Brother TC-211

youd need to get better limit switches, but steppers would be fine. inductive switches can home well within a thou.

ill be waiting to see how using the stock drives turns out for you. for me, the stock sanyo drives wound up not tunable. the 211 uses Toshiba though, so maybe they will behave differently.

What size inductive proximity sensors give the best resolution? I have seen M4 & M12 on ebay.

It might also be dependant on target distance and shape

How did you wire the relay board? Relays have common +24Vdc so it needs GND from 7i77 to activate ?
Had same problem before, on Hurco MD1 so I adapted the relay board to use common GND.

this is mine first movement after rough tuning just to get things started

One option is a 7I77D which is identical to 7I77 except has sinking outputs

I used transistors on the outputs. I don't remember which ones. I just shrink wrapped them right into the cable.

7i77d sounds better

If only 7i77d was available in Europe , I'll try to modify the relay board today. If not will go with adding the transistors to translate. Thanks

To add, I am amazed at the wiring masterpiece inside this Japan made machine, you literally can't move any wire. Wires are all wrapped, joined and cut to exact length. Finding which wire leads where is not possible with push pull method .