Hey all, I really liked this idea for a simple alignment jig (
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-499-0-0-1-0.html), but I noticed that it didn't account for the azimuth adjustment within the mount and as a result my first attempt at alignment was woeful
, no fault of the jig, I think it's a brilliant idea, I just overlooked a simple source of error. So I came up with an addendum...
I wanted something that was going to be practically portable, as simple as the original idea and allow for Azimuth adjustment without relying on eyeball corrections.
I lay a 4' piece of timber North-South using the 'true north' function on my iphone.
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...S/IMG_2453.jpg
Then I bought a laser line from my local hardware shop for $50, it has a magnetic base and two perpendicular flat sides. So just hold it against a flat surface which runs parallel to the declination axis (in this case, the latitude dial).
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...S/IMG_2450.jpg
So all I have to do now is shuffle the mount around until the laser line runs down the edge of the wood.
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...S/IMG_2452.jpg
Hope that helps some more n00bs, dark skies everyone
