hacking a servo

Hi all knowing and all seeing List,

I am lucky that I was able to salvage a bunch of NEMA 23 steppers,
both uni and bi-polar and two DC motors, with brushes, with encoder
attached from three old printers.

Knowing little about servo's I assume that these two DC motors,
(about 5 inches long and about 2.3 inches in dia) are useable servo's
for CNC applications.

since I am a little on the slow side, I trashed the matching circuit
boards and cables to the lot so I don't have a clue on how to hack
the servos to determine the pin out.

To make matters worse, I am 90% complete on mounting the steppers
with timing belts and mounts and all. I even got my drill press to
put a few holes in steel plate with a 5V PC power supply and a 5V 1.5
Amp NEMA 23 Unipolar (hey, it says 5 V right there on the label!) so
at least I have motors that can handle my load.

Now that I am getting edumacated quickly, I am finding I have made
mistakes all over the place. (at least I got the machanics right)

any idea on how to determine the pin-out for a servo's encoder ?

Dave
(those Gecko's are looking better all the time !)

mistakes so far: (or what I have learned)
-> zero speed, with load = HIGH amp draw and well above the 4 amp
fuses
-> a 120 inch lead screw will take forever to travel 120 inches and
back.
-> presision lathe work, manually done is easier than the electronics.
-> I am too quick to throw away parts that I don't understand
-> buying more Delrin and bearings and shafting than I absolutly need
is a smart thing.
-> assuming that it is as easy as it looks isn't