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Krumholtz
Tinkerer
Username: Krumholtz
Post Number: 5
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 08, 2011 - 12:57 pm: | 
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I'm in the process of cleaning a 1936 Voigtlander Brilliant, and for the life of me I cannot separate from the shutter mechanism the lens element that sits immediately in front of the shutter/iris. The mechanism is extremely dirty (I found a dead bug inside!), and I'd like to flood it with Ronsonol, but I don't want to damage the optics. I could always flush the mechanism, but I think flooding it would be more effective. Any thoughts? Thanks! |
Waynemel
Tinkerer
Username: Waynemel
Post Number: 4
Registered: 08-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 08, 2011 - 01:02 pm: |
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I haven't heard any cases of lighter fluid harming optics. |
Clay
Tinkerer
Username: Clay
Post Number: 41
Registered: 12-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 08, 2011 - 03:06 pm: |
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I tried to post this just now but it never showed up.Hope this isn't a double post: Lower down this
page is this thread;
https://kyp.hauslendale.com/classics/forum/messages/2/19466.html?1283714606
Best regards,
/Clay |
Mndean
Tinkerer
Username: Mndean
Post Number: 241
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 09, 2011 - 08:40 am: |
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The only way I can see of lighter fluid "harming" a lens is if in flooding the shutter, the fluid carries debris/grease onto the lens glass, which then would require cleaning. |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 886
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 09, 2011 - 08:51 am: |
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You will not harm glass optical elements by using Ronsonol, but be aware however that flooding with this solvent will probably leave the lens surface looking very 'streaky/dirty'. The thin layer of dirt on the lens surface, deposited over 75 years, needs a bit of 'rubbing' to remove it - just rinsing with solvent does not do anything.
A word of warning for the future. Unless you are very sure on the purity of the solvent you are using, do not attempt to clean modern optics with aspherical elements made from plastic by this method. Here in the UK I have come across a couple of very iffy solvents recently. I suspect that these bulk, ie 1.0 and 2.5 litre, products available from various DIY outlets are sourced from reclaimed industrial cleaning solvents. Nothing wrong in that for their intended purpose, but the small amounts of acetone in one example and methylene chloride in the other will spell disaster for modern 'plastic' optical elements. |
Gez
Tinkerer
Username: Gez
Post Number: 246
Registered: 09-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 09, 2011 - 12:03 pm: |
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I'd like to support Glenn's observation. Ronsonol is at least 90% heptane/octane and won't harm glass surfaces, but paint grade 'white spirits' can contain 30% aromatic hydrocarbons, probably xylenes, and such solvent mixtures can attack the balsam in cemented doublets. |
Hanskerensky
Tinkerer
Username: Hanskerensky
Post Number: 74
Registered: 05-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 09, 2011 - 12:17 pm: |
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I have no experience with the Brilliant but sometimes had the same problems with lenses on other cameras. In many cases applying a bit of heat from a hairdryer for some minutes solved the issue.
Applying (NOT spraying) with a needle some MICROdrops of WD-40 or contactcleaner on the edge of the thread and letting that penetrate for a day also can be of help. Don't apply to much because you don't want this stuff creeping to the glasses of the lens.
Until now i didn't have any issues with genuine lighterfluid and optics. As Glenn allready stated you may get streaks but these normally can be removed with i.e. ROR. |
Cooltouch
Tinkerer
Username: Cooltouch
Post Number: 66
Registered: 01-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 04:13 pm: |
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Years ago, I was told by an old-time camera repair guy to use naphtha instead of lighter fluid because it was the same thing and cost a lot less. So I have. Heck, I even use naphtha in an old Zippo lighter I have. Works fine. First I've ever heard about other ingredients it may contain, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Mostly, I use it for cleaning aperture iris blades and such.
The stuff I usually buy is sold by Ace Hardware here in the States, and is called "VM&P Naphtha Pure." I don't think I even own or have come into contact with modern plastic aspherical lenses, but there are other plastic optical surfaces -- like the glasses I'm wearing right now -- that I should be concerned about, I suppose. I reckon I could test some of this Ace naphtha on an old set of glasses and see if anything interesting happens, eh? |
Donnie_strickland
Tinkerer
Username: Donnie_strickland
Post Number: 99
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 06:24 pm: |
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All I've ever used is Ronsonol lighter fluid, and I've never seen it to affect any optics I've worked on (which were all glass). I have tried it on modern plastic eyeglass lenses, which had been cracked previously and so were good candidates for testing. It had no visible effect on those either. I have not tried it on plastic camera lenses yet, as I've had none to try. |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 888
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 02:46 am: |
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I am not sure of all the US designations for pure, 'single cut' solvents, but do know that Naphtha Pure denotes the 100% pucka stuff.
The two iffy UK examples I mentioned were cheap, too cheap really compared with the market, so another example of 'you get what you pay for' I expect. Still to be fair on the retailers they were not advertised as pure solvent, but neither was the 'reclaimed?' source mentioned. |
