eq3-2 polar scope problems

[theghettostylus]

Got myself an eq2-3 and polar scope today but can't for the life of me get the polar scope to calibrate, I tried for about 2 hours and nothing, it would centre one way but never the other and would go really far off the cross hair.

Also from the picture why did the mount come with an attachment with thumb screw's but the polar scope came with Allen key nuts :/ I am super confused as to why it just won't work.

Any help would be greatly helpful.

Thanks in advance...

[Uplooker]

Looking at your picture, you unscrew the the bottom component from the mount, which then allows you to screw the polar scope into the mount. When aligning the polar scope here are instructions in the main manual you got with the scope, or search on here. A particular point when doing the aligning is to make tiny adjustments with each screw, I mean tiny - like only a 10th or 12th of a turn, diminishing the closer and closer you get to proper alignment. When adjusting the reticule of the polar scope adjust the Allen head bolts so that you bring the center of the reticule half-way to the target, rotate the mount 180 deg in RA then adjust again so that the reticule is  half-way to the target. If you adjust the reticule so that it centers the target each time, prior to rotating the mount 180 deg, you will keep overshooting the target. Read Page 16 of your manual. Here is a copy:-http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/documents/147.pdf

Also remember that you need to loosen the opposing screw prior to tightening the other.

[JamesF]

AstroBaby has a good polar scope alignment tutorial.  It's for a different mount, but the principle is the same.

http://www.astro-baby.com/HEQ5/HEQ5-1.htm

I don't use her method for setting the rotational alignment of the reticle though.  Once I've got that far I set the time and date rings to read midnight on 1st November.  On that date the Polaris indicator on the reticle should be vertically below the centre cross.  Far easier in my opinion than trying to set it by the position it should have at whatever time you're actually trying to do it.

Was this a new EQ3-2 that you bought?  I'd not have expected it to be fitted with the time and date rings if so, but perhaps they are.  If it was second hand then perhaps the polar scope had been lost.  The new polar scopes appear to come with grub screws, the older ones have thumbscrews.

It is a tedious process to be honest.  Do it during the day.  Makes life somewhat easier.

James

[Uplooker]

You only have to do it once