Celestron Orange C6 Reflector

Every once in a while we find an orphaned telescope.  He is my latest.  A few months ago, Karen D got with me and shared that someone in the club had a telescope that was being given away.  I said, if available, I will take it.  The back story was it has been passed to 5 or so different people who just didnt find a use for it. It turns out the telescope consisted of the OTA, primary and secondary mirrors, focuser and a few mounting points.  The OTA was pretty scratched up and had a few minor dents/dings.  The scope is a 150mm or 6inch F5.  I did a mock up assembly on an EQ mount and was trying to figure out why the scope looked wrong.  It took a day or so of just looking at it and I realized, the mount points were about 160 degrees off.  This caused the focuser and spotter scope mount to be almost directly down.  

I marked where I felt the focuser was in a good spot and the spotter scope was effectively on top.  Marked a few lines and got out my drill.  New mount holes were drilled and I added the mounts.  The scope was in the correct perspective.  Perfect!   

I then fully disassembled the OTA.  I washed off the primary and secondary mirrors.  For mirrors that are about 40 years old, they didnt look bad.  The focuser is a really interesting design as it rides up and down the OTA instead of in or out to adjust that focal length.  Many ways to skin the cat. 

I sanded the OTA and found some paint that matched the original burnt orange.  As some of you know, I am partly color blind so I had to ask my wife for some assistance on that.  After the paint was fully dried, I got out a stick of bees wax and fully covered the painted surface.  I left the OTA in the sun to bake in the wax.  I got a good cloth and i wiped off the excess wax and then gave the wax a wipe off with car spray wax.  Again a good buff with a rag and then chamois.   

Now I had a number of "extra" holes in the OTA that needed to be closed up.  I opened the holes to 1/4" and installed a rubber plug into each hole.  A clean look!.  Then I cut a 10x10 inch section of flocking paper and glued that across from the focuser.

Since I had the focuser off.  I took it apart, cleaned and added graphite grease to the moving points.  A long term lubricating solution.   

I finished the reassembly and then put the OTA onto an EQ mount, with a motorized option.  Collimation was not too hard, but a tad touchy.  I had to purchase a spotter scope holder.  I am hoping to take it out for a test drive tonight.

Below are some pictures of the process I described above. From top to bottom, left to right, the pictures are... Prior to any work, first mounted on the EQ mount (note where the focuser and spotter mount are), OTA disassembled, New mounting points, Painting the exterior, Final product.

Looking forward to everyone's comments.