According to Epoch <>:
>
> "frederick" <> wrote in message
> news:1158356575.741661@ftpsrv1...
> > Epoch wrote:
> >> Can anyone in the UK point me to a readily available lens cleaning fluid?
[ ... ]
> >> Any easily available solution would be greatly appreciated.
> > Pure isopropyl alcohol from a pharmacist.
> > Slower evaporating than Eclipse (methanol).<
>
>
> Thanks to all who replied (even the comedian)
>
> One question - will a pharmacy actually sell me the stuff?
I'm answering from the perspective of someone in the USA, so
things may well be different where you are.
Isopropanol *should* be readily available from a pharmacy, as it
is often used for cleaning areas around wounds prior to applying
bandages. Our local pharmacys (and the drugs section of the supermarket
as well) offer 70% and 91%.
Here -- to get pure *ethanol* (well -- something like 95%, as it
tends to absorb water from the air) in *this* state (Virginia) you go to
the Alcohol Control Board -- where you buy the various stronger
alcoholic beverages (wine and beer you can get other places) and you can
buy it -- with a rather stiff tax on it, because it is being sold there
for consumption by humans.
When I worked for the US Government, we kept some bottles around
for lens cleaning purposes (we worked with night vision equipment,
mostly), and we had to go through a major pain of record keeping for the
bottles, with only one bottle open and available for use at a time. The
rest had to be locked up.
> - I mean, you
> can't even buy more than 24 paracetamol tablets these days - just in case
> you're thinking of trying escaping from the misery of New Britain - can't
> even buy wood glue, for that matter, unless the store manager decides that
> you're not going to inhale the stuff! What a nasty little country this has
> become.
Glues and such have been under some level of control here for
many years -- because of kids inhaling them, and some dying of liver
damage or other things of the sort. Those glues have had additives
tossed in to make them a bit less good as glues, but very unpleasant to
inhale. IIRC, the control of the glues (at least model airplane cements
and similar) started in the late 1950s. But -- if you are buying from
an industrial supplier, you are presumed to be beyond the sniffing age.
The restrictions are more likely to be enforced in a place which
typically sells to kids, like model shops.
Other solvents, such as carbon tetrachloride, have been pretty
much unavailable except in chem labs, because of the number of people
who have died while using it. For that matter, I had a rather nasty
bout when I used it to clean the gates of two 16mm movie projectors at
school. I was one of those allocated the job of projection for the
classes.
Good Luck,
DoN.
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