Tip for the ultrasonic cleaner. You can just put your water in the main tank then put your parts to clean in mason jars with the mixture of cleaning solution. This way the water in the tank doesn't get dirty and the glass of the mason jar doesn't interfere with the ultrasonic frequency. Plastic containers will not work nearly as well since the attenuate the frequency.

The only channel I WON'T click off of for a topic as mundane as cleanroomliness. You're a cool dude and your videos are great!

I once worked in exactly this area at ASML. The last stage in the cleaning process was a dark corner with a grazing light, a UV lamp and a gun with de-ionized nitrogen to detect and blow away the last particles. Even in the ISO Class 6 clean room, this was still a work of patience.

As someone who works with infrared optics and camera optics often, the stuff done in this video is exactly what I was thinking of doing. Love the content.

If anyone has insomnia problems feel free to ask me all about dirt / dust particles on ultrahigh power (terawatts / petawatts) laser optics for inertial confinement fusion since it's how I make my living for a couple decades now. One anecdote - in the system I work on, the beams have to be spatially filtered after every laser amplification stage to suppress intrabeam anisotropies or 'hot spots' that can easily exceed gigawatts per sq cm and thus spontaneously collapse into microscopic filaments during their traversal through fused silica glass due to the Kerr-induced self focusing effect. The lenses on these spatial filters are also holding vacuum since the beam at its focal point in the middle of the sf tube drastically exceeds the dielectric breakdown gradient of air and would simply turn air into plasma if allowed into the tube. There was an accident initially evacuating the tubes about 30 years ago where the oil diffusion pump somehow backflowed silicone oil vapor into the sf tube, contaminating everything. We've tried multiple methods of cleaning the tube over the years but inevitably a monolayer of oil molecules deposits on the vacuum facing side of the sf tube's lenses for this location, the laser pulses hit the oil, it detonates, and causes microscopic cracks and damage to the optic which progressively enlarge with every subsequent shot, eventually destroying the optic. You can see what the damage to a lens looks like if you image search for "flickr omega lens damage". It was simply decided years ago that they would just live with the contamination and replace the lenses for a few thousand dollars when they inevitably get destroyed every year or so as a 'cost of doing business' kind of thing. As an aside, I approve of practically every technique in this video. The ultrasonic cleaning in ultrapure water, the spectroscopic grade acetone cleaning, the sequential rinsing, the solvent drag wiping, the CO2 snow cleaning, the First Contact film, we do ALL of it. I will add one thing, the hydrophilicity of a glass surface is the absolute touchstone of surface cleanliness. Water will always "break" off of an even microscopically soiled glass surface and the wetting contact angle will be high. On a truly atomically pure surface of glass however, the water will "sheet" off in a very uniform and highly even way, so much so that you will be able to observe the Newton's fringes of ambient light interference in the thinning few-molecular layer thick sheet of water as it falls off of and evaporates from the optic surface.

As a microscope and optics tech, clean dust free surfaces were very critical to a clean assembly. A trick for a quick fix is to cover your work surface with freshly unrolled aluminum foil. The foil surface is almost guaranteed to be free of dust or lint. It also is free of static charges. Try it when you really need to clean your camera or other projects where such an environment is an advantage.

Another protip for budget friendly cleaning. Instead of paper towels, use coffee filters. They aren't lint-free but they don't shed and tear as easily as paper towels, so if you aren't following the paper towel cleaning with an ultrasonic bath and a bunch of additional cleaning steps, the coffee filters leave you a little better off. They're still ridiculously cheap and don't pose a risk of breaking the bank. Someone else already mentioned using a mason jar inside the ultrasonic cleaner but I think they left out some of the best advantages of it. If you use plain old tap water in the ultrasonic bath and just put your detergents and solvents in a mason jar then you can use much less solvent and it's a lot easier to swap what solution you're using for whatever project you're working on. You mentioned alkaline vs. a more neutral pH solution for stainless steel vs. aluminum but there's plenty of other considerations as well. Hot ethylene glycol based antifreeze is actually a pretty good cleaner when working with grimy parts with old caked on, carbonized parts. Maybe you want a spicier bath of (not heated!) acetone or gasoline. That'd be a terrible idea in the ultrasonic bath as is but by putting it in a mason jar it's easy to clean up, it's not evaporating into the shop, and you can have a variety of solutions sitting on a shelf so you can chose something more specific to what you're trying to clean without all the hassle of draining out the bath and filling it up with whatever you're switching to. Just to name a few, generic dish soap, purple power, straight up lye, ethylene glycol, acetone, methanol, isopropanol, gasoline, ammonia, various acids, tetrachloroethylene, Berryman chem-dip, sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide, 7 herbs and spices, the list goes on. Obviously some of those are not going to end well inside of a literal mason jar with the simple plastic liner on a metal lid but the point is just put it in some appropriate glass container and then you put the container in the bath instead of the parts directly.

