Re: [Paddlewise] Rain-X & Sunglasses

From: Michael Daly <michaeldaly_at_home.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 14:58:18 -0400
Dave Kruger wrote:

> Michael Daly wrote:
> >
> > [... alcohol effect on polycarbonate lenses]

> Michael, most likely the "alcohol" you used was *denatured with* materials
> which DO leach or affect the polycarbonate, as pure "grain" alcohol (we call
> it Everclear around here -- gotta get it from a liquor store) has no
> denaturants in it, only 5 % water.

I used 70% isopropyl alcohol, 30% distilled water from a drugstore.(likely to have
some small amount of unknown contaminants).  In the old days, I used 35% isopropyl
alcohol with the rest distilled water and a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid  per litre.
This was recommended by Celestron for my telescope optics. (Some folks I know
use 100% isopropyl for cleaning optics.)  This worked well for my glass eyeglass lenses,
but proved to be a bad idea when I got my first pair of polycarbonate lenses a few
years ago.

Interestingly, GE says you can use isopropyl alcohol for cleaning fresh paint spills
off of LEXAN (http://www.structuredproducts.ge.com/products/tech_data/cleaning.html).
For regular cleaning, they recommend other materials.  I haven't found specific info on the
web to back up the claims made (that I have repeated) that alcohol damages polycarbonate.
Nonetheless, I have two expensive Nikon eyeglass lenses with a definite pattern in them
that got worse with time.  The damage is consistent with leaching of surface material
from the lens.  Sigh...

Mike.

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Received on Sun Aug 15 1999 - 12:00:34 PDT

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