Lens Cleaning

[woofer]

I have posted this question on the"other" forum as well....but thought i would ask here as well.

IF and HOW do users "clean" the outer lens element on Projectors?

No matter how clean the environment, particles of "dust" always seem to find their way onto the outer lens element.

So...do you ignore, or is there a preferred "Safe" method ?

Just how "anal" do we have to be in this regard?

Thanks

[Andreas21]

Just ignore it as it is not affecting the image at all if it only normal specs of dust. If you really have to clean it do it with compressed air.

[ericglo]

Darin used to use some spray on chemical. Not sure if he still uses it anymore.

I use little glass clothes that I received with my glasses. The cleaner is my glass cleaner of 10% alcohol, 1% dishwashing detergent and the rest distilled water.

[Dylan Seeger]

As Andreas mentioned, do not clean your lens unless there is a substantial amount of dust on it. There will always be dust on the lens and normally it has no bearing on image quality. If you must clean it, try blowing it off with air first. If someone has touched the glass and there is oil or other debris on the lens use this:

https://www.amazon.com/Formula-Spray-Cleaner-Peca-Products/dp/B00012BZGU

and

http://www.cleanoptics.com/shopexd.asp?id=13

Only use those optical tissues with that spray. Those tissues are designed not to scratch high quality optics but also they're designed to be used with a liquid cleaner. If you use a microfiber cloth, you'll get streaks (residual cleaner) on your lens. Spray first and then use a tissue or two to clean and soak up all the cleaner. I use a combination of these two when a lens needs to be cleaned and the results are excellent. When the astronauts clean optics in space, these are the two things they use. You can use something like this to blow dust off and that should be your first thing to try before the spray/tissues:

https://www.amazon.com/Giottos-AA1900-Rocket-Blaster-Large/dp/B00017LSPI/ref=pd_bxgy_421_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=GKBVHNE8GSFQEMQQEKPP

I work in a lab environment and we have gallons of RO/DI water on tap. If you have access to super clean water like that and lab grade low lint tissues it could be a good alternative, but these items above are already extremely cheap so it's a no-brainer.

[DavidHir]

I used to be really into astronomy and telescopes.  The rule with eye pieces and mirrors was always do not physically clean them until you absolutely had too as you risk removing delicate coatings.  Some dust and even smudge marks were acceptable and did not affect performance. 

I recall someone who posted at RS57 in the AVS classifieds once who stated he physically cleaned the lens every few months.   

[Andreas21]

Like David says over here you should never touch the lens until you really have to, the coatings are very delicate and even the most delicate microfiber cloth can ponentially damage it.

[woofer]

Thanks for al the replies .

Since this is the most expensive projector i have owned (Z1/RS4500) , i am probably a little to "anal" about the dust particles that have settled on the lens ...its a big lens , so its easier to notice.
I have in the past never cleaned the dust from the outer lens on my other projectors....just learnt to ignore it.. So i will just have to get back into this frame of mind..