How do I remove the optics from the optical tube assembly (OTA) of my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?

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	How do I remove the optics from the optical tube assembly (OTA) of my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?

Answer

Most of the time you would never need to remove the optics from your OTA. However, if the scope is old and dirty, the corrector plate broken, you want to line or paint the inside of the tube, modify the tube, etc. you will need to know about taking out the corrector plate, primary and secondary mirrors.

Since the overall OTA design has changed little over the years, much of the information below is general and covers many OTAs.

Most of the basic information is contained in other Knowledgebase articles or in the Celestron online archives. Outside sources covering rebuilding the optics are also useful and are given last. Here are the links for relevant topics:

Demounting the optics

http://downloads.celestron.com/Archives/Miscellaneous/Demounting-Optics.pdf

How do I align my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope’s (SCT’s) corrector plate and secondary?
http://www.celestron.com/c3/support3/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=1655&nav=0,214

Which screws are safe to remove for mounting an accessory finderscope on my Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?
http://www.celestron.com/c3/support3/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=2214&nav=0,214

SCT Corrector Plate Removal
http://www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/SCTCorrectorRemoval.htm

Tuning up the NexStar5
http://www.robert-pudlo.de/astro/tune_main.html

Disassembling a Celestron C11 Optical Tube Assembly
http://www.laughton.com/paul/rfo/c11-disasm.html