Cleaning potential alcohol droplet off of objective lenses Advice + Cleaning eyepiece Advice

[AlessioCefa2001]

Hi all really hoping for any help as I'm a beginner.

My microscope is a Apex Practitioner, The user manual provides very little help on this.

Yesterday Night
So I messed up by somehow getting alcohol (White spirit specifically, it's bad I know, I was adding some to the side of the cover slip with tweezers to a pond water sample to see it's effects) on the exposed top of the cover slip, so that when I used the 10X and 40X objective I believe I got a tiny amount on the objective's lenses accidentally.

As realisation dawned on me (Image quality seemed off, more on that later), I will admit I panicked and put my eye far too close to the eyepiece in order to see the effects (more on that later) caused by the accident, so that I clearly smudged up the eyepiece lens with dust and eyelashes etc..

In a downward spiral of more worse decisions I decided to use my telescope lens pen on the eyepiece (Only the brush) so I might have made it worse.

One day has passed now (Today)
As it stands now, image quality with the 10x and 40x objective is good but I'm sure it's off (As I decrease the aperture diaphragm diameter a translucent-ish smudge is semi-visible).

I unscrewed the 2 objective lenses and looked at each one's lens with a high power magnifying glass, then I obviously screwed them back in place.

The results: Nothing, I couldn't see any droplets.

When I take the eyepiece out with the 10x objective and look down the tube at a set distance and tilt my head side to side I see a smudge in the centre. I believe this is on the objective?

My conclusion so far...
BEST CASE SCENARIO - It's just water from the cover slip on the objectives

MOST LIKELY CASE SCENARIO - It's the Alcohol (White spirit specifically)

It is without a doubt the objective and it's definitely not the eyepiece or condenser lens

Cleaning this mess (Objective Lens)
So my plan, and where advice would be extremely appreciated is the following:

On Monday I'll be able to buy with Amazon Prime the following (Should all arrive in 2-3-4 days):

- IPA 100% | 500mL | Lab/Pharmaceutical Grade | Isopropyl Alcohol/Isopropanol (99%) This is the link

- Matin Lens Cleaning Tissue (Twin Pack) [JU0125] This is the link

- Polaroid Super Blower With Hi Perfomance Silicon Squeeze Bulb This is the link

I will do the following as this video states https://youtu.be/Tz4Dy5D6kdw?t=107

1 - Unscrew the first objective, use Super Blower on first objective lens

2 - Place filter paper above the first objective, place drop of distilled water with pipette onto filter paper and move it side to side to wick off the water

3 - Place drop of Isopropyl Alcohol/Isopropanol (99%) with new pipette onto new filter paper, and move it side to side to wick off the Alcohol.

4 - Use Super Blower again on lens

5 - REPEAT FOR THE SECOND OBJECTIVE

Now the eyepiece
So my plan is from this video here https://youtu.be/vbYY8qCDrhU

Using the Isopropyl Alcohol/Isopropanol (99%) I will dab some onto a cotton swab

I will gently swab the eyepiece in a rolling motion to remove dust, dirt, oils and etc...

P.S White spirit or mineral spirits, also known as mineral turpentine, turpentine substitute, petroleum spirits, solvent naphtha, Varsol, Stoddard solvent, or, generically, "paint thinner", is a petroleum-derived clear liquid used as a common organic solvent in painting.

From wikipedia, I'm talking about this

Please if you can, comment advice on this! is this a bad procedure? Is the Isopropyl Alcohol/Isopropanol (99%) not suitable for this? Many thanks if you can help, hopefully this can help others too!

Also posted on Reddit (Not sure if I'm allowed to post links to there?)

[75RR]

This Zeiss brochure called The Clean Microscope should help you out:

https://microscopy.duke.edu/sites/micro ... scsope.pdf

[AlessioCefa2001]

This Zeiss brochure called The Clean Microscope should help you out:

https://microscopy.duke.edu/sites/micro ... scsope.pdf

Many thanks! Will make sure to read over this any help is appreciated!

[Hobbyst46]

Hi all really hoping for any help as I'm a beginner.

a) White spirit, despite its alluring name, is not really an alcohol - although it might contain small quantities thereof. White spirit is not really good for cleaning optics, although it can dissolve fats and oils and grease; it may contain impurities, and leave residues on the glass sutface. I do not know if it dissolves the glue that bond glass lens elements to each other, but suspecting it might, would avoid it.

b) IPA, whether 95 or 99-99+%, is just fine for cleaning optics. Like with all non-water solvents, use it sparingly - always on a Q-tip, do not place drops of any solvent on any glass surface.

c) Better still, the first thing to do if you observe that the glass surface is not clean, whether it has been soiled with dust or residues of oil, grease, skin fat ar other: (1) Blow a stream of air to remove dust, (2) Exhale (breath) on the surface, then wipe it very gently, just once, with lens tissue or Kim Wipe or the soft piece of cloth recommended by Optometrists for eye glasses.
Often this cleaning procedure is sufficient. Otherwise, IPA can be used. Alternatively, light petroleum (heptane, octane) is fine too.
Beware of petrol (gasoline), though: it does leave residues, and contains benzene, that is too strong a solvent (and carcinogenic, on top of that...).

[apochronaut]

I second those recommendations. ipa is about the best all around mild solvent but sometimes it needs some help. It isn't particularly great on oil or grease, so I usually use water/detergent for the oil and finish with ipa.
All recommendations propose blowing loose dust , etc. with a small hand blower . This in theory is a great idea and usually removes a good portion of the loose fragments but in practice, a considerable number of them become charged and stick to surfaces like s**t on a blanket. I have had to resort sometimes to picking individual bits of duff off under a stereo microscope.
Once a swab or even lintless paper goes on a lens, there will be tiny bits of duff left behind. You can't even see most of them with your eyes.