Help needed setting up

[Crystalwolf]

I recently purchased a Skywatcher Startravel 80 AZ3 as my first scope. Last night I tried using it for the first time and discovered it wasn't possible to point the scope at the moon without tilting the whole tripod. It just wasn't possible to tilt it back enough to be able to see the moon. Surely I am doing something wrong? 

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you. 

[Geoff_L]

We bought one of those for our son last Christmas. At first, I thought the altitude adjustment was broken -- it's just very stiff. The limited slow-motion adjustment won't be enough, which is why I suspect you've ended up tilting the tripod back. You need to centralise both the altitude and azimuth slow-motion drives then bodily move the scope to roughly the right alt/az -- and then use the slow-motion knobs to fine tune the aim. You may need to slightly loosen the large nut on the bolt that acts as a hinge on the altitude to achieve the right degree of friction to be able to use the mount as was intended. That said, our son's mount freed up after a few nights' use.

HTH & clear skies, Geoff

[laudropb]

Hi and a warm welcome to the SGL.

It is this bolt that has to be slackened. Do this just a little bit at a time until you can tilt the head manually, as in second photo. Be careful. If you slacken it too much the mount may slip when you add your scope. It's a matter of trial and error to get it just right.

[Crystalwolf]

Gosh, very quick replies. It did seem very stiff to move but I just assumed it was meant to be like that. Weather permitting i'll give this a try tonight.

Thank you both ever so much for your help. 

[Astro Imp]

You don't need to wait for darkness, many of us found it useful to "play" with out new scopes in daylight to see what we were doing and familiarise ourselves with moving the scope about.

Good luck.