Equatorial Mount EQ-35 Pro

[Tracy]

When shouting to the west, my RA and DEC are sub-1.0.
When shooting to the East it climbs to RA around 1.8 and DEC to around 3.8.
Are there any changes you should make on the balance when shooting to the East, like moving the weights?

It’s consistent in its readings, but much higher.

 

[OhNo]

Balancing the scope is an acquired art. It takes some trial and error to find the sweet spot. Once you do, especially if you have to tear it all down every night, take a pencil and mark the dovetail where you can see it to get a repeatable consistent result. Use something to measure the counterweight distance too.

 

[Tracy]

Oh, I've got marks on the telescope Vixen mount and also on the weight bar.
The issue I was having was anything I shot to the west, the RA/DEC were fantastic. When the scope then slewed to shoot stuff to the east, RA/DEC went off the rails.
I was just wondering if you had to set differently for each due to the mount positions.

 

[Tracy]

Turns out it's not so much balancing the scope/weights on this little beastie. The DEC had some BAD backlash to it - when locked, you could move it about a 1/4" each way. Took it apart this morning and did some adjustments, and now there does not seem to be any backlash when testing by hand, and the gears are still easy enough to turn by hand with slight application of force with the motor detached (the worm gear).
Will be testing it out again tonight.