Cleaning No32 Scope

[goblin357]

Well that was easy :-)
I made a little tool from a hacksaw blade and a dremel, took out the big lenses and the small side, they were pretty clean...
But looked in the tube and then could see the other lenses in the tube thing in the middle were grey.
So got that out, and took it apart, the surfaces of the 2 lenses inside the tube that faced each other had a thick coating of dust on them, and I mean thick, like someone had shaken talcum powder over them.
Cleaned them off, popped it all back together and now looking through it my white wall is white, not yellow :-)
Hopefully now I'll be able to see the targets at Sennybridge past 400 yards :-)
Dont know how so much dust got in between the two middle lenses though... I was surprised....

Valleysniper, where do you shoot? I shoot at Severnside, Swansea and Sennybridge with Brecon Rifle Club.
I too have a red car :-)

[Badger]

I too have a red car :-)

I hope thus doesn't mean you two guys are going steady ....

I have a blue car ...

Regards,
Doug

[Warren]

The red car you keep in the garage with the leaky roof......EVERYBODY knows that !!!!!

[tbonesmith]

I have a white van... can I come too??

[DRC]

Then it is true.

Peter Laidler does know everything!

[Peter Laidler]

There's a little lesson for everyone there. Have a go but DON'T go past the point of no return. What you have gobbler is the Canada Balsam that has dried out, forming a powder. In a few years, your erector cell kenses will need re-cementing.

If you do take your erector cell apart, then look carefully at the lens configuration. The REARMOST lens has a double convex front and back. To re-assemble, the SHALLOW convex must face the rear. That is that it must face the stopdown shield. In turn, this means that the DEEPER convex must face the front. That is the opening of the erector cell.

The FRONT lens goes into the cell DEEP convex first so that the two deep convex face each other (there's a technical word for this that I won't go into............) and the FLAT side is the side that faces the counter cell or lens retaining ring.

Sometimes, especially in Canadian and No53's, the front lens is also a double convex.

Clean them in nothing more that methylated spirit

Anyway, well done for trying Gobbler

[goblin357]

Thanks for that Peter.
I didn't take the second lens out of the erector cell as I wasn't sure how to do it.. I just used a new sable paint brush down the hole to gently brush it clean..
May I ask, for future reference is the re-cementing job a DIY task or does it need a professional of some sort? It all looked nice and solid so hopefully good for a few more years yet :-)

[Peter Laidler]

Cementing lenses is an art. If you use Canada Balsam with a zero refractive index, it 'sets' over a long time but you can use UV cured cement. I am old fashioned so I strick with (...if you'll excuse the opun.....) Canada Balsam. It's getting harder and harder to obtain now though

[Warren]

Canadian Balsam has now been declared a "hazarous product". I order it in one ounce bottles but have to get the supplier to take out one ml of product to take it under the legal limit for shipping. I does not have to make sense, it's Government policy