They have an older (how old I can't tell) Meade 8" Newtonian with
what appears to be the original mount and clock drive. [snip]
My question concerns using the clock drive. I could find no way to
engage/dis-engage the clock drive. Is this common on older Meade
clock drives? Are they always engaged? Sorry I don't have any
further info on the model or description of the drive.

It could be the AC-powered Meade 8-inch Starfinder. These were preceded by the
DS-series eq-mounted Newtonians, which had "DS-#" on the OTA...the # being the
aperture of the instrument.

I've got the 10-inch AC-powered Starfinder. It's a vintage 1994 scope: The OTA
is plain white with MEADE in all-caps, black lettering along the side; and
black plastic end rings. It came with a 6x30 finderscope--white with black
housing for the lenses--and a metal 1.25-inch rack & pinion focuser. The mount
is a black metal pier with three, black die-cast aluminum legs. The primary
mirror cell is also die-cast aluminum. My primary is marked on the back with
hand-written aperture, focal length and serial number information. If your
primary is marked with a serial number, you should be able to contact Meade to
find out when the optics were made.

The clock drive is housed within a plastic removeable shell. It's a clutched
drive, so you don't have to disengage it. Simply grab the OTA and move the
telescope wherever you want and it will start tracking as soon as you release
the tube. With a decent polar alignment, my 10-inch tracks at very high
magnification for hours. The 8-inch should perform just as well, if not better.

Regards,



Bill Ferris
"Cosmic Voyage: The Online Resource for Amateur Astronomers"
URL: http://www.cosmic-voyage.net
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