Meade 4500 - Grub screws??

[numptynick]

Hello everyone.

As a complete beginner, dipping his toe rather nervously into the world of telescopes for the first time, I'm looking for a little hekp to get me going.

I've always enjoyed the night sky, but have never been brave enough to invest in a telescope - until today - I came across a Meade 4500 at a local garage sale for £35.00 which was just too tempting to resist. It's in pretty good condition - optics, mirrors etc. but is missing it's eyepiece, one of the viewfinder bracket thumbscrews and the thumbscrew from the 2x Barlow that came with it [same thread as the focuser thumbscrew].

I've managed to get a Meade 4000 12.4mm SP eyepiece for £20.00 on ebay, but am having no luck finding replacement grub screws anywhere.

I'm guessing that these are probably an imperial size and thread, Meade being an American firm. Can anyone out there tell me what I need to be looking for to replace them? Or better still, have something useable knocking about in a spares draw that they might be prepared to sell for a few pennies?

I'd be very grateful for any and all help as I'd love to put the old workhorse back into service!

Yours hopefully - numptynick

[NGC 1502]

Hi, if you have a local " Wilkinsons " store, they do imperial as well as metric bolts (at least the Southend one does ) Or you could get lucky at "Scopes'n'Skies" Astroboot. Good luck, Ed.

[TheThing]

Try also the UK importer for Meade Scopes, BC&F

They've been very helpful in the past when I've e-mailed them with queries and normally respond with a couple of days at the most.

[numptynick]

Thanks Guys!

I've emailed BC&F [thanks for the link] and if I have no joy there, I'll try Scopes'n'Skys or search out my local Wilkinsons.

Cheers,

Nick

[astrofox]

I have a couple of Meade scopes and the screw threads dont seem to follow any logical standard. There is a good chance that some may also be UNC\UNF threads

[numptynick]

Thanks Astrofox.

Steve, the tech guy at Meade UK very kindly sent me a bunch of screws - one of which fitted perfectly and another which was so close that slight tinkering with the thread did the job. Didn't even charge me postage! Can't get better customer service than that!!

Thank you all very much for the help and advice. You're absolute [pardon the pun] stars!