Starting a newbie build here in toronto and thought I'd add my 2 cents to this forum as well.

So far, I've collected the following parts for my planned creation:

3 stepper motors - 196oz/in from ebay
3-axis chopper board from hobbycnc (psu I have from other hobbies)
skate/rollerblade bearings
3/8" threaded rod
20 feet of EMT (1 inch OD)
Bosch Colt variable speed router (1HP)

I'll post pictures as I get them.

First question - is anyone using CAT5 cable for motor connections? Any EM problems or other issues with using CAT5 for the steppers?

Found the answer to my cat5 question and the answer is 'no' due to noise being picked up from the motors. Over lunch, I found some 6 conductor 22awg FT4 shielded cable and bought 10M (33ft) for $15.

Gave up 3 hours of sleep and an hour of lunch today to get the stepper motors tested on the hobbycnc controller and discovered that one of the motors is 'sticky' at low speed and stutters, but is fine at high speed.

Is there any servicing I can do to 'fix' this or am I looking at a new motor at this point? I'm pretty sure it will lose steps. Is there such a thing as 'breaking in' a new motor?

I took some liberties 'interpreting' the JGRO design and came up with the following:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/2593530208_d3b1c4ff94.jpg

instead of using MDF carriers, I bought some 2" square aluminum tubing and attached through 1/4 mdf/hardboard.

so far, it's not moving too badly, but I do have some slop that I will need to adjust out.

Right now, the next hurdle is attaching the drive nut (not using anti-backlash yet) to the carriers. I'm using 3/8" threaded rod for now. It seems pretty hard to find 2 or 5 start acme rod around here.