I recently acquired an old 8" Meade telescope (neighbors put it out on the curb when vacating a house).
It seems to be missing a spider (actually there is a daddy long legs in residence, but you know what I mean), and a secondary mirror, and an eyepiece. That being said, the primary mirror looks to be undamaged (if dirty).
I've built a newtonian reflector from scratch decades ago, but have been using a 4.5" Maksutov-Cassegrain (also Meade) for at least a decade and it has been perfect for my needs.
I would like to see if I can refurbish this older 8" - and am hoping to figure out the model number, so that I can identify all of the parts the unit had originally, in order to decide how best to replace/reproduce each.
Of note - I have access to 3d design software and several 3d printers, and may want to create a custom spider and/or scan the original, so that I can share the .stl file with the community at large (so that others can simply print the file, without having to do the design work).
If anyone can point me in the direction of the model number for this unit, I will do my best to keep this thread up to date with my progress on restoring this piece.
Thanks in advance. I'm brand new here, but have been reading on this forum today and am very impressed with the wealth of combined knowledge and experience you all share.
A snapshot of this scope is below.
Best.