C8 maintenance and care
About once a year, one of our C8s has a problem that requires some sort of repair. So I take it downstairs and open it up, and every time I do I stand there for a minute thinking “ok, which set of screws do I remove now?”
When I started out, I had some help from the folks over at Sherzer Observatory, so I really should know what I’m doing. Especially since it’s been more than 10 years. But when you only do something once a year, it can take a few minutes to remember. So here, as a reminder to myself and help for anyone else out there who happens to have a classic Celestron orange tube C8, is a series of posts on how to repair an old orange-tube.
First and Foremost, the warnings and disclaimers:
I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ABILITY TO WORK ON YOUR OWN (OR ANYONE ELSE’S) TELESCOPE! IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, YOU REALLY SHOULD FIND SOMEONE WHO DOES!
No really, It’s much better to work with someone who knows what they’re doing. In particular, the optics are unique to each ‘scope – if you break any of the optical elements, your ‘scope is toast. Seriously. If it isn’t broken, DO NOT fix it. Don’t get curious and go poking around inside just because you can.
I’ll do my best to get everything right, and get all the warnings in, but some of these things are second nature. And I am only human. If you have questions or think I missed something, please say so!
The category “telescope maintance” will show you al the posts in this series and some related ones, or you can use the links below.
- Balancing in dec
- dec lock
- dec fine adjustment
- RA lock position
- opening the base part 1
- opening the base part 2: the bottom and motors
- opening the base part 3: the gears
- opening the base part 4: the RA lock
Sideways Orion 
Thanks because of this! I’ve been searching all above the web for that facts.