Live streams sound awesome! Having worked in a clean room - this is fantastic. Consider adding an isopropanol step as cleaning step after acetone. Acetone can form oligomers over time. Isopropanol removes these.

I don't work in an area that needs this. I don't do anything at home that needs this. And yet, here I am. Love the content ❤️

This channel always amazes me. I get here after half a year of being absent from YT, look at the video and go - oh what a very long manual for cleaning? But you always hit that spot. Always covering the important bits, delivering 45min of take home messages basically. You guys are doing a fantastic job. Thank you for producing such high quality content.

I would recommend Kim wipes after paper towels to remove the lint paper towels leave. You won't go through them as much so you will still save by mostly using the paper towels, but you can still get the last of the lint off with the Kim wipes at the end. Kim wipes are also what you use for drying out the last of water or solvent after cleaning glassware used for chemistry, so they are useful for anywhere you need a lint free wipe.

I really like that you don't cut out every extraneous mistake or detail and reshoot things, makes it feel more real, but doesn't distract from the point. Those moments where you have to talk to the person holding the camera add to a feeling of athenticity that is really good.

You genuinely have one of the best practical science channels on KZfaq. I don't think ill ever use most of what's discussed in this video, however I feel more empowered having watched it!

This was really cool. It’s always the videos that seem like they’ll be boring that are the most fascinating! I want a bottle of that polymer cleaner now.

Using the film plastic's static properties in your FAVOR is great - first time I'd seen that idea!!

I love this channel, it makes really high tech really relatable, without patronising. I'm certain you'll hit the million before the year's out. On the other comment about production, lighting is 100% in your locations, maybe a few extra cameras in fixed positions, like aerial shots above benches will help in the edit, without having to engage videography services which, as you commented didn't work out. Best wishes from Ireland

Your discussion of dirt on laser optics reminded me of my previous work on optical communication systems. The single-mode fibers have a core diameter of 9 uM, and the output power of the amplifier was around 20 dBm (0.1W). That works out to an energy density of about 1.5 x 10^9 Watts per square meter, which is 25x the energy density at the surface of our Sun. A single spec of dust on the surface of the fiber would blast a crater into the end of the fiber as soon as power was applied

One of the reasons I love your content: The very precise wording in your explanations. It is very often important and you always do this outstandingly well. Thank you very much! BTW: Idea for a different new episode concerning "Poor Man's Clean Room - For Electronics Work". E.g. if you have to open a broken hard disk for repairs / data recovery. (There is a bit of content out there about this topic, but I haven't seen anything really good yet, though.) ... and good luck with your laser project.

Just when I was thinking of cultivating my own mushrooms, you come a long with a cleanroom video.

Just awesome as always, happy to see the channel is continuing to grow, well deserved.

This man is getting more and more transformed into Walter White. Quite literally this time, minus the bad stuff. Fantastic topic that is often overlooked. Keep up the good work.

I love your videos! I really like you bringing your boys it to it . Keeping family involved is a special thing.

This channel has such high quality and inspiring productions that I am with great fascination watching how to clean things.

The cleanliness of LIGO is impressive. Used to read their public logs where they would describe finding a metal shaving and investigate how it happened.

From the title, I was expecting some sort of walk-in PAPR setup. This is much simpler, but also much more temporary. I bet the most expensive thing you used was the four photography tripods at the corners. Lol

I don't do anything with optics, but I watched the whole video because I just KNEW that I would learn something or get some ideas that would be applicable elsewhere. The idea of using consecutive dilutions (16:00) in order to reduce the volume of solvent required (water, alcohol, etc.) was something that I had never thought about but will definitely come in handy sometime. Great video, as usual!

Love your channel! Thanks for the fascinating and informative content.

Yet again, stunning attention to detail. Looove it

My favourite tech channel! I'm really looking forward to livestream. It's an awesome idea. Huge thanks, good luck

For the home made cleanroom, I think it would improve matters a lot if you have a relatively empty room and smooth walls - perhaps a bathroom. I remember in a university chem lab that had brick walls, the professor told us the environment was not clean enough to do prep for trace analysis, because of the dust contamination from the walls.

I watched this last night in bed. Well, I played it. I was too tired to stay awake. I’m always excited when you release a new video. I’m back again to actually watch it all. 👍🏻👍🏻

This channel could never be boring. You could make grass growing or paint dying interesting I reckon.

Great stuff as always. Maybe you could talk a bit about cylindrical carbon fiber deep sea submersibles on the live stream. I was thinking about building one and taking tourists to the Titanic.

Legendary channel!

