Jeff:
Blah. Had a long response that just got whipped out. I hate the editor in Groups.io. Never use it.
1. Coffee grinder = use bob's paper. mesh needs fix. be sure to go 360 degrees.
2. Explorestars picks its own stars, not what you might pick. Get Skysafari on iphone or android. use ue it to find, identify alignment star picked by explorestars. use red dot to get it in field of view. use crosshair eyepiece to center
3. establish level and use my procedure to identify and mark home. use white electrical tape on both sides of hub and draw home mark access with a pen. Silver sharpie is good, reflective, can see in red light.
4. You can try iterative polar alignment. See paper linked here:
https://espmc-eight.groups.io/g/MAIN/message/4676?p=,,,20,0,0,0::relevance,,iterative,20,2,0,34242628
When it converges you will be in good PA. If you get all setup with this method and gotos are good (no need for 2-3 star BTW) then you can mark home after going to park. This will be correct home for that specific condition of mount level. Be sure to obey the command to move half the distance to the goal line with each iteration. I have used this method with my Meade but have not put it to the test with the PMC8. Another person did I think and reported good results. It will work with any polar mounted scope.
5. Mesh will not be tight across all 360 degrees. Get is good as you can without binding. use camera heavy and east heavy imbalance (a bit) to keep backlash at bay.
6. When you load the firmware update you will get a bit more torque from motors. helps power through but not that much, but some
7. If you can get mount actually level with a good home explorestars alignment will be best. After alignment use sync to get final bit coordinated.
Sorry for the terseness of above, and slight disorganization. All the air went out when i lost my original reply. Above is probably better anyhow. not TLDR.
Wes.
