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David,
My objective was to make a solid wedge then mount it as accurately as I could, so that only very small adjustments would be necessary to properly align it. At local noon, I scribed a line parallel to the shadow cast by a vertical object, and have mounted the wedge according to this line, so I am hoping that the required azimuth adjustment will be just a small fraction of a degree. Having said all that though, I am a complete novice at polar alignment - not having ever done one before!
So, having four mounting bolts (and not three) and no independent altitude adjustment may complicate my task, but I figure that ultimately, I just need to get the telescope base axis pointing at the pole.... I expect that I may not be Robinson Crusoe with this endeavour, and would be happy to hear from others who have taken on the same challenge.
Using the drift method, I anticipate needing to perform iterations of alt/az adjustments (because they're not independent of each other). I also wonder whether an accurately aligned (with the telescope) laser could be put to use, but realise that there is no object to view exactly on the SCP.
Chris
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