I love that you take on the projects I either have thought about, but lack the skill, knowledge and monetary acumen to accomplish, or that I have not even thought about doing and go, "Oh yeah! That's a great idea. " Now I can work on all my own more mundane but doable for me projects and live vicariously through you. :) Much appreciated.

Great topic choice! That's why I've stuck with this channel since their "distillation" phase; they dig down on the less glamorous, but equally interesting topic choices. 👍

You seem like the kind of guy that might grind his own lenses ;) great work as always!

Thank you for identifying suppliers and spec. for the solvents. Also probably if a viewer cannot use a paper towel without training they’re well out of their depth to begin with. Also also re canned air for removing dust. Having multiple cans on hand is a good way to avoid the issues you identified.

WOOT! love the vids, always happy to see you guys post

Always a wealth of innovative techniques and methods - look forward to the next chapter.

Careful, I have had the "Bittering agent" deposit on surfaces when using cheap air-duster, presumably put there to prevent inhalent abuse. In any case it seems to leave crap behind. I would sooner use a well-filtered compressor.Additionally: Paper towels can often be abrasive. I would use lint-free cotton cloths or microfiber cloths made for the purpose.

Excited to see your back on the lasers! That's what initially gained my subscription back in the day and as I am building a laser right now this is perfect timing.

Awesome tips. You killed me thought at 29:25. Looking forward for the laser build. I enjoyed your previous, dual end pumping of the YAG laser setup.

I really like the precise, clear language he uses. Also, the topic of how to achieve lab/pro grade results on a budget wouldn't work unless I trusted the professionalism of the guy behind it. But he clearly knows his stuff and exudes authority on this topic. Really appreciate this. Thank you.

Excellent video. We've been working with optics for over 2 decades and your presentation was simple and well explained. "Don't ever do this to laser optics!" What an understatement! LOL Saliva is one of the most difficult contaminates to remove! If it's still wet it'll typically remove easily but if allowed to dry on an optic we suggest a two-step cleaning process using our Water Spot Pretreatment: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jZlympunnLfGmYE.html For small optics one can just apply the pretreatment with a pipette and after the dwell time apply our non-spray polymer into the pretreatment so the two materials coalesce, then once dry remove as shown in this video or most all of those on our KZfaq channel.

I actually use an ultrasonic bath and sodium hydroxide for the purpose of dissolving aluminum. Works well!

I cannot believe I have been watching for so long and never been subscribed. (I could have sworn i was before). Thank you for the info on the First Contact Polymer. I have a feeling its about to change how I care for my optics. A million more thanks for all the amazing educational materials you have shared in the past!

Great as always! looking forward to the live streams.

14:12 "It's almost silent" I realize he says this because of his HFHL but that thing (like most ultrasound devices) sounds incredibly loud, albeit by design. I always wear hearing protection when I use these things, but I wonder if these relatively imperceptible frequencies are loud enough to cause hearing damage or if I'm just easily bothered by them.

Best damn channel on KZfaq !!!!

Thanks for the effort you out into these videos 🙏

one of my top 3 tech channels I LOVE IT!

Great stuff. You could earth the plastic in the same way you would when building a pc. Also, by doing this at night with no curtains makes it easier to see in, also looks more dodgy to Heisenberg 😅

We need Tech Ingredients' take on LK-99. Hopefully you can teach us how to make it in our garages, if it's legit.

This is incredible practical advice! Thanks so much for bringing this to a larger audience!

Amazing as always, thanks for sharing all this knowledge. I really liked the red polymer thingy, perfect for putting on optics for later us.

Making a temporary clean station is a really great idea. My question is this; What type of heating/air conditioning should, or shouldn't be used during this process? Each can have dramatic effects. What are your thoughts? I absolutely love your channel!

This seems like a bunch of good cleaning tips. From the title i thought you would share how to setup and maintain a dust/contaminant free room. You made a fort, not a room. Most poor people will know the difference

As a calibration engineer, QC dept requested low-lint / lint-free wipes. Got clean room wipes and they loved them. Weeks later their corporate managers in Tokyo sent magnified photos of what they called "spider-silk" on shock absorber pistons. Somebody showed me the reports and I immediately recognized the problem. The pistons were made of sintered metal, which was grabbing the fine polyester from the wipes on the abrasive surfaces. Problem was solved quickly.

Man, that last part was absolute gold. And to think I was gonna click on it just to watch a few minutes of the intro to finish some other time because I was exhausted. Ended up watching the whole thing and I didn't even think of the time. NOW I can go to bed. Edit: You should have reached a million subs ages ago. In the beginning I was selfishly content with such a small viewership. It was like my little secret gold mine and I didn't want anyone else to have it. Should blow right through the milestone, it really is a wonder how you haven't already passed it, though I'm simultaneously not surprised; I think the quality of subscribers makes the number more significant than is apparent. Ok enough rambling, I'll show myself out.

you don't look so poor to me. 🙄

I love!!! Thanks for showing us !!!

