NEW MEMBER: Cardigan CNC

Hello, my name is Rob and I've joined in the hope of getting some help in my home CNC adventure. I've no previous CNC experience but consider myself quite handy at computers and welding - none of which come in handy for my job as a civil servant.
I've inherited an old German aluminium Haase machine from my late father. It's a heavy little thing with a cutting area of about 400 x 200mm. Not sure if my father cut any wood with it but I did see him cut self adhesive signs for his RC planes
It had an old controller that was defunct so I taught myself how to connect up an Arduino and after many attempts and driver failures/fires I managed to get the beast moving. That was the easy part. After lubricating the machine, I can't get it to travel along it's full length without some form of sticking and slipping of the steppers. So, went nuts and bought some new steppers and drivers thinking bigger would be better. However, this is not the case. The axis xyz will just randomly bind.
I will post some pictures when I'm allowed.
Anyway, thanks for having me and I'll stop rambling now.