×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Cleaning prisms in production application

Cleaning prisms in production application

Cleaning prisms in production application

(OP)
A relative of mine is involved with a company that has its' production employees use kleenex, toothpicks, and acetone to clean their prisms during the product assembly process. This seems terribly lo-tech, and is a major hold up in the overall production count per shift. The prisms are used in a precision application and have to be perfectly clean of fingerprints, clouding etc. They're about 1.5" long and already epoxied to a metal prism holder by the time they get to the cleaning station along the line. There must be a better way.

RE: Cleaning prisms in production application

I would recommend using methanol instead since it's not as harsh as acetone.  In order to avoid smears the methanol should be as pure as possible and stored in a glass bottle.  Lens tissue should be used instead of kleenex, and the methanol should be applied over the tissue while on the prism face (there's a name for this technique, "drop and wipe" or something like that), and then wiped once across the surface before disposing of the tissue.  If the tissue is large it can be folded and used again on the other side.  I cannot recommend anything for automating the process.

Zito

RE: Cleaning prisms in production application

Acetone may be dictated by the prior processing.  As a general rule, both acetnoe and methanol may be required, depending on what contaminants need to be removed.

Kleenex is definitely bad, due to the amount of lint that will be shed from the tissues.  

The toothpick part sound rather arcane; it suggests that the contaminants are extremely tenacious.  This is the crux of the problem, e.g., how can the prior processing be altered to minimize or eliminate the contamination, and hence, the cleaning step.

Ditto on the automation.  There are somethings that simply require so light a touch as to make difficult if not impossible to automate.  If the prior processing can be altered to change the degree of contamination, there may be some simply automated spray processing and air curtain drying that could be used instead.

TTFN

RE: Cleaning prisms in production application

(OP)
So sonic cleaning is out then?  There's a number of crevices in the small assembly but most of the cleaning is on the many faces of the prism. There is also some sort of orange-ish acid used for stubborn stains.

 They're not horribly dirty, just the odd fingerprint or bit of foggy film to be removed.

 The largest side of the prism only measures about 3/4" x 1/2" or so. There wouldn't be much room for a drop and wipe technique, but part of the various cleaning methods does call for a one wipe attempt rather than wiping with the same portion of that kleenex more than once.

  

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources