- Joined
- May 10, 2012
- Messages
- 995
The Z axis is where you will need a larger motor. The coarsest thread you can cut is dependent on the lowest speed of the lathe (that still has torque enough to make cuts) and the fastest speed of the z axis. Also, you tend to need more power on the z axis for drilling operations. There is a very nice conversion someone did of a 9x20, I think it may have been on another CNC centric forum that goes into some detail on this. His mechanical isntallation might be of interest as well, as the 9x20 has a simmilar build to the 7" lathes. I would probably go with the largest NEMA 23 I could on the z axis, and probably something a bit lighter on the x.