Opticlean Review

By Paul Buglass

For some months now, many of us in the York AS have been wanting to clean some of our eyepieces and other optics, but were worried about the risk of doing more damage than good. A few of us had heard of an interesting product which could be "painted" onto an optical surface, allowed to dry, then peeled off leaving a perfectly clean surface beneath. This product had been well reviewed on a number of Internet sites and forums, and was claimed to work perfectly, and be the safest and best way to restore optical surfaces to pristine condition, without risking any damage to their delicate multicoatings.

Obtaining Opticlean.

After asking around on the Internet uk.astro.sci News Group forum, I discovered a previous supplier of Opticlean no longer had it in stock, so I set about searching for other suppliers. After a few minutes with my favorite search engine I discovered Caliope, a manufacturer and supplier of Opticlean in the UK.

Caliope Ltd, The Studio, High Green, Great Shelford, Cambridge, CB2 5EG, Tel 01223 550 800, Fax 01223 550 801, tonyberg@realnet.ltd.uk

http://www.caliope.co.uk/html/opticlean.html

I contacted Tony Berg and asked which size of pack he felt would be best for astronomy use and the professional pack was recommended. I asked Tony if he could offer a special deal for Astronomy Societies, and he was kind enough to make the following offer :-

"I have thought about your needs and would recommend the Professional Pack as the best size / price solution.   It will clean about 25  25mm optics and retails at £14.95 per pack.   I would be pleased to offer it to you on the following terms   Buy three and get one free and free shipping".

This seemed like a good offer so I ordered 4 packs for £44.85, which works out at £11.22 per pack including delivery.

What you get.

Opticlean, professional pack, comes in a normal retail packaging, and contains a small bottle with integral brush top applicator and an instruction sheet plus numerous adhesive tabs for coating removal.

Using it.

The instructions are printed on the back of the pack, and also on a separate instruction sheet inside the pack.

1) Using the brush, apply Opticlean to the lens surface, being careful to stay about 1mm away from the edge. Allow the coating to flow from the brush, rather than painting it onto the lens surface. Start by going round the edge, then fill in the circle with overlapping strips.

2) Allow 2 to 5 minutes for the coating to cure. (I found 20 plus minutes seemed to work best).

3) Using an adhesive tab placed on the edge of the coating, pull and peel the cured coating off the lens surface.

In reality, it can be a little difficult to see exactly where you are applying the coating because it is clear, and if the lighting is not ideal, it is difficult to see the liquid once it is on the surface. Also, trying to keep it 1 mm away from the edge is a delicate task, but having a good flat surface to work on helps. Keep the lens level while the coating cures, and leave it for at least 20 minutes

Results.

First attempt with a 32mm Celestron Plossl.

This eyepiece is showing the signs of heavy use over the last 3 years, including numerous public star parties. You know what I mean . . . . "Please don't touch the eyepiece", "You mean this?" - finger pressed in the middle of the eyepiece - Doh! - "Yes little boy, I mean that!". Also dew, dust, sneezes, etc all leave their marks. This eyepiece is so bad it has even drawn comments from other YAS members when they have noticed how bad it is.

After removng the rubber eycup to give better access, I carefully applied the Opticlean using the brush to let it flow, rather than "painting" it on. I first trailed it around the edge, trying not to get too close to the rim, and then filled in the rest of the area in the middle. It is important to keep the eyepiece level when doing this, as the layer will flow downhill until it cures, so an excessive tilt will result in the coating being thick at one side, and thin at the other. With hindsight, I could have been more generous, as a thicker layer seems to work more effectively (see my next attempt), and can be removed much more easily, but hey, this was my first attempt.

After about 5 minutes, I applied one of the sticky tabs, and left it for 30 seconds to adhere properly.

Pulling the tab, lifted the edge of the film, but it was quite thin, so didn't come off cleanly. However, it was no problem to pull it all off completely by pulling the lifted part with my fingers, being careful not to touch the optical surface.

The result is a cleaner surface, but not as clean as I was expecting. About 60% to 70% of the contamination is gone, but much still remains. I put this down to maybe having the film too thin, and not letting it cure for long enough.

Second attempt with a Vixen LV 8 to 24mm Zoom eyepiece.

Again a greasy and spotty eyepiece, but one of my most frequently used because a good quality zoom is a very versatile and flexible eyepiece to have.

I applied the Opticlean, this time using a much thicker layer. You can see that I accidently got too close to the edge at the extreme right of the eyepiece and the Opticlean has made contact with the lens mounting ring. this didn't seem to cause any problems when the time came to remove it.

This time I allowed the covering to cure for a good 20 minutes before applying the tab.

The covering peeled off easily in one intact round piece leaving behind a very clean surface. A much better result than my first attempt. I think the difference was due to using a thicker layer and letting it cure for a good 20 minutes. No signs of grease or spots now, and the edge making contact with the mounting ring also just pulled off without any problem. This is a clean eyepiece once more :-).

Third attempt with a 20mm Wide angle eyepiece.

I forgot a before image, but this eyepiece was almost as bad as the 32mm Plossl. Again a thicker coating and 20 minutes plus to cure have produced a spotless eyepiece. I did have some areas where the covering had again made contact with the edge of the lens mounting. This time, small pieces of the coating were left adhering to the edge of the eyepiece. I removed them by using a sheet of paper folded into a corner, and gently used the sharp corner to drag off the remaining coating. This method only touches the extreme edge of the lens against the mounting ring, so will not cause any damage to the multicoatings on the operational part of the lens. The paper "point" is stiff enough so that with repeated draging, it causes the remaining coating to "ball up" and pull free of the mounting ring, eventually being fully detached and able to be pulled away from the eyepiece.

Summary.

It works, but seems to be at its most effective when a thicker coating is used, and at least 20 to 30 minutes are allowed for it to cure. I intend to use it for all my optics from now on, and would recommend it to anyone with messy eyepieces. Contact anyone on the YAS committee if you want to be part of a larger order for multiples of 4 packs, thus getting the reduced price, or for bigger orders, contact Tony Berg at Caliope, and I'm sure he'll help you out.

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