polar alignment

[darkmyth]

this is what i am working with how do you polar align this thing so i can track it drifts to the left I've tried 15 times last night

[brantuk]

The back leg under the wedge needs to point directly south and the other two directly north - ie a straight line between the front legs must be at 90 degrees to north bang in the middle.

Turn the base of the arms through 180 and raise the ota parallel with them. Set the elevation scale to your latitude. If lucky - you'll now see polaris in the finder. Use a wide angle 25-30mm ep to see where polaris is in the main tube. Use fine adjustments in azimuth and elevation to centre it (don't use the arrow keys).

Once centred re-adjust the finder to match. Switch off for 20 secs and back on again and bingo! you're starting off ready polar aligned.

Hope that helps

[brantuk]

Oh by the way - make sure every thing is dead level before starting (i.e. the tripod) and everything else should follow.

[darkmyth]

thanks ill try tonight

[brantuk]

How did you get on? Did it work?