Cleaning AR Glass

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Kittyfaces

Kittyfaces

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Feb 23, 2004
Posts
359
Loc
Kennebunk, Maine
Hello,

I don't know what planet I was on when I came up with this design but I'm framing a 23-3/8"x30" piece with black suede matboard and AR Glass. Those of you familiar with cleaning AR glass can appreciated the insanity of this.

I've read up on all the tricks (even called to PPFA Hotline) for eliminating the rainbow streaks but I still havent' been able to eliminate them 100%. Is it unreasonable for me to expect perfection? How can I give this to the customer without the glass being pristine? It looks so dirty to me.

I've been cleaning it for A LONG TIME now and had to walk away for a while.
 
Cut another piece, use a slip sheet; handle it only by the edges using double gloves, and do NOT clean it! Just brush off any tiny shards of glass prior to assembly. Consider tape sealing prior to fitting in frame.
 
For your next job using AR, do as CAFramer suggests i.e. use clean gloves, pad your glass cutter with strips of mat board, and you shouldn’t have to clean it.

But, since the stuff is so expensive, trashing your already cut glass may not be an attractive option.

I’ve never tried this with AR (‘cause now I use gloves), but it used to work on DenGlas and ImagePerfect:

The solution for IP contained alcohol and water. Regardless of what I did, I would get those “rainbow” streaks. After I used the alcohol and water and let it dry, I would spray lightly with SprayWay and wipe it (gently) with a clean cotton cloth (not paper towels!!!).

Most of the time, this seemed to work.
 
Streaks are easy, if you have the right cleaner.

Kittyfaces said:
...I've read up on all the tricks (even called to PPFA Hotline) for eliminating the rainbow streaks but I still havent' been able to eliminate them 100%. Is it unreasonable for me to expect perfection?...
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What kind of glass cleaner and cloth are you using? If you use a soiled cloth (hand lotion would soil a cloth) or a glass cleaner that leaves a film, that would be a problem.

Cleaning anti-reflection, optically coated glazing (AR Glass, Museum Glass, and Optium Acrylics) is not usually a difficult task. We use a lot of AROC (Anti Reflection Optically Coated) glazing, and clean it all with Tru Vue Premium Clean liquid and a freshly-washed microfiber cloth. Cotton diapers work, too.

I suggest placing the cut lite on a clean, black surface (black Kraft paper or matboard will do), which makes every streak & blemish show up. Spray the liquid on the cloth and wipe vigorously, finishing with an almost-dry buffing.

Scratches are another issue entirely. Prevention is the only answer, and that means using a slip-sheet of paper or board in your wall-mounted glass cutter. When we take a lite from the box, we simply take a leaf of the brown Kraft paper separator with it as we lift it into the cutter's tray. And we wear the Tru Vue gloves, too. With a little practice, you can avoid cleaning most lites.

If you have compressed air, use that to blow lint off the black suede, then touch up by using a patch of tape as a lint picker-upper.
 
Jim Miller said:
What kind of glass cleaner and cloth are you using? If you use a soiled cloth (hand lotion would soil a cloth) or a glass cleaner that leaves a film, that would be a problem.
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Erin doesn't use hand cream! Doesn't need to!

Erin use a little hhuuhh on the glass after you clean it. Use alchohol and a clean rag.



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Lean really close over the glass at the streaky spot, find the start of the streak....open your mouth ever so slightly and go "hhuuhh" and wipe it off with the clean rag! Like cleaning eyeglasses or binoculars! If it doesn't work maybe you are trying to clean the wrong side! flip it over and hhuhhh it!
 
Hmmmm... I think I see the problem... Although I am using Tru Vue Premuim Cleaner and a micro-fiber rag.. I've never washed the rag!! I haven't used it that often but obviously it needs to be cleaned after each use. I was just about to use a cloth diaper that I used when my son was teeny until I realized it's been dried with fabric softener.

If all else fails I'll be sure to give it a good "hhuhhh"!!!!
 
The cloth doesn't need to be cleaned after each use, but maybe after a day or two of glass cleaning. That's a judgment call for you to decide.

