Threading with A B phase only?

Well lucky for you that you have time, and sounds like you got the equipment to fab what you need. Before you start tearing into the machine i would suggest you get an old computer and get linuxCNC installed on it first. Download the getting started and user manual and start playing around and writing some CNC programs first and watching them run in graphics. www.cnccookbook.com is a great resource for hobby guys just getting started learning programing too. To get a better handle on electronics I would suggest Make:Electronics by Charles Platt you can get it at www.makershed.com for $15 well worth it IMHO. Start there and just take it one step at a time you will get it.

BTW your not mad. I'm from the US we just elected a reality TV star as president, Thats madness. How are you enjoying the America show across the pond?

Thanks will do both.
Re Trump, he has become compulsive viewing everywhere I think. The general impression over here is that he is a very odd person indeed - narcisisstic, inarticulate, slightly unhinged. Despite all that I believe he genuinely means well and should be allowed to have a go and see if he can improve the economy. I believe almost all his main points are sound - what is the point of having immigration laws unless you enforce them, why has the US/West permitted China to blatantly cheat on WTO regulations for so long at great cost to US/Western steel industry, etc.. Obama/Clinton's foreign policy in the middle east has been utterly disastrous for regular people suffering the chaotic and dangerous aftermath of all the Arab Spring Uprisings that the US (and the UK) fomented. We are all bemused and feel for the American who must be so embarassed by him. However I hold my anger for the press who indeed are outrageously intent on undermining his every move, and of course noone likes a sore loser and in that respect the Democratic elite are damaging themselves more than Trump is damaging the Republican party .

By the way I already own a copy of Platt's Encyclopedia of electronic components (vol 1) so I do have an idea of components and their functions, the tendency of old capacitors to degrade and how to test them etc..I will install Ubuntu in a virtual pc within a partition tomorrow (I have Win 7 Ultimate that allows unlimited virtual pc's - useful to be able to run XP for old programs like car TIS manuals!). Much more fun to practice basic steps of LinuxCNC on a real machine though!

For sure the real thing is more fun, but got to start somewhere. I would suggest just doing a full install on a computer
you don't use everyday. Your going to need one anyway when you retrofit the lathe. If you install debian wheezy with the Preempt-RT Kernel you will be all set to connect it to the Mesa card when you do your build. I think those instructions are in the getting started manual.

Thanks Andy. Well I am using an old Dell Optiplex 755 SFF (Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gb RAM) as a dedicated linux pc and am going to be installing wheezy on it tomorrow and then loading linuxCNC-2.7 and looking forward to getting stuck in! Actually I am expecting some difficulties with latency as it seems that Dells are not the greatest for LinuxCNC but it is what I have, so I hope by making it dedicated and keeping any fancy Dell utilities closed down it will suffice. Adam

OK so I have ordered the Mesa 7i76E for my EmcoMat-20E and it should arrive in the UK in a couple of weeks. Andy which specific models of Wantai steppers and drives did you go for ? Wantai do have an ebay shop and ship from Germany so hopefully import duty will be free for me. Thanks, Adam

They were Nema34 1090oz in 5.6A. As long as you get a Nema34 size motor it will bolt right up to the old Z bracket but you will probably have to bore out the center of your bracket a little. The max speed I can get on my machine is 30 inch a minute with these
motors and the old lead screws. If you want better performance you might think about retrofitting a ballscrew. I wanted to convert to ballscrews but didn't want to spend the money at the time. I'm fixing up a little EMCO pc lathe right now and my hope is to use the money from that to finish converting the lathe and my bridgeport.

Thanks for that - I thought for mills and lathes generally people go for more powerful NEMA 42's, and Wantai do describe the NEMA 34 1090 oz/in model as only an "engraver" motor, but I understand your choice of a Nema 34 size as a perfect fit (and cheaper than a 42). I think I would prefer to go for a more powerful one like the Wantai NEMA 34 1600 oz/in, or maybe the Stepperonline NEMA 34 1841 oz/in. Both of course more expensive and higher voltage, and still only about half the power of a 42. Or maybe fabricate a bracket with an idler pulley to squeeze a 42 in?