Progress! I rejigged the plan according to the feedback, ordered a bunch of supplies and got busy with the welder and drill press. I don't have a cnc or mill so this has all been done with basic tools and I am pretty happy with it so far.

While I wait for a few deliveries I am starting to think about motors and controllers. I do not fancy trying to sort out an Arduino, I have looked at the Openbuilds Black Box controller, Duet 2/3 but the Spark Concepts xPRO V5 looks like a good choice for plug and play.

How do I figure out what size stepper motors to use? I have allowed for Nema 23 brackets but I don't know what torque I need, from what I understand bigger is not always better… I am using 1610 ballscrews all around and the gantry weights around 35kg without the spindle.

Photos below show where I am at currently.

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