OK. My case, not made any money yet on any of this. I have mostly been using the machines I have to make some random parts and other things (for building other things).
FWIW: I have been off experimenting with using a NEMA34 stepper as an alternate lathe spindle motor (
https://www.automationtechnologiesin...34h2160-62-8a/ ), with the KL-11080 driver. This is in addition to the 1 HP AC motor which came with the lathe.
It works, but has mixed results: The stepper motor runs kinda unpleasantly warm and still doesn't have a particularly large usable RPM range, ...
I have been able to successfully turn steel with it (*), and is capable of indexing positions, so it is basically sufficient for the purposes I wanted it for, though performance isn't as good as could be hoped (I am left to wonder if I have done it wrong). *: Taking off ~ 0.010 at 200 RPM with an HSS blank I was using as a cutter; could possibly do more with a more proper tool; with an approx 2:1 reduction between the motor and the lathe spindle. In my more recent tests, can spin chuck at ~ 400-500 (~ 800-1000 at the motor shaft), but doesn't have enough torque to turn steel at these speeds (but, the motor does seem able to spin a faster with the spindle+chuck than with no load). (Currently wired BP-parallel and set at 5.5A/ph; could reconsider if a good reason is given; but BP parallel performed better in earlier tests; also trying to balance torque with heat).
There is a closed loop stepper on the site:
https://www.automationtechnologiesin...p-stepper-kit/
In my case, both my mill and lathe use NEMA23 steppers for general movement.
The mill is using the 425 oz-in motors (which came with the FlashCut kit); which seem to get good results at ~2.5-2.8A / phase.
The lathe is using 570 oz-in motors, which seem to want closer to ~ 3.5-4.0A / phase.
For my rotary table and similar, I am using a 69 oz-in NEMA17 (~ 0.5A/ph).