potato22

7 hours ago, barbulo said:

Hi and welcome to SGL. 

According to my experience, it's difficult to find a SW mount to have the polar scope perfectly squared. You can try to adjust it, but I don't recommend it. I prefer to compensate that inclination with a few steps (less than 1 minute of your time). 

I proceed as follows: place Polaris in the center of the reticle, then move one axis (AZ is normally easier) till the star is out of the circles and then rotate the RA axis to place the horizontal line over Polaris (vertical line if you chose ALT instead of AZ). After these steps you should have your reticle squared regardless the position of the RA shaft, and that 5deg inclination you mentioned should be compensated. Now you can proceed with the polar alignment routine placing Polaris in its right place in the reticle.

OK, thanks, will give that a try. 

Should the polar scope scale be vertical? Mine is offset slightly, as shown in the picture. Sorry if it's a noob question, it's my first mount, and first time looking through a polar scope!

The picture is taken straight, so the scale seems offset 5 degrees or so from vertical.

Wondering if this is deliberately to compensate for magnetic North vs true North, or if the courier dropped it, etc...