Hi All,

I have settled on sticking with the X3 I already have and not to buy anything else. I plan to ditch the pulleys I made for the spindle drive and to use a couple of ratios of pre-made toothed pulleys with belts, I just need to make the plates for mounting and a tensioning system - whether that is spring loaded or moving slots is one decision I hope to make with some advice from the knowledgable people here. I will do this once I have the mill moving under cnc control. With the flexibility of the VFD/3 phase motor I don't envisage having to change the ratios too often so this could have a bearing on this decision.

Having spent lots of time reading around here I'm conscious of the regular advice not to buy electronics etc. I will be looking to add a 4th axis in the future, so need to have the capacity for this in the electronics I buy so a 4 axis motion controller

Having said the above, I have just bought some second hand but little used Nema 23 3.1nm steppers + 8mm couplers, originally purchased from cnc4you. They were too good a price to miss. I plan to use these for the X and Y axis motion. I'd like to use UCCNC as it is getting very good reviews and seems well supported with well matched controllers...

Some questions I have are

1. What controller card would suit - I have looked at the AXBB-E, the schematic shows it should do everything I need with the X3 now and in the future due to the capacity for the A axis drive
2. What are the best stepper drivers bearing in mind...
3. I perceive that Nema 34 is the correct size for the Z but could a higher torque NEMA 23 geared down do the job just as capably?
4. Is there a suitable power supply option to buy off the shelf or am I better off making my own?
5. Is anyone who has experience in converting the X3 up for helping out with specifying ball screws, mounts, bearings and maybe doing a bit of machining too? (JAZZCNC I'm wondering if you're interested as I see in Kered's BF28 build you have experience with Sieg...) I'm keen to get this machine cutting things for my hobbies...
6. Finally for now - does anyone know what happened to John Stevenson's X3 conversion pdfs that used to be on the web? I can't find them any more and didn't save them locally - they were a great resource for me.

Thanks all and stay safe,

Geoff