Thanks Clive. Out of interest, what pulley ratio are you using with those steppers?

I've not decided yet. I've read PP can be better for Mach which I will be using, I'd need to get a PP card for my pc but they seem cheap enough on ebay. I'm also on 64 bit but I can load a 32 bit OS if needed. This looks the cheapest way as the PP break out boards are less than a motion controller.
On the flip side, are there any reasonably priced motion controllers? Things like the smooth stepper seem to cost a fortune.