I was lucky enough to have someone give me an old 2 axis machine which I'm converting to 3 axis and was wondering if its better to have the piece your cutting move along the Y axis or make it stationary.Sorry about my vocabulary I'm new at this.Thanks in advance.

Well, it depends on what components you have and which method they lend themselves to. you have a smaller footprint if you go with the moving gantry style (stationary workpiece). However, it can be simpler to go with a fixed gantry. Maybe you could post some pics of what you have.