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Hi Troy,
Polar align your mount as best you can with a compass for azimuth, don't forget to apply the magnetic deviation for your area.
Align the altitude of your mount to be whatever your local latitude is using a spirit level and protractor.
Now star drift align.
Aim your scope at a star close to the meridian and celestial equator, with your drive turned off note the direction the star moves when you manually move the scope in RA , it will be from the east to the west. That is RA, so 90 degrees to that motion will be north and south.
I use an eyepiece with an illuminated grid there are several around with illuminated reticle's. I will assume you are doing this with such an eyepiece.
Align the star at the meridian such that with the drive turned off and manually moving the scope in RA the star moves parallel to the central line of the reticle. Turn on the drive, after about a minute the star will have drifted to the north or south, this means you must adjust the azimuth of your mount to the west or east. Make an adjustment of a couple of degrees east or west, doesn't matter, but record the direction that the star drifted ie north or south and record the direction of your adjustment ie east or west.
Realign the star, if it now drifts even faster the same direction then you have established that your adjustment needs to be in the opposite direction. If, on the other hand the star now drifts in the opposite direction then the initial adjustment was to great.
It really is quite logical and ounce you get into it is no big deal.
Having adjusted the azimuth so that it is about 5 minutes before the star drifts north or south, lock the azimuth and move to a star low in the east but close to the celestial equator.
Do the same thing with your eyepiece and drive turned off to get the star drifting parallel with the central line of the reticle. Turn on the drive, this time the movement of the star to the north or south indicates the need for an adjustment of the altitude of your mount. Don't be afraid to make a reasonable adjustment.
Again record the direction the star initially drifted, north or south and record the direction of your adjustment increase or decrease in altitude.
Realign on the star, if it now drifts even faster in the same direction then your adjustment was in the wrong direction. If the drift is in the opposite direction then your adjustment was too great.
You will have to repeat this sequence several times, each time the adjustment of azimuth and altitude will be finer, honestly, ounce you have done this a few times you will find it a quite simple procedure and because you recorded the results of your adjustments you will know next time what direction those adjustments need to be.
Regards
Trevor
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