Getting motion from a stepper motor?

[magicniner]

Thanks CliveS that looks great but with the scant info listed does not look like it does acceleration.

Magicniner - thanks thats the second suggestion for the Arduino :( trouble is i have never seen one let alone programmed or used one.

Would there be any off-the-shelf products?

PLC would be my choice but going on past experience will likely blow the budget. I will pursue this option though to find out.

Dave,
An Arduino is to all intents and purposes a little PLC, it's worth a Google and have a look at what they can do and how easy the programming package is to learn, I've only dabbled to the morse code message from the on board LED stage,
Regards,
Nick