Dirty mirror?

Any answers or experiences anyone would like to share?

Use a wire wool and plenty of elbow grease!

I'm joking of course. I had a grimy mirror on my 10" Dob, and I just would
not believe that cleaning it wouldn't improve it. I took advice off this
forum, (I think it was natural soap flakes, nothing chemical, distilled
water and cotton buds ROLLED not Wiped). I spent ages trying to get the
grime off, and still a horrid film was on there.
So in the end I though 'f*ck it' I wiped the mirror with cotton buds, in
the soap/distilled water. It shone like new!
Have I ruined it? Well, it may be scratched to buggery but it's clean. I
refuse to believe a few scratches are worse than a mirror that covered with
a grimy film.
Or am I missing something? (I usually am!).

My Meade Newt has a dirty mirror, a nasty film what looks like
atmospheric grime (the sort you get on the inside of your car
windscreen) and dust. This grime is only going to build and render the
mirror close to useless.

So what is the answer and what are you supposed to do when this
happens? I can't believe you'd just leave it!

Folks on this group have praised Opticlean as the best answer, I've no
experience of the problem myself, but it prolly beats Vim

http://www.dhinds.co.uk/pages/fullProd.php?id=424

mike

"mike ring" wrote in message
. 1.4...


Folks on this group have praised Opticlean as the best answer, I've no
experience of the problem myself, but it prolly beats Vim

http://www.dhinds.co.uk/pages/fullProd.php?id=424


For lenses perhaps but not for mirrors. Besides, you would need quite a few
bottles to cover a 10 inch mirror I would think ;-)

Robin

In ,
Robin Leadbeater typed:
"mike ring" wrote in message
. 1.4...


Folks on this group have praised Opticlean as the best answer, I've
no experience of the problem myself, but it prolly beats Vim

http://www.dhinds.co.uk/pages/fullProd.php?id=424


For lenses perhaps but not for mirrors. Besides, you would need quite
a few bottles to cover a 10 inch mirror I would think ;-)

Robin

Yes, I went to the web site and couldn't find any reference to the area
covered by a tenners worth of Opticlean.

Jo

Jo wrote:
In ,
Robin Leadbeater typed:

"mike ring" wrote in message
3.1.4...

Folks on this group have praised Opticlean as the best answer, I've
no experience of the problem myself, but it prolly beats Vim

http://www.dhinds.co.uk/pages/fullProd.php?id=424


For lenses perhaps but not for mirrors. Besides, you would need quite
a few bottles to cover a 10 inch mirror I would think ;-)

Robin


Yes, I went to the web site and couldn't find any reference to the area
covered by a tenners worth of Opticlean.

Jo



I reckon about 20 to 30 lenses worth, based on whats left in my bottle.

--
Best Regards,

David Harris
Please remove NOSPAM & demunge address to reply :-
g8ina((at))NOSPAMblueyonder(dot)co(dot)uk

suave harv wrote:

Any answers or experiences anyone would like to share?

Use a wire wool and plenty of elbow grease!

I'm joking of course. I had a grimy mirror on my 10" Dob, and I just would
not believe that cleaning it wouldn't improve it. I took advice off this
forum, (I think it was natural soap flakes, nothing chemical, distilled
water and cotton buds ROLLED not Wiped). I spent ages trying to get the
grime off, and still a horrid film was on there.
So in the end I though 'f*ck it' I wiped the mirror with cotton buds, in
the soap/distilled water. It shone like new!
Have I ruined it? Well, it may be scratched to buggery but it's clean. I
refuse to believe a few scratches are worse than a mirror that covered with
a grimy film.
Or am I missing something? (I usually am!).

In this particular case you would be amazed just how dirty a mirror can
be and still give very good images provided that the dirt is random fine
particles or a uniform haze. You lose a bit of light but nothing really
noticeable.

What causes serious damage to image contrast are long linear scratches
or streaks and coherent patterns that cover significant areas of the
mirror. It is all too easy to damage a mirror when cleaning it, and most
beginners want to clean them too often.

NB It is worth cleaning ASAP if you get a direct hit of bird lime or bat
droppings before the chemistry rots the surface (also if you are near to
the sea).

I prefer a dish washing detergent and plenty of distilled water to wash
the residuals away with. My tapwater is too hard even for rough washing.

Regards,
Martin Brown

"knead2no" wrote in message
...
Hi Group,
now I am aware that you should never touch the primary
mirror under any circumstances, but I have a dilemma.

My Meade Newt has a dirty mirror, a nasty film what looks like
atmospheric grime (the sort you get on the inside of your car
windscreen) and dust. This grime is only going to build and render the
mirror close to useless.

Before this happens it would be wise to clean it, but as I said before
I know that is not a wise thing to do!

So what is the answer and what are you supposed to do when this
happens? I can't believe you'd just leave it!

Any answers or experiences anyone would like to share?

Regards

PLM

The thing i could never work out is how dirty is too dirty???

The thing i could never work out is how dirty is too dirty???

I think that would vary from every persons viewpoint. My personal
opinion would be when there is quite noticeable image degradation.

Mark