MondoMor
06-23-2008, 05:49 PM
I'm prone to brain-fade, and make some colossally stupid decisions when not paying close attention to what I'm doing.
Case-in-point: last spring I was washing my vest in the tub and thought, "hey since I have this nice warm soapy water why don't I throw my mask in there to soak, too!"
The lens in that mask was brand new, and the area between the lenses filled with soapy water in no time.
http://home.comcast.net/%7Emondomor/emot-doh.gif
In addition to being a daydreamer, I'm also a little cheap and really stubborn. I decided to fix the lens.
I poked small holes (two on each side, near the bottom corners of the lens) with a toothpick through the foam between the lens "panes", and wedged a couple of pennies between the panes. The coins held the holes open to drain the soapy water. Then I re-filled and re-drained the lens a couple of times to rinse out the soapy water.
I then taped the coins in place, and set the lens on a floor vent. I orient it so that it looks like this:
(
tilting slightly to one side. I usually leave my furnace/AC fan "on" in the house, to there's air constantly flowing through the vent.
The pried-open holes allow enough air to flow between the panes to dry them out. I think at least two days are needed for full drying, depending on the humidity and air flow.
It works great! I played with that lens several times last year and several times this year (6 or 8 games total). I've played in cold weather (Splat Tag's '07 Halloween game) and fairly hot, humid weather (GBG XIV). The only time it ever fogged was at the GBG, and I think the only reason was that the lens only had about 12 hours to dry out. The fogging was still barely noticeable. Otherwise, absolutely no fog.
The downside: the holes unfortunately allow water in more easily, so the lens has to be pulled and the process repeated each time I wash the mask. Since it's a JT Spectra, this takes a few minutes. :mad:
Case-in-point: last spring I was washing my vest in the tub and thought, "hey since I have this nice warm soapy water why don't I throw my mask in there to soak, too!"
The lens in that mask was brand new, and the area between the lenses filled with soapy water in no time.
http://home.comcast.net/%7Emondomor/emot-doh.gif
In addition to being a daydreamer, I'm also a little cheap and really stubborn. I decided to fix the lens.
I poked small holes (two on each side, near the bottom corners of the lens) with a toothpick through the foam between the lens "panes", and wedged a couple of pennies between the panes. The coins held the holes open to drain the soapy water. Then I re-filled and re-drained the lens a couple of times to rinse out the soapy water.
I then taped the coins in place, and set the lens on a floor vent. I orient it so that it looks like this:
(
tilting slightly to one side. I usually leave my furnace/AC fan "on" in the house, to there's air constantly flowing through the vent.
The pried-open holes allow enough air to flow between the panes to dry them out. I think at least two days are needed for full drying, depending on the humidity and air flow.
It works great! I played with that lens several times last year and several times this year (6 or 8 games total). I've played in cold weather (Splat Tag's '07 Halloween game) and fairly hot, humid weather (GBG XIV). The only time it ever fogged was at the GBG, and I think the only reason was that the lens only had about 12 hours to dry out. The fogging was still barely noticeable. Otherwise, absolutely no fog.
The downside: the holes unfortunately allow water in more easily, so the lens has to be pulled and the process repeated each time I wash the mask. Since it's a JT Spectra, this takes a few minutes. :mad: