Hi Bill,

I was waiting with baited breath to see what the 'official' reply was on this. I just set up my own AP1100 a month ago and had the same problem you describe. I was quite afraid of turning them too hard so as not to break anything.

There's nothing clear in the book, oh, there's a short sentence which you have to read very carefully to get the idea, but finally I got proactive about it, and just tried it out (a friend who owns a bigger mount told me never to touch those screws, but it made sense to try it out). Then I wrote to George at Ap to get his blessings. I have a feeling this is a delicate point somewhere at the AP offices, don't know (they know a lot of stuff, don't worry). He was somewhat surprised either of them required adjustment because he said they were adjusted at the factory before shipping. I suspect temperature differences are the cause of the discrepancy, don't know.

Anyway, the cure: There are two recessed allen key screws on the base, have a look, they point inward, you can't miss them, only two. Move one of them in the c/cw position (un-screw) a very very very very little bit until you feel that nice smooth buttery tension they talk about on the azimuth adjusters. Just do one at a time, they both might not need any adjustment, and for heaven sake don't move it one millimetre more than you have to - its bum might fall off.  ;-_)))

Have fun, I hope you enjoy the mount as much as I do. They've done the hobby and the profession a real treat in making something that works as a mount is supposed to work.

Clear skies,

Steve E

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