I think our cloths pick up soil & contaminants mostly from the dirty table or shelf where we toss them between uses, or maybe dropping on the floor, and not so much from the glass we clean with them.
 
Erin, DonMar gave me a bottle of the Premium cleaner. I hate it! The bottle fell over on the counter and when I had turned around it had dripped out onto a mat board! Soaked in and really destroyed the mat! At least the alcohol evaporates and doesn't cause any damage.

For the AR and Museum be sure to use a clean rag and alcohol. Also when we changed detergents at home the new brand doesn't rinse out as well, so that caused streaks on the glass. Had to wash out the washed rags in the sink and really work the detergent out of it!
 
Bob Doyle said:
Erin, DonMar gave me a bottle of the Premium cleaner. I hate it! The bottle fell over on the counter and when I had turned around it had dripped out onto a mat board! Soaked in and really destroyed the mat! At least the alcohol evaporates and doesn't cause any damage...
Click to expand...

Too bad about your spill, Bob. If you had a chance to use the liquid in a more tip-resistant conatiner, maybe you'd have liked it as much as I do. I buy it in gallons, and put it in squatty squirt bottles, which are less spill-prone for table use.
 
Jim, it came in a bottle that looks like the windex bottle. I spray it and it smells like windex. But its pinky rosey in color.

Is it not Windex? I don't like windex I like using alcohol. If for no other reason than it lets you know when you cut yourself!

Actually I have used the Premium Clean a lot lately. Good product but what's in it? The label says don't get on painted surfaces or on fabric. These are two types of items I like to have in my shop ;) Also I want to know what is in the products I use so that I can know whether to use them or not. A case in point would be sprays like Vac U Spray or Super 77; or products like UnSeal. If it says tuolene or carcinoginolene I know I don't want to use it! If the MSDS is longer than 2 pages and contains words I have to look up, I don't want to use it. If however it says treehuggoleum or allnaturalturum then I'll spray or use it in my shop! Simple requirements really.
 
Not Windex

Sorry, Bob. I don't know what's in it. But if I did, and if I told you, they'd probably have to kill us both because we'd know too much.:faintthud:

Seriously, I do not like Windex, either, and I know Premium Clean is not that. Windex is more blue and has a stronger odor than Premium Clean, which looks kinda purple, to me, and is less smelly.

Using alcohol/water is not a bad idea. And if you want to add a couple drops of detergent per gallon of solution, that's OK too. (I suggest Ivory or another without additives.) The simpler the solution, the better -- and no ammonia, of course.

You didn't say anything about abrasives in your solution, and that is good. Some traditional glass cleaner "recipes" include a mild abrasive, such as rottenstone. That may be a necessary ingredient if you have to clean plain glass that's really dirty, but any abrasive can't be good for the UV-filtering and optical coatings on the glass products we use these days. More to the point, abrasives are not necessary for our purpose.
 
I started out using SprayWay but switched to TruVue about 4 years ago. I love TruVue. I like its anit-static properties. I pour small amounts into small spray bottles that I give away to customers who buy either AR or Museum.

I think will try the alcohol/water solution the next time I run into a challege with AR coating however. After reading everyone's advice I was able to improve the lite by leaps and bounds but because of the dang black suede, it just wasn't good enough. I ended up double-gloving and using a new piece right out of the box without cleaning it. It looks great!
 
I have never had a speck of trouble cleaning AR/Museum glass with Sprayway cleaner and KayDry lint-free paper towels (from LJ). For a spot I spray the towel or for the whole light spray the glass. With proper handling, however, I rarely have to clean this stuff.
 
Patrick Leeland said:
90/10 mix alcohol to water, soft rag, cotton gloves, brush lightly


PL
Click to expand...
Spot-on. Denatured alcohol with a bit of water should do the trick. TruVue's AR and Museum are sputter-coated on a magnetron system. Nothing wrong with this at all, but the surfaces are (microscopically) "orange-peeled" due to the sputtering and are not as easy to clean as - say Denglas or Miroguard which are (or were) dip-coated. The dn alcohol lifts the contaminants from the surfaces and evaporates very quickly and cleanly. Of course, use lint-free cloth/microfibre - but DO launder them occasionally!
All the best,
The Glassman
 
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