Can a telescope be serviced?

[Lux (Justin)]

Thinking of buying a second hand scope as my first scope. That being the case I am not too knowledgable in these things, so I am wondering if I bought a scope and it did not appear to be working as well as it should if it could be serviced as such? What would such a service cost and would any certificate/guarantee/list of repairs or corrections be made available?

If so, would it be reasonable to ask the seller to have this done, which would then confirm the performance of the scope before sale?

[GraemeT (Graeme)]

Justin, the short answer is, yes, a telescope can be serviced. To give a list of faults would probably cost almost as much as fixing same and that cost would be about as flexible as the length of a piece of string.
I would not consider it reasonable to ask a vendor to have a service performed before purchase, unless s/he was a commercial dealer. Buying from a member of IIS, one is usually reasonably sure of an ethical deal, as long as that member has good standing, ie. not someone with only 2 or 3 posts and all of those trying to sell something.
The other aspect is that, as you haven't had a scope before, you don't know what to expect and it's a little unfair to question the seller on the basis of your (unformed) expectations.
I would suggest that you join or at least visit an astronomy club before you buy anything, try various scopes and ask LOTS of questions and seek as much advice as possible. Everyone has a different opinion on the best scope to buy and what you should pay for it and what you can expect it to do.

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Hi,

I second what Graeme has said. Talking about the optical tube only, the most serviceable type is probably the Newtonian reflector, then the Schmidt-Cassegrain, then the refractor type, some of which need a specialist to dismantle.

The Dobsonian mount is a very simple type to tune up, and there is a great deal of stuff out there on servicing equatorial mounts like the EQ5. When it comes to the electronics of Go-To type computerised mounts, it gets a bit more difficult, but the thing to do there is to get a demo at the time of purchase.

It is rare to find yourself with a lemon if you buy here on IIS, I think (although it has happened), and there is a lot of expertise also if you need advice. I am using my 5th scope now, all bought 2nd hand here (being cheap my ownself ) and they were all good buys.

Cheers