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Do you love cleaning your bins? (1 Viewer)

R

RichardF

Member
In August last year I found this place whilst researching the purchase of my first pair of "proper" bins. In the end I bought some 8x32 Imagic BGA SEs and I absolutely love them.

Usually only I use them, but recently I went on holiday to Tenerife with extended family and my bins were used by children and other people who know nothing about binoculars. Over the course of a week they have been subject to ice-cream, greasy fingers, sea spray, ladies eye makeup (not mine honest), sun tan lotion and dust and grease. Oh and flakey pastry too. :-C
On the last day before we returned, I sat on a balcony and examined them. It was not a pretty sight.

This morning back here in Blighty I took them out and ran them under a warm tap, and gently wiped the rubber with a cloth and a weak solution of house-hold cleaner. After the rubber dried I took out the Opticron cleaning kit (supplied free by Sherwoods at time of purchase) and sparingly applied the lens cleaning fluid with the applicator. After that I gently polished the lenses with microfibre cloth. It took about 20 minutes and was an utter labour of love. They look totally new again. Unblemished and unmarked. :t:

So then, do you get some sort of satisfaction when cleaning your glass or am I alone (and should get out more)!!?
 
Yes yes fun stuff. Sometimes cleaning near the edges with a Q tip. About as much [fun] as cleaning between tiles in the bathroom with a tooth brush.;)
 
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Tero,

I just had to Google Q tip!! Ohh, I see cotton bud! I didn't use one this time but I'll put a couple in my cleaning kit for next time. On second thoughts - there will not be a next time.

They can all get their own bins to abuse! :-O
 
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I've owned my 8x42 Ultravids for almost a year now and I can truthfully say that I am scared to death to clean mine. All I have done is blow and softly brush the lenses. I am very careful about how I use and store them, but the day will come when I have to clean them.

Please help me overcome this phobia,
John
 
The suncreen may be OK, but the insect repellant seems to dmage the rubber, keep it off the binoculars if possible. Wipe hands on pants before you grab the bins.
 
Well at this point in my life, I make it a point to take reasonable care in the field with binoculars. I also will use them in whatever way they need to be used.

I frankly do not have a phobia about cleaning binoculars, nor do I see a need to keep them germ free either. How does reasonable applications of lens cleaning solutions (I have a bottle of the Zeiss product), a good lens pen/brush, a clean Q-Tip, a little water, and a good clean soft cloth give anybody pause? This is no different than maintaining the oil level in your vehicle, it is mandatory, routine maintenance. So is using the carry strap, case, rain guard, and objective covers. So is a little common sense. If it is too fragile to be properly cleaned, it is not worth owning. Neither is it worth owning if there is not a bit of tough factor for the inevitable lapse.

Anyway, when I need to clean the lens, I clean the lens. As far as I can tell all coatings on my binoculars remain unharmed. Not cleaning, or more precisely improper cleaning, is more of an issue to me.
 
John M Robinson said:
I've owned my 8x42 Ultravids for almost a year now and I can truthfully say that I am scared to death to clean mine. All I have done is blow and softly brush the lenses. I am very careful about how I use and store them, but the day will come when I have to clean them.

Please help me overcome this phobia,
John
Click to expand...

John, John, John... relax. Just do what Richard did and run under the tap with tepid water. Make a mild solution of suds in your hands with dishwashing soap and massage everywhere including the lenses. Rinse and spray lenses with Windex, rub lightly and rinse again...well. Towel off the bins (not the lenses) and dry the lenses with a micro fiber cloth. Voila! Like new.

I cleaned a pair of 10x42 Trinovids with soap and water probable 50 times in the 12 years I had them and the day I sold them the lenses were like brand new.

BTW the Windex is to remove any oil or other residue that dishwashing soap sometimes has.

All the various pens and potions are so much hocus pocus IMO and good old soap and water can't be beat, followed by a micro fiber cloth.
 
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Tero said:
The suncreen may be OK, but the insect repellant seems to dmage the rubber, keep it off the binoculars if possible. Wipe hands on pants before you grab the bins.
Click to expand...

DEET insect repellant (which is the active ingredient in practically anything effective) eats plastic. Try spraying it on a carrier bag for confirmation. Keep it away from anything delicate... like binoculars.
 
I have a phobia about putting insect repellent on my skin—I’ve taken to wearing thin leather gloves (I got mine at Filson) to block mosquitoes and flies. Keeps the binoculars clean too. Now if I could keep them off my head . . .
 
BeesWing said:
I have a phobia about putting insect repellent on my skin—I’ve taken to wearing thin leather gloves (I got mine at Filson) to block mosquitoes and flies. Keeps the binoculars clean too. Now if I could keep them off my head . . .
Click to expand...

A leather mask?

Not that you'd get stopped a lot or anything ... ;)

On a more practical note ... I use a hat that I spray with DEET on the top and bottom of the brim. Keeps the DEET off my face (and glasses) and seems to keep the mosquitoes off my face too (even when they're at quite a high density).
 
I know the feeling you are trying to relate. It is almost as if you are making your binoculars new again. Having the satisfaction that you somehow "righted" some wrong.

Oh, I know that feeling too well.

;)
 
Kevin Conville said:
John, John, John... relax. Just do what Richard did and run under the tap with tepid water. Make a mild solution of suds in your hands with dishwashing soap and massage everywhere including the lenses. Rinse and spray lenses with Windex, rub lightly and rinse again...well. Towel off the bins (not the lenses) and dry the lenses with a micro fiber cloth. Voila! Like new.

I cleaned a pair of 10x42 Trinovids with soap and water probable 50 times in the 12 years I had them and the day I sold them the lenses were like brand new.

BTW the Windex is to remove any oil or other residue that dishwashing soap sometimes has.

