Well the results are in.
While I did not cause any damage to the sensor, nor the imager protective cover, the cleaning process was not successful in terms of removing the dust bunnies from the array.
It merely moved them around, and in a couple of cases made some of the spots a tad bit larger than what they were. It did not leave any smears on the protective cover, and I was able to do the cleaning in low enough light that I did not weaken the immulsion surface in any way.
From the activity, you have to gauge simply by feel of how much down force pressure you have to put on the imagers protective cover, and that is very difficult to do because the holder for the fabric tip is a rigid piece of rolled paper (if you have ever seen a tootsie pop, that is what it is made of), and unless you are really, really attentive to the amount of cleaning solution on the fabric tip, it can easily begin to fold over on you, and once again the pressure sensitivity is lost.
For the first pass I followed the instructions implicitly, 1 small drop on each end of the sweep fabric tip, and then sweep the imager cover completely moving right to left in two equal strokes, insuring that you move completely over the edge of the cover. This resulted in some removing of the bunnies, so I waited about 4 hours and repeated the process with a second cleaner tip, using the same 2 drops, but with some additional pressure. Thus the results I indicated above, at which point, I decided that enough had been done, and it was not going to get any better.
So the game plan is to purchase an additional Nikon D80 body (un upgrade to the D50), then use the existing lens sets, and then send the D50 in for a professional cleaning which will take about 6 weeks out of Denver, then keep it as the spare body going forward, and then as they get dirty send them in on a rotating basis so that I always have a camera available.
So, if I use the standard manner to deem something of value, this one was a "2" Thumbs Down.
The process is painless enough, but nowhere near worth the roughly $160.00 (plus shipping) expended to try and make it happen, and the results did not come close to meeting any expectations.
Best,
John Little