Cleaning optics ?

[buildsomething]

As I was assembling my diy laser cutter, I was wondering what people are using to clean the mirrors and lens if at all possible? No doubt these items must get dirty, dusty or whatever. Even during replacement of the individual optics are people using cotton gloves, tweezers or just plain fingers.

I would surmize that even the little bit of natural oils that we have on our fingers tips would or could affect the beam quality by some amount.

This could be a good round for discussion and knowledge capture....what do you guys think?

Richard

[bdring]

I have no answer, but you should not touch any ZnSe with bare hands. It is allegedly very toxic. The Internet has MSDS sheets on it.

[lasersafe1]

In summary: Don't clean optics unless they really need it. Try to blow off dust particles with canned air. If particles don't come off then: http://www.iiviinfrared.com/optics_handling_cleaning