How and what do you use for cleaning ZnSe lens?

I use pure acetone and Johnson's cotton buds.

OK, thank you, anything else will damage it right?

im no way a laser guy but you think you be able to use anything that was made for cleaning eye glasses.

UH no, :) these lens are not glass or plastic they are are made from Zinc Selenide which will kill you if you ingest it. more info http://www.sttic.com.ru/lpcbc/DANDP/znse_adv.html

glass isn't plastic

for cleaning info see:

http://www.iiviinfrared.com/pdfs/II-VI_irOpticsCleaning.pdf

No kidding, I fixed my post what I was typing and what I was thinking were two different things.

The only danger I know of is if you smash an optic and then try and breath it in or eat it. If you are likely to do that then laser cutting might not be a good move.

Graham

p.s. Am also building a laser cutter, a tiny one to start with using some surplus linear steppers and then a larger one. I already have a 50W Synrad as a source.

I got acetone with high purity from ebay, ordered kodak lens cleaning paper and a blower from a photo supply place, and got talc-free disposable gloves from the paint supply section at home depot, and followed the instructions on:

http://www.optics.umicore.com/am4/docs/pdf/helpulo_cleaning.pdf

the method where you wet lens cleaning paper and slide it across the lens seemed to work pretty good.

The home depot quality of acetone may be just fine, but from my days of working in lab, we always went with something that described its level of purity when we wanted to avoid contaminants and such.

be sure to set your lens on something soft, like a bed of paper towels. I read that they ZnSe is so soft that it can dent when set down on a hard object.

Owen

Link to more on cleaning lens http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/laseratr.htm#atrcln

i use 99.9% isopropyl alcohol and kodak lens paper