Home position for EQ6

[5ash]

Has anyone any tips for getting an eq6 accurately in the home position every time.At present i do it by eye , not very accurate.
philip

[M_Lewis]

Parts of this will sounds like a tongue twister...(or a dr. sues book)

You'll need a small builders level in addition to the mount bubble level.
Level the mount, and before you put any weights or telescopes on the mount, get a fine nikko (to mark zero points).

After level, turn the az head to read horizontal level (make sure you position the level accurately in against one of the dovetail sides). When the head is level, lock the az circles to 90 degrees at the small triangle indicator, rotate back to 0 degrees and mark a line with the nikko across the zero mark on the part of the head that moves and the corresponding location of the mount that doesn't. This way you simply rotate the head in the future back to this line and not have to worry about the az circles moving throughout the night (they do move even when locked).

Declination - rotate the head assembly so it reads horizontal when the level is placed upon it, and set the dec circle to 6 hrs, slowly rotate it back to zero. Same process again - mark with a nikko.

The trick with this is to always make sure you mount is level every time you setup, otherwise marking the zero points becomes a fruitless exercise. You can do this totally inside before you even step outside.

Hope that helps

Mark

It's these positions you start the synscan at everytime you power on and it asks you 'start from home pos'.