more sensitive than AR coating of riflescopes and some are in 2000$ range.
So spray with mentioned soapy fluid, blow that with compressor or compressed air and then gently use superfine microfiber cloth in circular motion.
Done that with cheap plastic reflectors(Jacob A60) and expensive reflectors (olight, Dereelight, Lumapower) and I never damaged anything…
Just because a rifle scope costs $2000, doesn’t mean it’s coating is softer than the aluminum coating on a reflector. It might be, but I doubt it.
Reflectors really shouldn’t get that dirty. Usually they’re inside a light, which should have o-rings preventing dust ingress. The only time dust should get on them is during disassembly when modding.
And for that just take care not to sneeze inside your reflector when the light is open. Use a Kleenix!
The few specs of dust or lint that get inside while modding can just be blown off. Compressed air canisters also work, but keep the nozzle at some distance from the reflector. If you have it too close it may leave a layer of gunk. A safer idea is probably to use a camera squeezebulb or a compressed CO2 canister with no propellant.
I can confirm that cheap microfiber cloth is bad idea, here's my Mateminco MTY1
but I had to disassemble it. because it rattle, and after disassembly if couple times, I got it to stop rattling, but had ton of dust on reflector, and ton other stuff on glass. The design is just bad, you screw aluminium bezel directly to the glass, without an o'ring. And the reflector is held in place by only inner o'ring beneath the glass
Again thanks for the contributions.
With this you mean some sort of cleaning fluid aimed at TV screens, or maybe those cleaning fluids available at optical stores :???: for glasses and lenses. Cleaning fluids which don't mess with the reflector surface, that is.
My reflector was already “stained” with some rosin flux, and so I guess that I probably had sentenced it to death already.
I am surprised no one asked if it’s metal or plastic. That will determine how you clean it.
Probably because almost every light any of us owns on this forum has a metal reflector with a vaporized aluminum coating.
Plastic reflectors were much more common on older cheap lights. They aren’t so common on the lights most of us are buying today.
The coating on plastic reflectors is actually quite durable. A disposable alcohol microfiber lens wipe works just fine for cleaning them.
Dear Lord!
What you did here?! Like you used sandpaper :laughing:
Should I quote myself again from this thread? Ok here we go:
Of course if you use kitchen microfiber clothes that you’ll damage things up. You have super superfine microfiber clothes. Put this into aliexpress search-bar: ” 400*400mm Big Size Cleaning Cloth Chamois Microfiber ”
The key is to use proper steps in cleaning for example if hot rosin flux exploded into reflector during soldering like it happened to Barkutti immediately take mentioned soapy spray solution and spray whole reflector. After that use compressed air or air compressor. Now when things are blow out and dry use superfine microfiber cloths to gently wipe reflector into one way circular motion (not bad idea to hold cloth in one hand gently pressed to reflector surface while spinning reflector with other). Use one side of microfiber cloth while doing that, than other dry side for finishing. You got to have “touch” for everything you do.
For delicate surfaces like reflector one you surely don’t wanna roughly rubbing things out… So you find out that on a hard way…
For some China reflector it is impossible to remove some speckles inside of them cause they are product of bad production process… So if you can’t do it gently you’ll certainly not accomplish anything roughly.
There really isn’t a need to solder when the reflector is exposed and actually inside the light.
When soldering, place the reflector on the other side of the room in a closed box. That way there should be minimal risk of stuff splattering into the reflector.
Used the microfiber cloth that came with monitor cleaning set (I used to clean my monitors with it)
Just rinsed reflector under tap, and wiped/rubbed it dry with circular motion, with that microfiber, that wasn't the best idea :D
The beam is a little distorted now (see when rotating flashlight), but well, you can't really see anything with this flashlight anyway. So a little more spill from the hotspot, isn't that bad. it's still like 450k candela hotspot.
When I disassemble a light for moding, immediately cover both ends with painters tape to keep out dust. Some dust specks will still get in, so I use air in a can from a distance, never close ! If any specks stay, I leave them ! Minimum damage is the goal.
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Notice all the dust drifting around inside with a strong flashlight and you will understand why its important to cover the ends quickly.
My advice and what has worked for me, if you never touch them, you will never have to clean them.
If you need to clean, consider windex or alcohol (for the reflector, not for you.)
When I remove a reflector from a light, I immediately put it on a table face-down, and then often put something over the exposed LED aperture.
I use an air can that supposedly has no contaminants - Stoner Gust Easy Duster. Probably recommended here some years ago. Just bought my 2nd can here: On Amazon US. Use it regularly on reflectors and inside of lenses before final assembly - never a problem.
I don’t know what these Chinese reflectors are coated with, clear varnish or something maybe, but the one I tried to clean with a Mil-spec optics cleaning wipe scratched. My good electroformed reflectors with aluminum quartz (AQ) coating can withstand being wiped with the same cloth without any apparent damage. I use Mil-spec optics cleaning cloth held with bamboo tweezers, PUROSOL, FIRST CONTACT, distilled or reverse osmosis water, and compressor air blast from my shop which is dried by a refrigerated air dryer. A hand pump is another option. Physical touch with a cloth should be a last resort.
I destroyed my thor 1 lens wiping it on my firehose pants. Lol. It looks like bad swirl marks on a cars paintjob. Lol. And I had microfiber cloths at home...
Blow gently to form some condensation and then gently wipe with a microfiber. I usually just kind of wad the microfiber up into the reflector and spin it a little. Works well for dust and little marks.