Scope cleaning

[abunaitoo]

I have a few scopes that are getting foggy around the edges.
Some not worth sending out to do, but some older ones that might be worth it.
One the cheaper one's, I want to try a do it myself.
I know some have coated lens. Can't use alcohol.
How would I clean them?????

Who does scope cleaning????

[Mk42gunner]

I know next nothing about riflescopes; but I always thought if a scope started getting fuzzy edges that it meant at least one of the many lenses had either some coatings beginning to separate, or the glue holding them in place was breaking down.

Robert

[jsizemore]

I stopped in a high end camera shop to see if they had any used spotting scopes. I watched one of the techs cleaning the lens on some fine cameras. He was using this stuff:

http://www.ror.net/wp-content/upload...JUNE-20121.pdf

This is the msds so you can see for yourself what's in there.

[varmintpopper]

I cleaned optics for many years using a mix of pure grain alchohol and acetone. But I don't recommend the average Guy opening up a optical instument for You will most likely fail. Cleaning Optics is an art not easily learned.

Good Shooting

Lindy

[Jim_P]

ROR is good stuff to get off oil (ROR means Residual Oil Remover). ROR contains a heapin helpin of ammonia to break down the oil. It should be used sparingly on a lens cleaning tissue. Make sure you remove anything gritty with air before you use ROR. Good for getting fingerprints off a lens. It will leave a film that's got to be removed as well.

Cleaning any scope like a camera lens is recommended. Ether, Grain Alcohol, Acetone all work even better, with Grain Alcohol my favorite. The other two evaporate so fast as to make it difficult to get a large lens clean. Again, sparingly on a tissue.

Cloudiness on a lens could also mean fungus is growing on the lens. There is no way to clean fungus off a lens as it actually eats the adhesives and coatings. If you live in a high humidity environment, and the lenses are more than a few years old, it might be fungus. Like VarmintPopper said, I would not recommend you disassemble the optics.

Never squirt or drip cleaning fluids on a lens. Always on the tissue. And use lens tissue. They are specifically designed with long fibers not to scratch the coating. Coatings are micron thin deposits of some metallic element (typically) and are easy to scratch. Kleenex will have softeners and other substances embedded into the paper. Don't use them. Use very light pressure on the lens. Infact, best way is to make a Tipi like tent of the tissue and place your solvent on the tissue and then swab the lens with the peak of the tent.

[Silver Eagle]

Used to work in a place that used high end Nikon Measurescope's for measuring parts. We had a service tech come in once a year (or more, if needed.) to clean and calibrate. He had a lab type pump bottle of a purple liquid he used. Asked him what it was. "Sparkle" glass cleaner was the answer. pretty sure those optics were coated. He just did the outside lenses. BTW He went through a lot of lens tissues.