That first contact polymer is a really slick product! Thanks for tipping me off to it, that should definitely come in handy with my own projects. More than anything I like the ability to keep an optic or surface clean and oxygen free for an indeterminate time frame.

Always a pleasure to watch your content!

man how cool this channel can get. you are awesome

Always quality content. Always. A very good evening to you to sir!

I find these very practical for a setup to open hard drive disks or swap its magnetic cylinders without the risk of contamination. Except the plastic tent of course. Thank you for the well elaborated explanation.

Some of this goes against my training. Never use canned air, puffers or brushes, like never, especially with certain coatings. When I was doing this we used trichloroethylene, for obvious reasons it's used more sparingly now but I'm sure it works better than isopropyl or acetone + methyl (also avoid acetone around anything that is plastic, coatings, lenses, rubber mounts...) I still think it could be used with the proper precautions but probably not something for the home lab. For dry cleaning optics, a bath of liquid CO2 followed by dry nitrogen will clean perfectly but you have to manage the pressure and temp so as not to end up with any condensation. There is also "optical snot" which is a kind of stinky PVA glue like elmers, if your going to store the optics for a time and you want it pristine you use the snot. We had clean rooms that came back from desert storm they were filled with an ultra fine dusting of sand, it took us more than 2 months of cleaning and disassembling to pass inspection but the entire time it was in use in the field all the optics that came out of that van were spotless. Clean rooms are more procedure than they are cleanliness, so you can have clean optics in some pretty heinous conditions, you just have to handle things right follow best practices and know where contaminates can foul you up.

Very interesting thanks. I remember watching the channel "Applied Science's" take on cleaning precision equipment and this video compliments that video and fills in a lot of gaps.

Thanks guys. You always answer questions that I didn't even know I needed to ask.😂 I love this channel. 👍

Thank you, love this channel with regards to the content and it's quality, often get reminded of Tom Waits' song "What's He Building In There?"

This channel is fantastic. Greetings from Australia!

i think its so cool watching your channel. you're a master of many topics and i think its so cool we can learn things from someone with this much knowledge from the comfort of our homes on demand.

Just discovered this channel and cant stop watching, awesome content!

High-quality video! Hope your channel gets better known.

Happy to know of new approach with content; please stay safe……don’t get injured again

The thoroughly detailed and meticulous way you have of working is EXACTLY my bag. This is how I am. Every. Single. MINISCULE. Detail.

Funny and informative, I love it. Thanks for sharing.

Quite close to 1M subs.... I think I've been with you since 50k subs. Never thought a cleaning video would be so interesting.

Excellent video as always

LOL love the quirky and informative videos!

Great to hear about the live stream notice!

Missed opportunity to use a hacker/protected witness voice there for the final shot in the bunny suit under the plastic. Useful info, thanks! Electrostatic dust blanket: never would have figured. Loved the exponentially effective cleaning baths, it makes so much sense.

love a clean optic. i love this channel

Always appreciate the quality of your videos. Looking forward to your live streams🖤🐉🌌

This guy is a gem.. thanks for sharing your knowledge

Awesome stuff! Keep it up 💪

40:45 - breaking bad on the cheap minus the RV van. lol

I just watched 40 mins of cleaning... I love this guy!

Great timing!

When I hear your voice I am like there is no way I won't learn anything from listening to this guy - You sir are an absolute legend!

A colleague of mine worked on some ridiculous HV transmission infrastructure and the terminations had to be completed in ultra-clean environments. The reason being is dirt, dust, oils and moisture impede the adhesion and operation of insulating layers. I've done several 11kv terminations in the deserts of Central Australia, often abandoning the process due to airborne dust. We usually kicked off in the dark before sunrise while the dust was settled by dew and before warm air currents lifted the particles and the wind picks up. Plus it's not as hot to work in the morning either! 😂 Interesting video. Cheers 🤙

I have no idea why this video was on my recommendation list but I was fascinated by all this knowledge and advanced methods. Great video man👍🏻👍🏻😄🌹

wow, this is going to help me out in so many situations. I was having good results with most of my cleaning, non-optical, but I can see where I was getting some details wrong. THANKS

This is right up my alley. I've built clean rooms for medical device manufacturing, and I also had a published article in a medical journal about the presence of microorganisms in the operating room atmosphere and demonstration that my device eliminated that vector by shielding the incision with a laminar flow filtered air source. Anyway, we really are like Pig Pen in Peanuts... a cloud of shed skin cells emits from our skin and contaminates the air. It's fascinating stuff.

Amazing work as always.

Thank you for this very interesting video!

Great class!

We are excited for the Laser video! Nice upload!

I could watch your videos for the rest of my life one every day.