Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Use alcohol on a bulb?

This is topic Use alcohol on a bulb? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Wyatt Copeland (Member # 4433) on 08-17-2007, 01:28 AM:

I've got a box of bulbs sitting in my booth with one who's packaging had these words written on it with a sharpie marker,
"Wipe down with alcohol before use, I think I accidentially touched with with my hand"
Now, I don't know what to think about that. When it was recieved, I wasn't in charge of the booth at the time. Would it be safe to wipe it down? Or should I try my best to send it back and demand a new one even though it was recieved a while ago?

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 08-17-2007, 01:54 AM:

If you touch the envelope it should be wiped down immediately, the acids etc in sweat will etch into the envelope and weaken it.

So if it's been touched some time ago, it's probably damaged.

However, what makes you think you could send it back and demand a replacement? Unless I'm reading it wrong, it's been touched by someone in your booth, you can't blame the manufacturer/supplier for that!

Posted by Wyatt Copeland (Member # 4433) on 08-17-2007, 02:01 AM:

When the shipment was recieved and the box was opened, it already had it written on it. So unless someone in the booth opened the big box, opened the bulb box, touched the bulb, put it back, and then did a damn good job at retaping the big box, then it had to be someone on the shipping end. Idunno..just ticks me off and to me rubbing it down with alcohol just didn't sound like the best thing to do anyway.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-17-2007, 02:20 AM:

Used to be that Christie would place alcohol wipes in every bulb shipment with the same instruction to wipe off fingerprints if bulb is touched by bare hands.

And true, the skins oils attract the heat to that contaminated point and will cause the quartz to weaken at that point - the same with the old high wattage filament projection bulbs: get the fingerprints off the glass or the heat draws to the contaminated glass and actually cause a blister on the envelope.

If I touch a bulb with my bare hands, I have a bottle of 91% rubbing alcohol that does a great job in cleaning the envelope of skin oils.

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 08-17-2007, 04:11 AM:

Wyatt they shouldn't be opened by anyone prior to you receiving them, so maybe you have a case with the supplier.

Difficult to prove though I'd imagine.

Posted by Bastiaan Fleerkate (Member # 3826) on 08-17-2007, 09:44 AM:

Just send the bulb back...

In The Netherlands we have a saying:

'Nee heb je, ja kun je krijgen'

Translation:

'You've got no, but you can get yes'

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 08-17-2007, 12:09 PM:

Guess your result will depend on your dealer's ability to "do battle" for you. No dealer? tsk, tsk. Louis

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 08-17-2007, 12:20 PM:

This whole thing sounds suspicious. I've never received a bulb from a manufacturer that looked like it had been touched.

However, it's not uncommon for manufacturers to put labels in the boxes, advising you to wipe the bulbs down... nothing unusual about this... halogen yard lights have the same warnings about handling.

Why would you have a problem with alcohol? What are you using now?... Windex? Easy-Off? Whiskey? Nothing? [Razz]

You have to clean the bulbs and reflectors with something... at least once in awhile!

I don't use rubbing alcohol... too much water in there for me. You can get denatured alcohol by the gallon at any hardware store.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 08-17-2007, 02:00 PM:

Pete said, "If you touch the envelope it should be wiped down immediately, the acids etc in sweat will etch into the envelope and weaken it."

Err, I thought this would only happen if you struck the bulb, and the mechanism was that differential heating would cause stresses in the quartz.

So if you touch it with a fingerprint and then put it in a box for a year and then clean it off and strike it, I think you're fine.

Osram says:

quote:

Cleaning lamps
XBO lamps may only be held by the base. If the quartz bulb or the shafts should ever be inadvertently touched with bare fingers (which should never happen because unprotected lamps should only ever be handled with leather gloves), the fingerprints must be removed immediately. A lint-free cloth moistened with spirit is best for this, after which the lamp should be rubbed dry, taking care not to scratch the quartz glass surface. Damage to the glass may cause the lamp to break during later operation.

If fingerprints are not removed they burn into the quartz glass surface where they act as a seed for ever-expanding recrystallization of the glass. This causes the glass to lose its strength and increases the risk of bursting.

I doubt the water content of the alcohol matters much here...it's not as if glass rusts.

--jhawk

Posted by Kyle Anderson (Member # 3504) on 08-17-2007, 03:08 PM:

Unless it's distilled, it'll have some minerals dissolved in the water, which will either burn off or oxidize on your envelope.

Simple solution is - don't touch the quartz outside of proper cleaning, ever, period.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-17-2007, 04:00 PM:

quote: Kyle Anderson
it'll have some minerals dissolved in the water, which will either burn off or oxidize on your envelope.

...which one can do is a followup dry wipe with lens tissue after the cleansing wipe with alcohol..what I usually do to remove the slight haze that these alcohol cleaning wipes leaves behind ... if I accidently touch the envelope.

When you wear glasses like I do, it's a common habit to do a dry wipe after cleanins the lenses...

Posted by Wyatt Copeland (Member # 4433) on 08-17-2007, 04:38 PM:

quote:
Why would you have a problem with alcohol? What are you using now?... Windex? Easy-Off? Whiskey? Nothing? [Razz] You have to clean the bulbs and reflectors with something... at least once in awhile!

I have some stuff for the reflectors, but no one has ever told me that you need to wipe the bulbs down. Haven't had a problem so far, but maybe I should do it.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-17-2007, 05:50 PM:

Hell, I just spit shine em before I put em in...

Just kiddin....

Mark