All the various pens and potions are so much hocus pocus IMO and good old soap and water can't be beat, followed by a micro fiber cloth.
Click to expand...

+1 on this technique except for the Windex.

Just very ordinary handsoap (hypoallgenic works best as it has minimum additives that can smear).

And I always blow off the lenses first, then rinse them.

Don't use water jets; gently running water is fine. And check the bin is immersion proof.

I had a problem recently with third party objective covers on a Celestron Ultima DX which had oozed plasticizer onto the lenses. Isopropanol wouldn't move it. The dish washing detergent wasn't as good in this case as the regular hand soap (control case!). After a couple of washes with soap and a finger and rinses I shook the bins dry and wicked off the remaining rinsing water with the edge of a toilet paper (no additives!). Lenses looked like new. Plus the sap droplets I'd accumulated had gone too.

I use the same process (soap and water and a fingertip) on my plastic eyeglasses (CR39 ... softer than glass!) and avoid scratches this way.

And yes it is a nice feeling (and a relief) to see the lenses emerge as good as new (with no new scratches).
 
I have a lot of experience with vintage second hand bins. It seems that the most common cleaning procedure, is to lift up your shirt-tail and use your thumb to agressively wipe the eye lenses...and work the sand and soil over the coatings and glass in a circular motion.
 
After cleaning, there's always that dramatic, heart-stopping moment, when you scrutinize the lenses in the severest glancing light, and ask, "any scratches yet?". If no, grab a cold one and toast those beautiful coatings. If yes, "dress in sack cloth, pluck out your eyelashes, cover your head with ashes, and cut your self with knives" (apologies to the Bible).
Ron
 
Kevin,

The windex is useful as many soaps and detergents have oils and such added as moisturizers. After the initial rinsing off the suds, a quick spray on the lenses with the windex followed with a light rub with the fingers, then a thorough rinsing with water leaves them squeaky clean. The windex is on the lens for but 20 seconds or so and neatly nips any streaking issues in the bud.

If one doesn't have a proper micro fiber cloth to dry the lenses, WHITE non-scented Kleenex (only) brand tissue is the next best. Use a light touch. Any lint left by the tissue can be blown off with a bulb blower or CAREFULLY with canned air.
 
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You do realize that that "squeaky clean" is often done by adding a polysiloxane to the dish detergent. You don't want that on the lens. In fact it's another reason for choosing cheap detergent (they tend to have fewer additive).

Hypoallergenic soap doesn't have any of these things (other soaps do ... they're a pain in the butt and they do streak).

I do like microfiber clothes too but I don't rub with the absorbant tissue I use I touch the edge of the tissue to the drops. A breath and microfiber can be used to clean.

Any lint left in my case can be blown off with a hand puffer. It really is air in that case (not pressurized butane ... it can spit liquid).

Each to his own ... but I do this every day to my glasses.
 
orbitaljump said:
I have a lot of experience with vintage second hand bins. It seems that the most common cleaning procedure, is to lift up your shirt-tail and use your thumb to agressively wipe the eye lenses...and work the sand and soil over the coatings and glass in a circular motion.
Click to expand...

I cured myself of this in Central Oregon (high desert).

I washed my eyeglasses one morning and decided to dry them with my T-shirt. I'd been wearing it the previous day. It always worked before in damp Seattle.

About 20 seconds later I'd damaged two CR39 lenses beyond use (a really incredible number of scratches).

My T-shirt had picked up blown dust the previous day - not enough to see or feel but enough to scratch the lenses.

Never again :)

ronh: yeap, dreading that moment I put of cleaning my first set of bins for quite a while (perhaps not a bad thing in itself). But when it works it really does look great.

The ability to use soap and water (or detergent and water) to clean bins and to be able to rise off muddy bins is perhaps one of the biggest wins for waterproof (immersion proof) bins. The number of times you drop them in the river is massively outnumbered by the easy cleaning opportunities. No more fiddling with magic solutions and Q tips!
 
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I have cleaned my new Zeiss Diascope eyepiece lens three times now, each time with EXTREME care-blowing muck off, then using the fine brush, putting it under a tap, and then cotton bud with lens cleaner solution.

AND IT ALREADY HAS A SCRATCH!!!!!!! What is particularly irritating is that I have been cleaning my considerably cheaper Opticron bins for ages now (about 80 times) with considerably less care and they are good as new right now. So what is going on???
 
Kevin Purcell said:
The ability to use soap and water (or detergent and water) to clean bins and to be able to rise off muddy bins is perhaps one of he biggest wins for waterproof (immersion proof) bins. The number of times you drop them in the river is massively outnumbered by the easy cleaning opportunities. No more fiddling with magic solutions and Q tips!
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Add to that clean up after dusty and salty environs, also sunscreen and sweat. One advantage that doesn't get much airplay about sealed/purged bins is their internal reliability aside from direct water exposure. If air can't get in then neither can moisture which can allow fungus to grow, internal fogging, or oxidation of silver coated surfaces. This is exacerbated by significant altitude changes. As the pressure in the bins tries to equalize with ambient pressure it either pushes or sucks moving undesirable things with it.

What got me interested in my first pair of Leica Trinovid Ultras many years ago was my exposure to Zeiss Dialyts whose prisms turned black from oxidation. I'm reluctant to buy any non waterproof bins.
 
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Like others, I too prefer mild soap and water. That works fine when you are someplace with access. Too many people have done what Kevin did with the t-shirt trick, and that includes me. That is also the reason why I now pack some lens cleaner and an appropriate lens cloth always with me. One goes in the gear pack, and one in the pickup, and is thus never too far away. That little bottle of solution is most assuredly "magic" when you're out in the middle of nowhere and "viola' a dirty lens". Beats the he!! out of a T-Shirt.
 
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