Hi Jazz,
Thank you for your response, (I have been a bit un-well for the last few days so apologise for not responding.)
Taking my highlighted comment, I wasn't having a go.. it was more about understanding more about the motors so when it is time to purchase more suitable ones I have more knowledge.
eg : I could pay £5 for my favourite Muller yoghurt's from Waitrose or £2 from ASDA.. Same product. That was my point. VFMoney

With Motor and driver choice, 'Optimum' seems to be the main criteria here, not too big and not too small, but just the right one. There is a natural tendency to go 'bigger' if in doubt it seems..

I will gratefully try and learn from your advice but your 'rubbishing' the hardware just based on price is not helpful. You could equally argue that 'New' hardware is better than 'Old' as progress tends to improve things (not always the case..)

On my bench setup so far, I have 3 motors running and am trying to figure some way of checking the non working 'Y' axis to see if the problem is with my stuff. (Longs are just ignoring my requests for a replacement board..)

As per my heading for this post, I have limited knowledge of what 'normal' is.. which is what I need for my baseline..

(aside) I would love to visit someone's working machine if they would let me (I am near Southend in Essex) as that could answer many questions.. anybody?.. pls.. Will bring BEER.. (No, Yorkshire is too far..)

I have spent much time trying understand what effect having UNI/BI polar, series/parallel actually has.. I have seen the graph of 'speed versus torque' but in this hypothetical state I am currently in, it does not point me in any particular direction..
I feel I have to actually build the beast to then see where my weak points are. I have always learned this way and do not mind spending a bit of cash for my education.

If 'Hot' running Motors are not the norm them I have to assume that Neales motors are not set to their optimum.. I have no idea what 'overheating' means in this scenario.. I accept the motors generate heat whilst working.. Too hot to touch..?

I shall try your 'half winding' suggestion.. I assume I should not damage anything..? What results should I expect? Will it lose torque or rotational speed.. or just lower temperature.?

I tried the roadrunner in Imperial and it didn't like it at all.. It seems to be quite happy in Metric.. But again.. No baseline..

I did find a very useful Youtube video from MachMotion describing slaving (as you say) all done in Mach3 and he wasn't persistently saying 'I am now going to go ahead and....' which seems very popular with out US cousins in their vids..

Would it help if I started a 'Build' log to show my Frame and then perhaps solicit opinions on the best Hardware..? I have done some designs in Sketchup but would rather do a little video viewing the actual build but am unsure as to the best way to post it.. I had tried to put up an Avatar but even my small jpeg was about 5 times too big.. advice please..