EQ3-2 Polar scope alignment Problem

[Jongo]

Recently I have picked up a DSLR and tried some DSO photography, however my polar alignment really isn't up to scratch and its mainly due to the polar scopes reticule being quite out.

So today I thought I would give it a whirl and try sort it, after nearly getting it right one of the screws went through and fell into the actual polar scope.

Just wondering if its possible to get it out? and also if this has potentially damaged the polar scope? any advice would be appreciated.

Bonus question Which I just thought of before submitting. When I was out doing the reticule I noticed that when I moved the polar scope focuser the reticle wouldn't stay in the same place and would actually move with the focuser. I'm pretty sure this is not right is there anyway to fix this issue?

Many thanks in advance!

[steppenwolf]

Disassembly will resolve this issue allowing you to try the alignment again although it is unusual for one of the retaining screws to fall inwards before the reticule falls out of place!

Fully unscrew the polarscope's eyepiece to gain access to the insides then you can retrieve the errant screw. Re-assemble the reticule and its three retaining screws and then attach the eyepiece section again. Although it is important that the reticule is facing the correct way, the orientation is unimportant as this is taken into consideration when you calibrate the polarscope.

[Jongo]

Cheers! I didn't realise the focuser bit would just unscrew out. I've managed to put the screw back in now I will give aligning the reticule another whirl tomorrow.

[Jongo]

Just going to bump this for another quick question which hopefully someone can answer.

Basically I've aligned the reticle now perfectly so when I rotate on the RA it stays perfectly in the same place.

However the circle for polaris doesn't perfectly line up with the location of the RA Bar. So basically if RA is in the home position normally the circle would be at the bottom but its now ever so slightly to south east of that position.

Just wondering if this will affect me much or should it be fine?

[JamesF]

The Polaris circle should be at the bottom when the time and date rings are set to midnight on 1st November. I don't know how that relates to the "home" position of the mount though. Not being correct will affect tracking a little.

James

[Jongo]

ah ok, I will have a mess around with the date rings in a bit, when I saw the home position I meant the RA bar is directly parallel to the North facing leg of the tripod not sure if that's actually the home position I just had a feeling it was.

I've whipped up a crude diagram anyway which shows the location of my polaris circle when the mount is in its "home" position.

[Jongo]

Solved it, I just started from scratch and removed the reticule piece and reinserted it and rotated it correctly all sorted perfectly now