I spoke with Al Nagler a few years back, and he said that Acetone is perfectly safe for optical surfaces, and I have found that to be true. The stuff usually does a great job of cleaning, leaves no residue, and it won't eat optical coatings. BUT, Televue doesn't use plastic retaining rings in their eyepieces, and as another poster stated, Acetone will attack plastic. So, I don't use it on my non-Televue eyepieces, because on some of them, I can't tell if there is any plastic or not. I have also found that some kinds of smudges are cleaned better with alcohol for some reason. I use 99% pure isopropyl alcohol.
Use a pure cotton swab, don't over saturate it, and let the swab do the work in a spiral circular motion, working from the center of the optical surface outward--don't rub. Keep the swab moving and change swabs often. Like Floyd, I also use kleenex, and it seems to work fine. It seams to leave some paper residue sometimes when I use it, though.
Use a pure cotton swab, don't over saturate it, and let the swab do the work in a spiral circular motion, working from the center of the optical surface outward--don't rub. Keep the swab moving and change swabs often. Like Floyd, I also use kleenex, and it seems to work fine. It seams to leave some paper residue sometimes when I use it, though.
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