Why new masks have a special layer on the glass that needs to be cleaned off

[simonru]

Normal Colgate has always worked for me. And it leaves my mask bright and minty fresh.

 

[jboneng]

Some says it is a residue from the molding process, some says it is a protective coating for when the mask is in storage in the shops, and others says it is just a myth.

My pretreatment ritual when I get a new mask or when friends/family wants me to pretreat their masks is first I burn the lens with a lighter (only if it is tempered glass), give the lens a good rubbin' with colgate and wash the mask with baby-shampoo.
The rubbing with colgate is probably not necessary when you already have burned the lens, and vice versa, but as I said it is a ritual

 

[beanojones]

They probably just don't want to pay for increase in manufacturing cost to remove it.

This.

And you figure this out when putting 30 new IST masks into rental, because IST is always cheaper, and this is one way they sell things cheaper is by letting us do some of the labor.

The film is mold release for the silicone molding. Silicone works great as a mask skirt material because it is so sticky, which also means that the feathered edging would want to adhere permanently to the mold that forms it. Silicone is also very permeable which means that no matter how carefully a silcone mask is cleaned after releasing from the mold, it would have to sit for a while to offgas the mold release.

That letting them sit for a couple days to offgas is just something that would run up the cost of manufacture.

It's also why cheap nylon masks, and rubber masks do not have to be toothpasted** because the nylon/rubber does not stick to the mold like silicone and the materials are not pregnable, so no heavy duty mold release, and no offgassing down the road.

Thus we get to do the last bit of mold release removal for silicone masks from when the mold release offgasses and wanders to the glass in the time between manufacturing and retail.

Use a mask for a while and the face grease/sunscreen ends up adhering to the lenses, and you have to toothpaste it again, because grease. ** Even for rubber/vinyl skirted masks.

Pro-Tips: toothpaste the entire inside of the mask, glass, lens, skirt and all. Toothpaste brand matters way more than it should, and the sharper the mint flavor the more irritated the eyes get. SoftScrub worksbut is far less portable than a travel tube of thoothpaste to keep around.

 

[freewillie]

Or the old-fashioned way, you can pour some Comet or Ajax inside the mask, put a couple of drops of water to make a thick paste, and rub it all around the tempered glass for a bit. It might take a couple of times to get that film off all the areas.

I never found that toothpaste worked.

That might depend on the type of toothpaste used. It has to be the old fashioned paste style, not the newer gel paste.

 

[Doc]

I think the thread is getting a bit off topic. The question is why, not how.

Zackly.

It is a conspiracy between the Dive Industry ® and SCUBA Board.©

The dive industry leaves this residue on your new super-duper mask because it's cheaper to not remove it. There is some research to the effect that during shipment, it deters the cockroaches from eating the silicone skirts. Additionally, through the DEMA Cabal ™, and due to pressure exerted by the Divemasters Against Making Mask Internal Treatments (DAMMIT&#8482 who would go out of business if but not for the eternally internally fogged mask, well, by now you're putting the pieces together. Hear the black helicopters yet?

Now, here's the interesting part. :sblogo: has a vested interest in using up the remainder of their monthly electron allotment, most especially during the annual Summer Dog Days of the Internet © :sleeping2: slow-down. Nobody is posting, so mask manufacturers have cooperated by slowly ratcheting-up the amount of goo™ that they leave on the lenses, in increasing quantities beginning on Flag Day (here in the US) and for them sneaky Frogs, they use Bastille Day for their trigger date.

This causes a spike in new threads, and with SB;'s cooperation, they have disabled the button for the duration of the event.

Toothpaste. (As in my sig line) And... it prevents Stale Dive Breath™ :nuke: which is nothing worse if you meet just the right person when you're stuffed like a sausage:gr1: into a hot wet rubber suit.

That's the why, I'm pretty sure.

 

[Oldbear]

Doc...that was funny.

The "All-knowing" Aqua Lung rep said the film on their mask lens was a result of the polymer that makes up the frame off gasing right after manufacturing. We all know official company representatives never lie. :d

 

[carltona]

Magic eraser. Works great on glass masks, will scratch plastic though. I think fogging may have something to do with the plastic storage boxes. When I am diving a lot, my mask doesn't fog using defogger or spit. I don't put my mask in the storage box, it goes in my fin. When I put it in a storage box for a month or longer, it will need to be cleaned or it will fog. If I leave it out of the storage box, it doesn't have to be cleaned.