New , need stepper help, 7 x 10 mini-lathe

Hello to all,

My name is Donald Brock. I've been monitoring the group for several
weeks now. I see good things happening here and I'm ready to start
my first project.

Last week Harbor freight opened an outlet in Baton Rouge and I
purchased a 7" X 10" (between centers) mini-lathe at their grand
opening for what I feel was a darn good price. I want to make this
lathe my first CNC conversion project.

One goal I do have in mind is to be able to eventually do threading
on this machine which, I know, is going to require a spindle encoder
and more. But my desire for now is just to get a two axis machine
running.

I've already sourced the ball screws but before I go any farther I
need to size the steppers so I can place my order for them at the
same time as for the screws. I am open to all the advice I can get
on this project. Any and all help to get started will be well
received especially from those that have been there, done that..

Other things I could use advice on are:

Stepper Drivers
Power supplies
Interfaces
Control Software


Thanks and hello to all,

Donald Brock