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One more little.trick. for a quick rough polar alignment level the tripod, set the mount on and run a 4 to 5 meter piece of builders string back to a compass behind the mount. At this distance the steel in the mount wont affect the accuracy. Tie a hoop in the string and loop it over the declination lock handle and turn the head so that the string runs back ocross the centre of the mount. From 4 meters away it will be obvious if the string is parrallel to the axis pointing to the scp. With the string connected to the compass ( a good orienteeing compass with fine graduations) pull the string taught and parrallel down the back othe mount, parrallel down the underside of your compass. Now all you have to do isturn the compass until thestring passes under 11° east of south ( for my longtitude ) and you will see tht the string is no longer parrallel to the back of themount. Step by step you adjust tha azmith screws until the string is parrallel to both mount and the compass body at the degree offset for your location. I use this technique every time I set up and more often than not the scp is in the finder of the polar scope.
Btw, the method of aligning mount perfectly to 90° and then doing a goto to a nearby star.and then adjusting for polar alignment on the mounts screws will only work if your OTA axis is well aligned with the axis of the mount, never the case I am afraid. You would have to have an adjustable dovetail bar for this or spend a day machining it to be well aligned. Many assume that the ota is perfectly in line down the dovetail but why should it be. Next time you get a good.polar align goto the park position and see for yourself. Without a 2 or 3 star goto alignment it will most likely be way out of the fov.
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