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.
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.
Exactly! Several flashlights from China come with finger prints smeared onto their reflector surfaces from incompetent workers. From another member here, (I forgot which one) I use diluted Dawn dish washing detergent in distilled water and rub very lightly with my fingers to cleans. The film strength from the detergent prevents direct skin contact if very light pressure is applied. Then rinse with distilled water and dry with low pressure filtered compressed air. Alcohol, Xylene, Acetone, MEK, etc., can remove or dull reflector coatings and should be avoided… same goes for any DIRECT contact with fingers, cotton, etc.
soft cloth and windex
same way you clean glasses or camera lenses
that aluminum coating is VERY fragile and thin, usually
wle
With the Chinese reflectors, you cannot touch them with any kind of cloth without damaging them, or use “first contact” solution because it is acetone based. The best you can do is rinse with soap and water, or purosol, followed by an air blast. There is no reason to go beyond a rinse + blast anyway because you cannot repair a damaged reflector by cleaning it, and any embedded particles are best left embedded, you aren’t going to improve on the situation.
It may be possible to physically touch the reflector surface without damaging it with certain techniques, such as soap + finger, with a very light touch / tap, or something along these lines, but you run a risk, and there is likely no need.
Electroformed reflectors with Si02 overcoat can be touched with a lens grade cleaning cloth without damaging them, and first contact solution can be used. These are a different grade of product than your average flashlight reflector.
A stubborn dust particle (or other imperfections) can usually be nudged with a split toothpick and removed with compressed air.
in the meantime, I cleaned the reflectors with Vinile Record antistatic liquid and hot air with good results.
I like to use silicone tape, it's a soft, transparent, solid rubber-like material that sticks to almost anything. It does not interact at all with the reflector (won't stick, scratch, or leave residue even if you press it hard against the reflector), but will stick to and remove any dust on it.
I understand why it does not scratch (very soft) or leave residue (completely homogeneous solid substance that does not break off easily), but don't understand why it doesn't stick to the reflector, not even a little bit. It's magic to me, but does make silicone tape the best reflector cleaner I've ever come across.
The last reflector I got from KD didn’t have any fingerprints or much dust on it, but appeared to have tiny dead insects. Weird!
I tried soaking it in water with dishwashing detergent, swishing it around, rinsing it under the faucet, putting it in distilled water, and then drying it with compressed air (from my air compressor). That made an improvement, but the insects remained.
So I took a cotton swab, dipped it in the dishwashing detergent water, put some dishwashing detergent on it, and gently rubbed it on the reflector. It was hard to hold the reflector since it was so slippery from the dishwashing detergent. Did the same again with rinsing and drying and it made a big improvement. Thankfully there were no scratches.
I repeated this several more times. There was 1 insect spot that eventually didn’t get any better, so it was time to stop. The reflector turned out great!
