PolarAlign

Your tools consist of a clear altitude plate, a hardwood azimuth block, a pointer for each, and a cheater bar.   Use is straightforward.

Each major division on the scales is one “tic”.  Each small division is 1/10 “tic”.  Each major division represents a change in polar alignment of 2 arc minutes.  Each small division is a tenth of that or 12 arc seconds.  The mid length divisions just mark every fifth small tic to make counting easier.  This mid length mark also corresponds to one arc minute of correction.  Finer corrections can be used by interpolation using the very fine lines at the ends of the pointer.

The wooden azimuth block fits on the Paramount’s azimuth block then the wooden block slides to the side needing adjustment so the knob is nested in the blocks circular cutout.  The white pins in the pointer fit into the adjustment knob holes.  The center hole in the pointer still allows the use of a 5/32” hex wrench with the pointer in place.   The pointer can be inserted in two orientations.  The correct orientation has the center hole centered in the knob.

The Paramount’s altitude adjustment ring has holes in the top that accept the pins of the altitude pointer.  The holes are not uniformly spaced.  The 3 flats on the ring interrupt the spacing.  Your altitude pointer will fit the ring but you cannot span a flat with the pins of the pointer.  There’s sufficient range on the altitude scale so this won’t be necessary.  If you find the pointer doesn’t fit in the holes, you’re trying to insert it over one of the flats.  Insert the pointer pins into the top of the ring, then put the clear scale plate on top of the pointer with the scale on the undersurface.

The cheater bar has an O-ring.  Please make sure that O-ring is in place before tightening the bar.  The threaded portion of the bar is too short to bottom in the hole so the O-ring is what limits the depth to which you can thread the bar. If the O-ring is missing, the flat on the bar will contact the flat on the adjustment ring.  The surface of the aluminum cheater bar is not anodized so is softer than the anodized surface of the adjustment ring so should not scratch.  Still, if there’s dust or grit it is possible that the surface of the ring could be scratched.   Anyway, please make sure the O-ring is in place and not damaged.

The cheater bar may have a small amount of play or movement even when threaded fully into the ring.  Normally when something is fully threaded into a hole, either the end of the object hits the bottom of the hole or the flat on the object is tightened against the surface of the item accepting the threads.  Either of these actions causes the threads to bind so the object feels “tight”. Neither of those has been allowed with the cheater bar. If the bar had threads long enough to bind in the bottom of the hole, the finish in the bottom of the hole would be marred.  If I allowed metal to metal flange contact, there’s possibility of marring the surface of the ring.  The tightening method I use is actually the compression of the O-ring.  Since the O-ring is further compressible, you’ll feel just a tiny bit of play.  Please tighten gently, and accept this play as normal and one of the prices of protecting your finish. The function of the cheater bar is not dependent on a very tight fit. Since the forces are lateral to the threaded surfaces, it is the meshing of the threads that provides the strength to turn the ring and not the tightness in the hole.

Some of the clear plastic used is polycarbonate.  It is a very tough plastic.  It is used in jet aircraft windshields.  One drawback is that it is easily scratched.  You can look at it and it will scratch.  If you use it, it will pick up surface scratches.  Please accept this as normal.  Harder plastics are brittle and would have had to be much thicker.  There’s not a lot of space and the space gets smaller as the mount is adjusted for latitudes closer to the equator.  Using the thinner tougher polycarbonate makes your tools more functional.  You cannot polish the polycarbonate. If the pointer ever becomes so scratched that it is not usable, send it to me and I’ll replace it.  

Both pointers have etched lines on both sides.  This is for parallax.  If your eye is aligned with the pointer, the lines overlap and you see one line.  If the eye is not aligned with the pointer, you’ll see two lines instead. 

Suggestions:

1. Use a sharpie and number each major division on the scales.   It makes it much easier to keep track of starting points and ending points.  Use the major division number and a decimal for each 1/10 division.  Next add or subtract the value that TPoint gives you.  Then simply adjust the pointer to the final number.  Number clockwise.  Future gauge label printings may include prenumbering
2. You can mark each side of your wooden block with E or W for east or west. 

You can help me by providing feedback.  If you see a way I can improve the tools, please let me know.  Your comments may be included in a feedback page, if you don’t want them used, let me know in the comment.

Best regards,
David