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When you callibrate using the Sky X or CCDsoft the guide camera angle is calculated and allowed for when it makes corrections so having the guide camera exactly square to the scope is not necessary. I prefer to have it close but I can't say I have noticed that it matters much so long as you do fresh callibrations if you change the guide cam in any way.
As far as sudden spikes are concerned that may also be an issue with the cam pin or belts shedding material onto the motor pulley. Best to use the latest grey belts if you are seeing that (not sure about PME 2). The black ones can shed at times. I just inspected the black ones on the PMX and they seemed ok but I got some grey ones just in case. I recall some early PMX owners having spike issues that came from the black drive belts shedding material and it stopped when changed over to the grey ones that don't shed. A sudden spike implies crud on the gears or worm or on the motor pulley. Or some unwanted pulse from the guiding. I have not really noticed too much of a balance between X and Y errors. They often are quite different, not massively so but different.
Last Protrack model I did I also noticed it gave worse guiding so I turned it off for guiding. On my PME though it improves the guiding. But that is an earlier build version of Sky X. Perhaps something got changed in later Sky X build versions. It may also explain why the spikes are when the mount is lower in the sky as you would expect more flex there and Protrack may be overcompensating.
Greg.
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