[troypiggo (Troy)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

I thought that if you guide with MAXIM DL it will take that into account and compensate with guiding so you don't have to recalibrate past the meridian (like PHD).

Maxim takes into account the flip for guiding, but what we're talking about is a mechanical need for the gears to be loaded as per Andrew's explanation.

Originally Posted by mithrandir

Can you do something like this G11 east heavy counterweight? The corp wraps around the RA shaft, over a guide roller and down to a weight. If you were concerned about wind swinging the weight around you could run it through a length of PVC pipe.

That looks interesting. Might look into something like that.

Originally Posted by peter_4059

Troy,

I'm thinking you should rig up an egg timer on the counter weight shaft. As the shaft approaches horizontal the egg timer approaches vertical and the sand changes position to shift the balance.

I'll pm you with a sketch.

Thanks for the suggestion. I might need to image longer than 3 minutes though.

Originally Posted by bojan

Yes, in principle this is correct, but don't forget the resistance due to grease, and a friction in bearings..
This should be enough to prevent the effect you are talking about.

It's not. Definitely need that slight east bias balance.