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Rocket Blower v HEPA II


wlaidlaw

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For years, I have used a Rocket blower but with the very sensitive dust detector on the M240, I had come to wonder if I was blowing either rubber particles (from my older Rocket) or dust onto the sensor. I therefore bought a HEPA Jet Mk2 blower, with a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Absorption) filter on the inlet. The problem is that the blower bulb is far too thick and stiff, so in combination with the inlet filter, you can’t get any “puff”. In winter, when the bulb is stiff, with my weak hands, I can hardly squeeze it at all.

 

The solution I have arrived at is to remove the one way valve from the newer of my two Rockets (I keep meaning to throw the older one away as I think the rubber has started to perish) and replace it with the combined one way valve HEPA filter from the Jet 2. Problem solved. I now have a filtered blower, which produces a reasonable amount of “puff”.

 

Wilson

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I have a fairly new Rocket blower and after cleaning my M240 sensor today saw no sign that it added more particles than it removed. It removed most, and an Arctic Butterfly removed the rest. I do have a problem, though, in controlling the tip of the Rocket while squeezing the bulb hard, and I'm scared of accidentally hitting the sensor. I plan to make a little jig of wood or similar, to sit on the flange and keep the tip a fixed distance from the sensor. It would make it easier to focus on a particular sensor area as well. Has anyone else had/solved this problem?

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Wilson I use this compressor brand Kaiser to remove dust, no problem the past 3 years with my M9 and M8.

I also removes dust on the negative (film) and the lens . It's radical

My advisor Leica center has one like this !

 

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Henry

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Wilson I use this compressor brand Kaiser to remove dust, no problem the past 3 years with my M9 and M8.

I also removes dust on the negative (film) and the lens . It's radical

My advisor Leica center has one like this !

 

[ATTACH]418774[/ATTACH]

 

Henry

 

Difficult to take with me on trips to India and classic car rallies though :) I do have a large compressor in my garage but I am not 100% sure how oil free the air is, as it is quite old now.

 

On Kenair, a lot of these “air” blowers actually use a propane/butane mix not air. This is wholly unsuitable for sensor cleaning but I don’t know what is in the Kenair brand.

 

I have found the M240 is more difficult to clean than the M9 (or M8). I don’t know if the CMOS sensor glass cover is more crudphilic (a technical term) than the cover glass for the CCD’s. Today, I blew with the HEPA II, Arctic Butterflied, Eye-Lead Stick pad stuck, and retested, which showed a slight improvement. I then blew again with the new Rocket/HEPA hybrid, did two wet cleans, followed by an Arctic Butterfly and the sensor is now down to a single dust fleck, which I reckon is about as good as you can get it.

 

I am going to have to go and get more wands for my forthcoming trip to India, so there go Visible Dust’s shares up again. :(

 

Wilson

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Not having cleaned my M9 sensor yet, can anyone tell me if it’s ok to use compressed air eg from a Kenair can and nozzle, which I use also to remove dust from negatives.

 

Much more complicated than cleaning my DMR sensors - that’s a real doddle.

 

 

This can be highly risky. The pressure drop of the air coming out of the can cools the air which can crack the cover glass of the sensor. I got very lucky when I tried this on my M9 several years ago. Holding my M9 upside down (for gravity assistance) I wasn't paying attention to the orientation of the can - it was partially inverted. It sprayed sub-zero propellant onto the sensor. Another half-second and I'm certain I would have ruined the sensor.

 

Now, I just use a rocket blower... However I keep it in a plastic zip-lock bag to keep dust off of it and "puff" it a couple times before pointing it at my sensor to blow out any stray dust.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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