Byrdsfan1948 Resulting of course in me just chasing that blue target circle all over the place........
Again, ignore the graphics completely (I can't emphasize enough how stupid that graphical interface is, with the autoscaling; I did not do any GUI work at Apple, however, ha ha). Adjust the bolts based on the numbers and the two green arrows on the upper right side of the screen.
The green arrow directions will be opposite of what is needed if your adjustment bolts are on "the other side" of the axes from you. But once you "calibrate" your adjustments, it is perfectly consistent for that mount in the future.
So... hit refresh, wait for new numbers to be reported. If altitude error is greater than azimuth error, work on that one first. Adjust the bolt based on the reported arrow and green arrow direction. Rinse and repeat. Do not adjust both alt and az bolt per plate solve refresh unless you are certain your azimuth axis is perfectly perpendicular to the horizon and the mount has no orthogonality error between alt and az axes.
Oh, if you have an economy mount, the polar alignment error will be large when you lock the alt and az axes. One way to reduce the problem is to partially tighten the locks, redo the plate solve and adjustments, then tighten a bit more, redo... until the alt and az are completely locked.
When you get frustrated enough, go out and buy a premium US "German mount," or a Takahashi or Vixen mount, or the RainbowAstro or Hobym. The Avalons from Italy are very good too, and they even have options for motorized alt and az adjustments.
Avalon's T-pods are probably the best in the industry and favored by portable hobbyists for their stability if they can afford it. We are trying to polar align to a few arc seconds, the tripod should be stable to that degree [sic], too. I use a William Optics Mortar tri-pier and pretty happy with it so far -- in fact, I do my fine altitude adjustments during polar alignment by pointing one of the legs to the North and using its nice leg leveler as my altitude adjustment (looong moment arm for its bolt thread -- I can easily adjust to one arc second). The Mortar's feet sit on top of 10mm thick aluminum plates and the plates sit on the concrete stepping stones from Home Depot.
Ciao,
Chen