CD Player - Proper lens cleaning ?

Rob.

Rob.

Super Member
Hi guys, I just picked up a vintage 1985 Sony cdp-302 cd player.
Everything works well as it should but I want to open it up and blow some dust out and inspect things inside.
I was wondering what is the correct and safe way to clean/wipe the laser lens ?

thanks

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I use a q-tip dabbed in purified water swabbing the lens gently then another q-tip dry to finish cleaning the lens very light pressure though.
 
Mr. Lin said:
Naim actually recommends using your finger. No kidding.
Click to expand...

Mankind then is doomed in that case. Trying to be as controversial as Linn, no doubt, and I believe that comment was first muttered while Naim was still t/t reliant before they had a CD player.

Seriously though, I have a CD that has little bristles that protrude from the surface of said CD in banks, which I think was marketed by Densen. I use it frequently.

An engineer I know used to use a microfibre cloth.
 
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A tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip followed by some air from a Giottos Rocket Blaster (camera accessory) does the trick for me.
 
mprince said:
A tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip followed by some air from a Giottos Rocket Blaster (camera accessory) does the trick for me.
Click to expand...

I do the same, but skip the blow job at the end. I always laughed at those Giottos anyway. We had bulb-shaped puffers a long time ago, everyone ignored them. Then Giottos put rocket fins on them and suddenly they're high-end and the optical equivalent of 'audiophile quality'. A bulb blower is a bulb blower. Rocket fins don't make it puff air better. Thanks for the laugh, I hadn't thought about those in a long time!

I actually got banned from a camera site for stating that I clean my digital sensor in my dSLR with a q-tip and lens cleaner. OMG, if you don't take it to a professional and pay $60 or more, you're going to blow up your camera. Puh-leeze. I've been doing it since 2004 on the same camera. No problems. People take everything too damned far.

Sorry, ranted a bit.

Yeah, q-tip is fine for cleaning the CD lens. Just be gentle and everything is fine.
 
I only clean mine if it starts skipping. I use a q-tip with a drop of 91% alcohol and gently touch it followed by gently touching it with Microfiber cloth...

Probably clean it every other year at the most.
 
mprince said:
A tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip followed by some air from a Giottos Rocket Blaster (camera accessory) does the trick for me.
Click to expand...

Isopropyl alcohol fogs some plastics. NEVER use IPA to clean plastics. Use Ethanol, Kodak Lens Cleaner or distilled water on a Q-Tip.
 
mprince said:
A tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip followed by some air from a Giottos Rocket Blaster (camera accessory) does the trick for me.
Click to expand...

I used Isopropyl once...then had to re-clean the lens with ethanol when the CD player wouldn't work at all.
 
Well, I've only cleaned my current CDP lens with the 91% Isopropyl one time - guess I won't do that again. Didn't mean to give anyone bad advice (and I learned something too)
 
Opened up the cd player today.
I immediately saw dust balls in there ! There was a tonne of dust !
Grabbed some qtips and a brush and slowly lifted up the dust.
Got most of the big stuff out, then used some light compressed air to blow the excess out.
Now the board is nice and clean. All looks good inside, no leaky caps and no burnt resistors.
Used a qtip to remove some excess dirty grease on the try rollers and lubed the rails a bit, even though they had plenty of grease aleady.
Finally, I grabbed a flash light and shined it on the laser lense. I noticed it did have some dirt/dust on it, so I removed it gently with a qtip, no liquid. Surprised it didnt skip with that dirt on the laser lense.
Lastly, tightened the rear RCA jack output post since it was a bit loose. Put it back together and fired it up.
Plays just as good as before, but I did notice it sounced crisper now ! Must be my imagination.

LoL
 
Rob. said:
Opened up the cd player today.
I immediately saw dust balls in there ! There was a tonne of dust !
Grabbed some qtips and a brush and slowly lifted up the dust.
Got most of the big stuff out, then used some light compressed air to blow the excess out.
Now the board is nice and clean. All looks good inside, no leaky caps and no burnt resistors.
Used a qtip to remove some excess dirty grease on the try rollers and lubed the rails a bit, even though they had plenty of grease aleady.
Finally, I grabbed a flash light and shined it on the laser lense. I noticed it did have some dirt/dust on it, so I removed it gently with a qtip, no liquid. Surprised it didnt skip with that dirt on the laser lense.
Lastly, tightened the rear RCA jack output post since it was a bit loose. Put it back together and fired it up.
Plays just as good as before, but I did notice it sounced crisper now ! Must be my imagination.

LoL
Click to expand...

I don't recommend using a dry Q-tip on the lens, you could rub the dust into it, scratching the lens. Same reason you don't clean your glasses with a dry cloth or dry tissue.
 
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