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Our company deals with lots of different coatings some sensitive, others not so much. So as a general rule we typically only use very soft wipes. Kimwipes are pretty rough.

I’ve used Qtips for spot cleaning lenses before, but I find that they can leave swipe marks pretty easily.

As for solutions, I’ve never used the ROR cleaner but it seems
to fill the same role as our other solution.

There is two that we generally use on coated optics.
Techspec lens cleaner from Edmund Optics – which is designed specifically for optical coatings

And ACS Reagent grade acetone.

Everyone here has their own take on cleaning techniques, but there are some rules that everyone here abides by.
First, you need the two different cleaners. Either of them alone won’t take off everything.

For example, you’ll find that spit marks won’t come off with acetone, but are easily removed by the cleaner from EO.

Typically we apply the Tech Spec cleaner, and wipe the lens down but before the tech spec dries we quickly follow it up by wiping it down with acetone. There is a technique to wiping, so if you’ve done it correctly, this usually makes 90% of the lenses we work with extremely clean. After that you just use an air bulb to make it free of dust before installing it into a system.

As for what wipes I think are best, I’ve mentioned the two we generally use here.
However, if my company wasn’t banned from using them we would still be using Webril rolls / pads as we did in years previous, as they were the best.

Hi, I'm very pleased to hear that you are interested in lens design and optics. Although I think I'd be able to help you out more if I knew your motivation and end goals, here are a few suggestions:

For books, I recommend two. First, Field Guide to Lens Design by Bently/Olson if you're just starting out, it is not math heavy and cheaper than most textbooks.
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Design-Press-Guides/dp/0819491640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487712393&sr=8-1&keywords=field+guide+to+lens+design

Another book, Field Guide to Geometrical Optics by Greivenkamp if you're willing to put in the math and learn the theory. It's still a simple book though, I'm a lens designer and I use the book regularly because it is a great reference.
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Geometrical-Optics-SPIE/dp/0819452947/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487712411&sr=8-1&keywords=field+guide+to+geometrical+optics

If you want Videos, the Youtube channel Optics Realm are thorough. Skip the Zemax tutorial and go to the Optics tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/opticsrealm

And finally, there is a great set of slides at slideshare. However, some things may be lost if you don't have Dave speaking to you.
http://www.slideshare.net/operacrazy/camera-lens-talk

Good luck learning, and don't hesitate to ask me for follow-up. Like I said at the beginning, I think I can help you out more if you can tell me: why did get interested in lens design? And what's your end goal after learning?

Hi! Thanks for the response! When you say lens area, are you referring to the aperture size?

Dereniak and Boreman - that's not a book I'm familiar with - is it this one? Is it a good resource on radiometry?

I will PM you my e-mail - seeing some problems worked through would be super helpful.

yes, you will have to "pipe" the light somehow. You can make a mirror-cone out of mylar and have the LED at the larger end and the lens at the smaller end, for example [assuming the mylar doesnt melt -- otherwise aluminum foil maybe]. one way or another you need to put a "stop" in front of the square LED to make the output not square [preferably just at the image plane, right after the light pipe, with the LED itself behind the image plane].

> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DBZIY26

just FYI you need a very strong heatsink to prevent lamps of this type from burning themselves up (i found that a big copper CPU sink+thermal grease+a big fan ... was NOT enough. next time will try water cooling). but they are unbelievably bright. i had a 100w led flashlight i built, called it the "torch of zeus".

Dear CyberGrid,

I recommend the following two books, they address the exact topics/skills that you are looking for:

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/3319045121/

https://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/asin/0470402296

Have fun exploring,

G

Thanks for the suggestions! I've just picked up this, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IM8OD14/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, hopefully it'll do the trick.

United Scientific LCV108 Glass Double Convex Lens, 100mm Diameter, 200mm Focal Length https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ES3U5LY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_M2B3Db4K713H0

I found this on Amazon with a simple google search. It looks like it’s 100mm in diameter, but this was my second result so a smaller one can’t be that hard to source. All planoconvex really means is that one side of the lens is flat and the other side is convex.

I think I was over complicating things. I ended up ordering this and this and I'll just see how it works

Get It Here:
https://www.amazon.com/Macroreer-SFP-H10GB-CU1M-10GBASE-CU-Direct-Passive1-meter/dp/B01CSC3FT0/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&qid=1474708600&sr=8-46&keywords=sfp+cable

From the shop standpoint, you're going to want to read:

Fabrication Methods for Precision Optics and Optical Shop Testing.

You can know all there is to know about optical design and have it not amount to a hill of beans if you don't know how the optics are actually made.

We have a PhD who is always coming to us with bizarre drawings that just aren't feasible to manufacture or assemblies that we simply don't have the capability to test.

If you're going to be a designer you need to have at least a passing familiarity with how things work in the shop so you can understand things like relative uncertainty in testplate manufacture, the factors that make lens decenter/wedge easy or difficult to hold, and such

That would be very simple, will I run into the issue of most of the light generated going around the lens rather than through it?

The 30000 lumen chips (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DBZIY26) I'm looking at as a source are producing most of their light over 120 beam, and with the field going all the way to 170 even. And the width of the chip produced a rather unfocused beam to work with.