Celestron 8" refurb.

[tonyindarwin]

A friend of mine recently gave me his 20+ year old Celestron. It was exposed to sea air and there is some minor corrosion of the aluminium, however, I believe it can be resurected as the optics appear reasonable (some fungus on the mirrors and the lenses need to be stripped down and cleaned.
Unfortunately I am an absolute newcomer to this and have no idea of how to go about it.

Does anyone know of aguide or manual that would assist a reasonably competent handyman (me) to get this up and running again as I am keen to begin a new hobby.

I would appreciate any advice on this issue

Thanks heaps

Tony

[iceman]

Hi Tony

If the mirror coating is dead, you'll need to get it professionally re-coated. There's a guy called Isaac somewhere in the city and also Astro-Optical offer it as a service. There was a thread about it here just recently.

[Starkler]

Do take a look at what a brand new scope will cost you vs the cost of refurbishment. Is it a dobsonian? If so you can get a brand new gso 8" for around $400 ish which may or not be a better scope as the early Celestrons i hear have quite variable quality.

If this is your first scope I would be inclined just to give the mirrors a good clean (search this site for tips) and just use it.

[rmcpb]

Give the mirrors a good wash, CAREFULLY, by following the advice on the washing threads here. Collimate it as best you can, again lots of advice here but don't get too carried away with it, you get better with practice. Take it out under the stars and see what it goes like.

then worry about what it looks like if it is worth it. If not then Geoff gave good advice about a new GS dob unless you want the experience of doing it yourself but I would say that would be better later on when you have some experience.

[janoskiss]

What sort of scope? Like Geoff says, Newts and Newts on Dob mounts are incredibly cheap (and good) these days. Might not be worth the trouble trying to resurrect an old 8".

[gmbfilter]

I've got a 20 year old C8 a friend gave me, works a treat. I have a manual I can e-mail send me PM. and try The Unofficial Celestron Homepage (http://www.ngc1514.com/Celestron/celestron.htm).

[tonyindarwin]

A belated thanks to everyone who replied to my query. My computer and web skills unfortunately match my telescopic knowledge.