Max,
It was making a basic camera motion control system for timelapse and animation (driven by Dragonframe) that first got me into playing with stepper motors and then onto building a CNC router. Be warned!

Back then there was a very active group on the forum of the TIMESCAPES website who were building their own gear, some of which was designed to be used for professional work. Gerald at Mantis was quite active on there for a while. Sadly the activity has died away over recent years but the archive of material might be of use to you.

Kit

http://forum.timescapes.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=24