Clouded camera lens?
 

The black rotating piece that adjusts the focus on the camera for our robot was recently broken and wouldn't attach. We superglued it back on, and a bit of residue was lining the outer edge of the lens. Somebody saw this and tried to clean it (I'm assuming by wiping it with a cloth), and the residue was spread across the camera lens. We tested the camera and it's virtually useless unless we can clean the lens. We tried rubbing alcohol, and have yet to test the image, but the lens looks too covered with the residue for that to have worked. Somebody recommended trying Goo-gone, is there any potential for that to damage the lens?

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Our camera broke too!

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

little bit of gasoline on a q-tip might work

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Bad idea.


super glue is dissolved by acetone/aka nail polish remover.

you can use that to clean off.

not that not all nail polish removers are acetone(no odor ones are not acetone)

hope this helps.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Whatever you use to clean the glue off might dissolve the plastic parts.

Is the lens a standard small security camera lens? if so you might find a new one pretty reasonable...might take several days to get it though.

http://www.supercircuits.com/Camera-Lenses/

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Nail polish remover should work fine. Just aplie it with a qtip to reduce the chance of spreding it on place where you don't want it

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Acetone dissolves many plastics.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Aha, im not talking about an arsonists amount of gasoline, but just a dab on the end of a qtip should work. (unless you're shaking like a hooker in church)

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

From wikipedia:

Methylene Chloride is found in many paint-stripping products. Read the label to find out.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

I'll be sure to check our bottle of nail polish remover when we get back on Monday. Thank you all for the suggestions, I think that if the nail polish remover doesn't have Methylene Chloride we'll go ahead and try that.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Guys, the lens in the camera is a hard plastic material and acetone or other solvent is just going to make things worse. The lens does screw into the mounting that is attached to the pickup as I remember. I have seen lenses for sale that would fit this. However, you must replace with an identical part to remain legal.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

You can purchase lenses from companies such as Edmunds Optics. But I'd suggest finding a team with a fried camera and salvaging the lens. You may want to put some Teflon tape on the threads to keep the lens from vibrating within the housing.

Greg McKaskle

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Why is that? I don't think the camera is covered under the rule that prevents modification of motors or control system components. It isn't even necessarily a KoP part.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

try using glasses cleaner (liquid solution and soft cloth). Worse comes to worst, just replace the lens.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

I've never actually tried this...

However, have you considered the chemicals used to 'polish headlights' and remove the haze and yellow from them?

There's a possibility you'll be able to buff off the damage with that.

However, if there's a coating on there...like they use on eyeglass lenses you'll ruin it doing this.

Best of luck...

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

What's in that? Does it actually work?

I've got an old minivan whose lenses are more translucent than transparent.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

There are a *ton* of variations on this theme but I'll link the MSDS for 3M headlight restoration kit.

http://headlightrestoration.org/files/msds-3m-39008.pdf

WATER
SILICA
HYDROTREATED LIGHT PETROLEUM DISTILLATES
KAOLINITE
OLEIC ACID
ASSOCIATED MINERALS Mixture
SOLVENT-REFINED HEAVY PARAFFINIC PETROLEUM DISTILLATES
QUARTZ SILICA
GLYCERIN
MINERAL OIL
POLY(OXYETHYLENE)SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE

So this one is basically a polish compound (mild abrasive) with some petroleum distillates and paraffin (wax) components.

There are some of these things making extraordinary claims of 'nanotechnology' I suspect this means that after you buff the lense with this very mild abrasive they provide a compatible clear coat. You might want the clear coat. Some of them claim to restore that clear coat that already exists...problem is we don't know if the camera lens has such a coating now...or if it's the same or compatible composition. On a car with a lot of wear...I bet the coating is already damaged so I've never forked over money for that sort of thing.

I've had decent luck in the past with the Mother's buffing product (on cars!):
http://www.amazon.com/Mothers-PowerB.../dp/B00341MIAW

This is like detailing...go slow and be careful...also keep in mind that no amount of work will clear the damage to any metalized parts that might have melted within a vehicle headlight...but with that Caswell may have a brush plating that might help you.
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/plugnplate.htm

All of this...of course...is over kill for this tiny lens.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

The camera lens is likely to have several coatings as most camera lens do. One may help keep internal reflections from affecting the visible video, one helps protect the lens from abrasion, one helps with IR and one helps sun or bright light flares.

Re: Clouded camera lens?
 

Image processing is hard enough with good images. I personally wouldn't spend time trying to fix the lens. If this is on a 206, simply screw it off and replace it.

Greg McKaskle