I appreciate your input but i am not looking for another way to make my project work. I want it working my way. I'm a little stubborn... guilty! 
When i set up the camera in manual mode, imho it should not be necessary to copy the shutter time setting to the camera by hand.
The way i want my rig to work:
- Arduino tels canon to take a picture
- Canon tels arduino the shutter closed (picture taken)
- Arduino tels dc motor to start turning
- CNY70 encoder on pulley tels arduino how far pulley has turned
- Arduino tels dc motor to stop turning
- Arduino tels canon to take a picture
- Canon tels arduino the shutter closed (picture taken)
- ... you see where this is going don't you
Only thing that needs to be set up in the arduino is the number of pictures and the total duration of the process. Arduino should calculate how far to turn the pulley after each shot and how long the delay should be between shots. If the delay is constant i could do a few initialisation shots before starting the actual sequence so the arduino can determine the shutter speed. Or is the delay the same for every Canon? 60D?
Bulb ramping is fase 2. Haven't given it much thought... well actually i have but can't seem to figure out how to set it up in ML. 
LRTimelapse holy grail workflow is working for me.