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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WJC" data-source="post: 3170803" data-attributes="member: 25191">I wish this guy had given his advice to poor Al Nagler, who designed the optics for NASA's Apollo Program and has produced some of the world's most sought after telescopes and eyepieces, and me, who has repaired a few thousand optical instruments. We might have been better-informed people.Fact is: most of today's best selling lens cleaner is just the Windex formula, without Aqua Tint.Windex was invented in 1933, and the same formula has been used by the non-"A" types since then.From the book:" . . . I found three cleaning solutions to be the most practical.1. The first is a light ammonium hydroxide mixture, known to the more scientific among us as NH4OH. To make this chemical at home, you start with 4 ounces of household ammonia, to which you add 16 ounces of rubbing alcohol, and add 1 tsp of dishwashing liquid. After this, add enough water to finish filling a 1-gallon container.To those lacking in spare time, or don’t care about besting their neighbor’s secret formula, I would recommend buying it off the shelf; it’s commonly called Windex®. Windex has been around since 1933 and has been part of the S. C. Johnson family of products since 1993. The chemical giving Windex its blue color is called “Aqua Tint.” It’s not necessary, but originally filled an important marketing role; it showed homemakers they were buying something more than water. If you have to have blue liquid and Aqua Tint is not readily available—and it won’t be—you may use a few drops of blue … food dye."Pecos Bill (That's PAY Cos for the tourist trade and PAY cus for the natives) :eek!:</blockquote>

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