Posts Made By: Dave McGowan

A new user, I recently bought a used Meade Starfinder 10. The drive motor on it is cooked. My questions are: Do I have to get one from Meade, or can I buy an alternative? Could I just put a motor and gear on and drive it by a switch? Are there other alternatives (hand?). Lastly, I can't figure out how to get the little timing wheel off the motor shaft. Any help welcome!

I have a steel well casing and a concrete water cistern (with concrete lid) that I no longer use. I was toying with the idea of building a observatory over this area, and using these items as piers. Assuming you cap them off with concrete or something else, does anyone think there would be a moisture (or other) problem?