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Just a quick update,
Well, it was always going to happen...curiosity got the better of me, and I opened up the mak. After a lot of looking and thinking and shining a torch inside to work out how things were put together, I saw that the front corrector cell is very solid and self-contained, as is the rear cell. Each is connected to the tube by 4 tor head screws. After setting up the scope on it's end, pointing up, I removed the screws from the front and the corrector (very heavy) lifted off. It was then just a case of removing the screws attaching the rear cell to the tube and very carefully lifting off the tube.
I wanted to see behind the primary, and was able to after moving the mirror all the way forward with the stock focuser. Attached is a photo showing the plate and tap where the pull screw attaches, as well as a pic of the primary with baffle. It's very solid! I'm satisfied now that I understand how this scope is put together. Reassembling was easy, and there is no real chance of mis-aligning the cells as the fit is good.
I took the scope down to the local park today with a home-made artificial star (LED torch, foil and pinpricks). Alex, you're 100% on the money with the allen keys being much easier to control, luckily the screws I put in have the same hex heads as the originals. I was able to get really close with the collimation, and did most of the adjustment at 338x, but pushed the mag to a ridiculous 675x for the final setting (2700mm focal length, 8mm eyepiece with 2x powermate). It'll be interesting to see how a real star looks.
The screws are now tight (stronger than finger tight but not the tightest I could go with the allen key). Having seen the mounting plate I'm comfortable that there is no risk of damaging the primary with these collimation screws. The mounting plate where the screws attach seems solid enough. I wasn't particularly careful to tighten or loosen the screws according to a system, so I hope there aren't any issues caused by this. I'm confident the screws aren't going to move, so fingers crossed the plate is thick enough that balancing the screw tension isn't necessary.
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