frederickheim

Having also just restarted astronomy with a recently acquired Celestron-8 (old school mid '70s vintage) and also on the other side of 70, I feel the same learning curve. My new scope is equipped with a wedge, and looking at it and reading your post, I wonder if I might add a rotating connection between the tripod and wedge in place of fixed screws. In theory, once level and secure, I should be able to rotate the wedge and scope for the polar alignment, then lock that part and get on with the actual polaris alignment. My previous scope was a 10 inch Dobsonian, which did not care where North was LOL. comments?

Making progress on my C-8, Diagonal was broken by a fall (previous owner), paience and JB weld has the diagonal functional again. Repaired the steel tripod, new aluminum spiders. Still waiting on clear skies to try it out!!!, Will try to date it roughly by the clock motors, as there is no serial number anywhere that I can find. Older, smooth orange tube. Fred

Greeting from Planet X (my company name !) I recently acquired a BEAUTIFUL Orange tube C-8 and am in the process of getting it back in working order. It had been in or near a garage fire, had tipped over and damaged the spooting scope mount and eyepiece holder and a couple of other bits, but the optics appear fine. I'm in the process of repairing the image erector, as the bakelite prism holder took the brunt of the fall. One of the aluminum spider bars is missing, and one broken, so am in the process of making new parts. As near as I can tell it is an early '70s model, smooth orange tube. has the 3 prong socket for the power cord (which is missing ) Have not been able to find a serial number anywhere yet. Have not examined the motors for date code yet. Any suggestions on collimating or other, I am all ears. Fred