Given the position of the laser window, being tucked away under the left side of the machine, it has only just occurred to me that unscrewing it would make cleaning infinitely easier !
OK, so it’s taken me years to think of this, but will there be any problems, or does everyone do this anyway?
John
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I’m not sure what you think will be easier about it?
As it stands now you’re reaching under there and just wipe it off. Done.
You’re talking about reaching under there, unscrewing it, wiping off, reaching back under again to try to screw it back in… Which introduces the possibility that you might drop it.
It also opens up the mirror enclosure on the left-hand side so that now dust can get inside your mirror and tube assembly…
Honestly just reaching under there with a zeiss wipe, wiping twice on different parts of the wipe, then quickly checking the job with a flashlight has always worked really easily for me. Ten second job max.
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"dropping it "… Yes, that’s a serious consideration.
My thought process was - how do I know if I’ve cleaned it properly ?
Being able to look through it might be better than just hopping I’d done a decent job !
John
PS Currently doing a serious, long overdue deep clean of the whole machine.
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Careful about “deep cleans” they are the bane of these machine’s existence!
I wipe with a Zeiss. If I see any brown on the wipe, I wipe again. Repeat (usually no more than 3-5 times) until I see no brown - mirror is clean 
I then use that same Zeiss to wipe off my laser tube - when I can no longer see the laser through the tube, it’s time to wipe everything off again!
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I find that shining a flashlight and looking at the reflection more than the lens/window itself will show you if there’s any debris still on it.
And I agree, wipe until the wipe comes back clean, It’s usually two application applications for me but maybe three or four if it’s really grungy.
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My “deep clean” applies only to the fabric of the GF, not any critical structures or optics !
Just to say that removal and replacement of the laser window is no biggy.
I could see much more easily just how cruddy the surface was, and it’s now returned, clean.
I have decided that a replacement set of all the lenses/windows would be a good idea, and they are now on order.
John
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I have foumd a very easy and foolproof way to tell if that window is dirty. If it cuts stronger on the left than the right hand side, that window is dirty. If not then it is not. There is very little so specific of both problem and cause as that.
I have seen the issue show up and looking like the window was clean, but a wipe with a Zeiss got a tiny bit of brown, and the issude was gone.
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The laser window is part of the optics…
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Absolutely true.
That’s why the two sentences are separated by a full stop.
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