[troypiggo (Troy)]

I'm trying to get a bit more automated with my imaging. Been using CCDCommander and MaxIm successfully. The only thing now I'm struggling with is balance and guiding after a meridian flip. The software takes care of the flip fine, takes an image after it's flipped, plate solves, recentres target etc. Where it's struggling is guiding, and it's because of the RA balance.

Typically I'd slightly have more weight on the east side of mount to keep some weight on the gears. I do this by having the counterweights slightly lower when imaging in the east, then slide them up a touch when imaging in the west.

But for automation and handling meridian flips, how do you guys address this without having to change weights/balance?

Thinking outside the box, I was contemplating having things balanced slightly scope-heavy, and when imaging in the east balancing something on the weights, then when it flips, this slight extra weight (whatever it is) falls off for when shooting in west. Silly?

My mount is an EQ6.