Need to clean optical cement off of Rodenstock lens

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I am in the process of repairing a badly separated Rodenstock Sironar and I have the doublets apart but cannot get the remaing cement to clean off of the optics. I have tried reheating in Oil to 450 degrees (that's how I got them apart to start with), soaking in various paint thinners containing methylene chloride, acetone etc.. Nothing has made a dent in the remaing cement.

Ideas?

-- Jim Roof (jim@jimroofcreative.com), March 11, 2002

Answers

You might try contacting S.K. Grimes or the folks at

http://www.focalpointlens.com/fp_intro.html

and ask them for advice.

DW

-- Dave Willis (willisd@medicine.wustl.edu), March 11, 2002.


Ultrasound and acetone will do the job, but may take a while. Keep acetone away from any non-glass parts of the lens assembly.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), March 12, 2002.

I've found that household ammonia works well at removing dry adhesives from various glass items. The one optical element from an old test jig I dissassembled had epoxy on it and the epoxy just fell off after an hour of soaking.

I don't believe that the ammonia affects AR coatings but because ammonia is alkaline, chemically active and is mostly water, it may cause damage. It didn't for me in the above case. BTW, I use ammonia and hydrogen peroxide to clean optical elements and haven't had any trouble.

Any comments on possible interactions?

Cheers,

-- Duane K (dkucheran@creo.com), March 13, 2002.


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