Anti-Fogging Treatments for New Masks. (a comparison of techniques)

[Couv]

It might be useful to check with companies that install prescription lenses in masks to see how they clean the glass. The adhesive they use is probably proprietary information but they might be willing to share cleaning method.

I've asked Josh at Prescription Dive Mask Specialists | See The Sea to contribute.

 

[lowviz]

No problem Sensei.

I'm just yet another diver who finally had enough of dealing with new masks. So I started this mess but it is turning out to be fun.

Now it is up to me to organize it and try to end up with something useful for all the participants...

 

[JoshSTS]

I've asked Josh at Prescription Dive Mask Specialists | See The Sea to contribute.

Hi All-
Thanks as always for the invitation to discuss.
I can confirm that frameless masks do give us more trouble, and we did have an incident early on when an rx lens on a frame less mask for a customer did fail to maintain the proper bond during their diving (which we of course replaced).

I can't speak about our cleaning process as it is part of our process which took us months to develop when installing prescription lenses, but I am watching this thread closely to see what developments you all come up with. We are also working on building out our new location in Houston, so look forward to having you Houston divers swing by when the new space is up and running. We have definitely outgrown our current space the last few months.

All masks that come to us, either new masks a customer buys from us, or a mask someone sends us, gets cleaned the same way. We also have to be concerned about any residue or dirt on the lenses before bonding, as that can cause issues.

Another question we frequently get from our customers is whether they need to scrub our rx lenses prior to diving. The answer is no- no additional cleaning is needed prior to using any mask with our lenses prior to diving. If for any reason you do want to clean our lenses, any product safe for use on a dive mask (seabuff etc) is safe to use on our lenses.

Sorry I am not really able to shed more light on the issue, but I am happy to donate a few masks towards the experiments if anyone is interested.

One last note- through all the dive masks that come to us, I can say there are definite disparities in glass quality. Not all glass is the same. Some manufacturers do use better quality glass with less imperfections and better color clarity.

- Josh

See the Sea RX

 

[lowviz]

I can confirm that frameless masks do give us more trouble ...//...

Awesome!

We press on...

 

[Couv]

Hi @JoshSTS ,

Welcome to ScubaBoard and thank you for answering the call so quickly.

Fair enough-you cannot give away trade secrets regarding your cleaning process. Would I be asking too much to ask what not use? I.g. "don't use acetone or lemon juice, etc... " While I'm on this tightrope, can you tell us what substance on the lens that turns our window to the underwater world into a Mask From Hell?

Your offer to donate a few mask is very generous. Hopefully @lowviz will be in contact with you soon and make arrangements for that to happen. Edit, I see he's here already.

Good luck with your business expansion-I'll definitely have to drop in sometime soon.

Cheers,

Couv

 

[JoshSTS]

Our cleaning process is more than just trying to head off defog, as we need to prepare the glass for our bonding process. We take steps that you all would never need to do just for defog purposes.

In early experimentation with different substances, we decided to test acetone as a cleaning agent to remove excess adhesive for example before we were commercially offering masks (which was recommended by a manufacturer of one of the adhesives we were testing). Thankfully none of you have suggested this in the thread. Initially a light swipe with some acetone doesn't appear to damage anything; however, there are some masks out there with extremely thin skirts (cough cough ScubaPro Synergy II), and acetone can definitely cause holes in the silicone to form down the road. If you were to completely control the acetone and ensure it never contacts the silicone, it won't harm the glass (unless it has coatings etc...)- but I am not sure acetone will even remove the dreaded "coating", as we did not test it out for fogging purposes.

-J

 

[lowviz]

Have you tried pyridine? That (along with DMSO) are two of my 'go-to' nasties.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

I can’t explain how much I love this and all you scientists, explorers, tinkerers and overall curious nerds!!

 

[Jcp2]

Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

 

[lowviz]

Fresh out of plutonium, just checked...