Problem with foggy masks

[outofofficebrb]

Don’t Flame Your Mask! (per Undercurrent.org / May 2018 Issue)

I did it with good old fashioned toothpaste with a free toothbrush from my dentist. I scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed some more until I could hardly try to fog them up while huffing and puffing into my mask. I never had to do it again and a drop of anti fog solves it for each dive. I've dived waters as cold as 46F and as warm as 100F like this.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

I can't see it hurting the tempered glass unless someone over did it. You don't need to leave the flame on long. I doubt it heats the glass up much at all to be honest.

You can see the film burn off its really quick. I just do it multiple times because I am cautious around the edges, and rather than burn it too much I burn it just a little several times.

 

[Dan]

Yeah, figured out that much. But as far as I understand, the release agent is used when molding the silicone skirt of the mask. It isn't applied to glass surfaces, so it somehow transfers from silicone parts onto glass surface. Is it volatile and evaporates in the storage box and later deposits on the glass or what? And what is used to remove release agent traces in the industry when required? Probably not lighters and toothpaste? At the price we are buying the masks I somewhat understand this step has been skipped, but still it is intriguing how something (even a scuba mask) is produced and delivered in unusable condition.

Hopefully there are SME in making scuba mask here to answer your question. I don’t know about scuba mask molding process. So, I’m going to speculate based on what I found in the public literature: Injection molding of liquid silicone rubber - Wikipedia
http://www.silbione.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/LSR-Users-Guide.pdf

The process involves high temperature (150-200C) & high pressure (400-1000 psi) injecting liquid silicone rubber (polydimerhyl methylvynil silicoxane with platinum catalyst to cure the liquid silicone rubber into silicone elastomer. That injection molding process is done in enclosed system away from human exposure. The tempered glass, I assume, clamped onto the mold and is part of the mold that need to be sprayed by demolding agent (e.g., Silbione LSR 43xx in the reference above) before the injection molding process started.

 

[taimen]

I can't see it hurting the tempered glass unless someone over did it. You don't need to leave the flame on long. I doubt it heats the glass up much at all to be honest.

Definitely it is possible to destroy tempered glass with overheating. Also the plastic frames around the glass will get damaged if someone overheats the glass. Silicone skirt should be quite heat resistant.
I have been very succesful with hot blue flame butane torch. My reasoning is that with a hot flame, you can rise the surface temperature very quickly, burning the release agent, and the mass of the glass also cools it down quickly. With quick I mean flame touching the glass less than 1 second.

 

[Spudlet]

First post at this forum. The latest years my biggest hobby has been a combination of snorkeling and free diving: I am using the snorkel for breathing in a relaxed position before doing a deeper or longer dive.

I have two Scubapro masks: one older Frameless and last year I bought a Solo. My problem is that both of these masks are so easily getting foggy. As I am living in Finland, the water is often on the colder side, which is worsening the problem. Sadly, I would need to flush the masks after each dive, which is just frustrating. Besides spit, I have tried 3 different anti-fog solutions: one non-brand, one made by Cressi and one made by Scubapro. They do not make any big difference.

Are there any masks that are more resistant against fog? Or a really good anti-fog solution?

Jiff cleaner then Baby shampoo before diving Jif Cream Cleanser Regular 375ml | Staples now Winc

 

[divad]

Here is a chart showing the RDA ratings of toothpaste. remember that it's the abrasiveness that counts. Not whether it's a gel, white or sensitive. That makes no difference to the RDA. You need to use a toothpaste in the >100 range for effectively removing silicone. It's not a chemical reaction - this is strictly a "elbow grease" issue.


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You have been busy...

 

[IncreaseMyT]

Definitely it is possible to destroy tempered glass with overheating. Also the plastic frames around the glass will get damaged if someone overheats the glass. Silicone skirt should be quite heat resistant.
I have been very succesful with hot blue flame butane torch. My reasoning is that with a hot flame, you can rise the surface temperature very quickly, burning the release agent, and the mass of the glass also cools it down quickly. With quick I mean flame touching the glass less than 1 second.

Yea its possible, but I think you would have to over do it and hold the flame on there a long time. But I am not sold thats what happened to the mask in the referred link either. I think, to reduce the durability of the glass enough to make it prone to failure you would have hold the lighter in the same spot for 10-20 seconds. Sounds like the mask company is trying to blame that for a faulty mask.

I have had 2 different mask's, my wife 3 and the kids each one. All flamed with a grill lighter, none of them ever fog, you really don't even need defog. Lots of people do this, if it was a significant worry we wouldn't have a single report on it. It would be happening all the time.

I leave my mask on the boat sometimes during the day the sun is blazing, that would bring it up to temp too. So if slightly heating up mask glass is a danger, mask companies have a big problem.

 

[Dan]

Don’t Flame Your Mask! (per Undercurrent.org / May 2018 Issue)

I did it with good old fashioned toothpaste with a free toothbrush from my dentist. I scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed some more until I could hardly try to fog them up while huffing and puffing into my mask. I never had to do it again and a drop of anti fog solves it for each dive. I've dived waters as cold as 46F and as warm as 100F like this.

Is your mask made by Hollis or you just like to do things the hard way?

 

[outofofficebrb]

Is your mask made by Hollis or you just like to do things the hard way?

Nah. Oceanic Shadow Mini, frameless. It was easy enough to scrub it out.

Do whatever works for you or what makes you happy. I'm merely the messenger and am here to share information so that the OP can make an informed decision given all the options.

 

[engblom]

Having worked with silicone myself (for creating soap molds), I am slowly beginning to suspect there is no chemicals on the glass.

I did try to burn the glass of my mask twice. The first time I saw the fog appear and disappear, which is often in videos described as the silicone release agent burning. The next time I burned the glass, the same thing happened again. Both times I burned far more than in the videos I have seen. Even though I rubbed the glass many times with toothpaste yesterday (both before burning and after), I still had some problem with fogginess. It was better, but not good.

The theory I begin to have is that the glass itself is too smooth, not because of any agent, but because of how it is made. The buffing maybe creates small scratches in the glass itself? Could it be that the flame makes the surface a tiny bit less strong as in less hardened? The toothpaste I used, I also use for buffing out scratches on the acrylic crystals of my watches, so it works like buffing compound. I think it is not abrasive enough to cause big enough scratches on the mask glass.

Now I have used a "magic eraser" on the mask. After this I took a towel and gently coated the inside with Cressi anti-fog solution. When I go diving today, I will have to see if this is a winner solution.