How to...........remove paint from a lens?

Hi,

I have an old mirror lens which I took apart a while back and left lying around in the shed with some DIY project in mind . Just gone back to it and found plasti-kote black enamel paint on the mirror. It is overspray so lots of small dots rather than a film.

Just wondered if anyone has any ideas as to what may remove it? Going to have a go with white spirit tonight if no one shouts STOP in the meantime and was planning to get progressively stronger solvents if that doesn't shift it (ending up with a belt-sander on Thursday :lol.


Thanks,


Steve

You run the severe risk of damaging the coating of the mirror. It is very probably a front-surfaced mirror, not a rear-surfaced mirror like the one in your bathroom. The only problem with the overspray on the mirror is a reduction of light being reflected. You will never see any dots on your image. However, the lens might now be an f/11 instead of an f/8 - depending on how much of the surface is coated with the paint.

Thanks for the quick reply Skip. So you don't think it will show on the images? You've just given me option 2 - put it back together and test it...

Thanks,

Steve

You could put a 1/4-inch opaque sticker on the front of any conventional lens and you will never see it on the image. It would be too far out of focus to see in the image - much like shooting through a wire fence that's close to the camera. Same thing with the little dots on the mirror.

Thanks Skip, that's good news (except that I don't get to play with power tools on Thursday :lol


Steve

Give it a bikini wax and rip away.....all those specks should be gone :0

I would try denatured alcohol

sand blast it ...jk

Lacquer Thinner works well for this type of problem. Just use a very soft cloth & saturate it well, being careful to keep the Lacquer Thinner confined to the mirror surface. Don't let the thinner get on any plastic surfaces. Good Luck......

Grinchy and Chigger thanks for the suggestions, I probably won't have time to try anything now until the weekend (away for work). I think I will put it back together and check for any spots/acceptable brightness as per SkipD's advice. If either turns out to be a problem then denatured alcohol and/or lacquer thinner it is!

Heatseeker99 and greg20d your sensitivity in my time of trauma is appreciated ( :lol

Thanks everyone!


Steve