mirror cleaning help

I just purchased a meade 4500 from a garage sale yesterday and the
optics are fairly dirty. This thing has been sitting in a dusty place
with the optics exposed for some time. After getting the surface dust
and dirt off the primary it is still very hazy, so it looks like the
dirt is really embedded. Can anyone give me some advice on getting
the mirror cleaned up, short of re-silvering it or getting a new
mirror. Thanks in advance.

Sounds like there is a film on there of dirty stuff. There are several
websites that describe the correct procedures for cleaning optics. The best
I've seen is the Antique Telescope Society's one.

--
Bob May
Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less.
Works every time it is tried!

(Geo) wrote in message . com...
I just purchased a meade 4500 from a garage sale yesterday and the
optics are fairly dirty. This thing has been sitting in a dusty place
with the optics exposed for some time. After getting the surface dust
and dirt off the primary it is still very hazy, so it looks like the
dirt is really embedded. Can anyone give me some advice on getting
the mirror cleaned up, short of re-silvering it or getting a new
mirror. Thanks in advance.

Every now and then I find an old scope from decades past in my garage that
need to be cleaned. What works for me is this:

pull the mirror out and douse it with pure isopropyl alcohol (I use MG Chemicals
99.953% pure anhydrous, Cat# 824-1, www.mgchemicals.com), swirl it around, let
it sit, add more and swirl it around, then rinse with distilled water and blow
off any droplets with a hand-squeeze air bulb (from any photo shop). Almost
without exception this works perfectly.

Sometimes stains can be removed with an alcohol-soaked Kleenex (do not
substitute) tissue lightly wiped across the stain, then rinse/swirl again with
more alcohol followed again by a distilled water rinse.

If the mirror coating is deteriorated, then recoating is required (and it'll
already be clean :-)

Here's a link to a description of what I did to successfully clean a filthy
30 year old mirror:

http://www.nwlink.com/~filmdos/m111/...t.htm#Cleaning

-Paul S. Walsh



"Geo" wrote in message
om...
I just purchased a meade 4500 from a garage sale yesterday and the
optics are fairly dirty. This thing has been sitting in a dusty place
with the optics exposed for some time. After getting the surface dust
and dirt off the primary it is still very hazy, so it looks like the
dirt is really embedded. Can anyone give me some advice on getting
the mirror cleaned up, short of re-silvering it or getting a new
mirror. Thanks in advance.