CrystalFox

Hello guys, I recently got into astronomy so I bought my first telescope. I've read through several articles and the recommendation for a beginner's telescope (value/price) was Celestron Astromaster 130EQ-MD. I bought this from someone who was not really using it and it is in a very good condition. Prior to actually purchasing this, I've watched countless videos on how the telescope works, what needs to be done - latitude, RA/DEC alignment, polar alignment, etc.. After reading through all available manuals and videos, I finally brought it home from the seller (they've had it for around 5 years but it wasn't used much). After setting up the tripod, mounting the telescope and familiarising myself with all the different knobs, I pointed the mount/telescope towards north. The first thing I had to do was setting up the latitude. Since I am based in London, the latitude is around 52 degrees. Afterwards, I had to align the declination axis so the telescope can be balanced. As I understand it, you should be able to move it to any position on the axis and it should stay in that position. If the front or rear was heavier, I would either pushing or pulling the telescope after unlocking the brackets holding it together. This is where the issues began, I could balance the telescope so it doesn't move while in the horizontal position, however, when pointing it towards north, it would exclusively lean towards one direction - to the left. If the telescope was pointing to north, north-east or east, it would pull towards the west all the time. It is probably easier to show it in the video. I've spent three days trying to balance the telescope by using different methods and it just would not work. I've also tried balancing the RA axis first. This could be somehow done, but the declination axis would still pull the telescope to the left. It is extremely frustrating as I don't know what could be causing this. Balancing the telescope should be relatively easy from what I have heard - either push it or pull it depending on where the weight is. However, I have been really struggling to get it set-up. I would be thankful for any suggestions and please feel free to ask any questions so I can help with finding out what is wrong. Thank you. VID_20190918_202940.mp4