Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dolby 3D Glasses Dishwasher Chemicals

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Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 12-30-2008, 10:27 PM:

I have read a bulletin from Dolby saying they recommend a certain companies low temp dishwasher chemicals because other brands may harm the glasses.

1. Has anyone used another brand besides the Dolby recommended chemicals and actually had the glasses damaged?

2. In theory, what damage will occur?

Posted by Mike Renlund (Member # 4675) on 12-31-2008, 11:12 AM:

I looked at using alcohol for cleaning, and then a sanitizer to finish it off. Mostly I found that I would be spending more money in wasted chemicals and time (payroll) with cleaning one pair of glasses at a time.

As to damage, there are about 50 layers of coating per lens. By using "unapproved" cleaning material/procedures there is a chance that you could damage the coating...and it might not be noticeable in a visual inspection. It will just make things not look quite right for your guests.

In the long run, I prefer the dishwasher and "approved" chemicals. Less hassle overall. At least thats my opinion.

Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 12-31-2008, 11:30 AM:

Dolby suggests using Ecolab chemicals for cleaning.

We have been using Auto-Chlor chemicals without any problems. The rinse aid and sanitizer are usually the same chemicals between brands. The detergent may be something to verify in whatever brand you choose to use.

Matt, I can tell you that the cost of the ecolab chemicals is around the same cost as the other chemical brands out there. Certain business lease their dishwashing equipment and the chemicals are included, and generally are required to use the specified chemicals.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-31-2008, 01:51 PM:

quote: Mike Renlund
In the long run, I prefer the dishwasher and "approved" chemicals. Less hassle overall. At least thats my opinion.

Exactly! And I can add that Mike has had almost no trouble with the glasses themselves. The good part about the Dolby recommended dishwasher is that a wash cycle only lasts for 3 min. That Dolby reccomended dish washer can also be bought at a large discount from restaurant suppliers and even on E-Bay if you are a smart shopper.

Mark

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 12-31-2008, 02:12 PM:

Proctor is using a different but supposedly adequate dishwasher in new installations and there are some other models as well which are functionally identical if blazing speed is not a requirement. The chemicals are all about the same price. The main risk apparently is spotting which will ruin the lenses very quickly.

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 12-31-2008, 10:19 PM:

Thanks for the input. My theatre is small, and I didn't have adquate space for the Knight dishwasher Dolby recommends, so I have gotten a undercounter model that is slower but basically does the same thing.

My first 3D movie is Bloody Valentine here in a couple of weeks, so I will check into the Ecolab cleaners before the 16th.

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 09-27-2010, 11:01 AM:

It has been 634 days since the last post.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-27-2010, 11:01 AM:

We are using the Ecolab chemicals but there is a serious amount of spots left on the glasses. My wife suggested squirting a small amount of "Finish" into the water before washing, so I tried that with a few glasses last night and....no spots. The glasses look fine otherwise so hopefully this is a solution we can keep using.

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 09-27-2010, 06:04 PM:

What is Finish?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-27-2010, 06:27 PM:

It is a blue liquid that's meant for home dishwashers. (It actually says "JET DRY" on the label too.) In a home machine, it goes in the "rinse agent" dispenser. I just squirted some into the water tank of our theatre dishwasher (Knight undercounter model) and the spots were gone on the next wash.

I don't know how much is the ideal amount. I probably put about a half-ounce or so into the machine. This is totally an experiment here, but good results so far.

NOTE: We have hard water here; if you have soft water (or a water softener) you may not have this problem.

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 09-27-2010, 07:35 PM:

We found that the Kodak lab detergent, Foto-Flo 200 works wonders. Basically it is a detergent without the color or scent of home products. It is also very strong acting. It is intended for addition to the final rinse in film processing. We have used it successfully in washing the crystals on the lobby chandelier. It also works on the glass in the front doors.

KEN

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 02-06-2013, 11:21 AM:

It has been 862 days since the last post.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-06-2013, 11:21 AM:

Just washed a batch of Dolby 3D glasses, and there are little white spots on them.

I'm using Ecolab chemicals -- the entire setup is per Dolby's instructions.

Didn't used to get these spots before, but it's been a few months since I ran 3D -- which means it's been a while since I used the washer.

Before washing, I always run the washer 3-5 times to clear out all the old water from the pipes and to get the whole apparatus up to temperature. And then I have about 5 batches of glasses to wash. Which means that after about 10 cycles of washing, I'm still getting spots.

Wash temperature is 120F, rinse temp is around 130F.

Mike -- what did your spots look like? Just water spots, or were they actual "white residue" spots like mine?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-06-2013, 04:39 PM:

Just water spots. We still get them some days...I have no idea why. Some days the glasses look perfect, other days they are spotty. But the machine seems to leave behind a bit of "film" anyway so we always polish all the glasses. It's a pain in the butt but we get the concession people involved and can do a whole bunch of them fast.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-06-2013, 05:04 PM:

Thanks for the reply, Mike.

Mine have actual white spots. Looks like specks of powder. I suspect it's chemical residue, although I'm not sure which chemical.

I'm going to re-check the dispersion amounts in the morning. I used a test strip for the chlorine and it was below 50ppm, so if that value has drifted, possibly the others have too.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-06-2013, 05:48 PM:

One thing that happened here, when I ran the de-liming cleaner through the machine and then washed a load of glasses afterward, I guess the cleaner wasn't totally out of the system and it "etched" the lenses on those glasses. Thankfully it was a very small load (about 10 pairs, last show of the week) and now I know to run several empty cycles after de-liming.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-08-2013, 09:50 PM:

The Knight manual says "use a delime solution as recommended by the manufacturer." However, when pressed for clarification, Knight declined to recommend a specific delime solution, stating that it depends on the local water composition.

With that in mind, I contacted our Dining Services department to see what they're using but have not heard back from them (yet). So, left to my own devices, I filled the unit with water, added a pint of distilled white vinegar, and ran the unit for 5 minutes with the switch in the delime position.

Then, I ran the unit empty for 3 cycles to clean out the vinegar, as Mike suggested in his last post (see above).

I also recalibrated the dispersion for each cleaning solution. (I'm using the Ecolab chemicals specified in the Dolby guide.) I measured the volume of detergent and the rinse agent. The detergent was perfect at 7mL, but the rinse agent had drifted low, to only 1.5mL, so I reset it to 3mL. For the sanitizer, I don't adjust based on volume. Instead, I always use the little test strips until the result is in the 50ppm range. Based on my experience, 3mL of sanitizer is not enough to hit 50ppm.

And the glasses came out clean! [Cool]

Thanks, Mike. [thumbsup]