Before I recently hauled a couple of big old data processing printers to the dump I stripped out the stepper motors and driver cards. Now I have four 600 in.oz. and three 150 in.oz. steppers. I have been playing with the drivers and they seem to be compatable with TurboCAM and Mach2. Now I am eyeing my RF45 knockoff. The main thing I would need to add CNC to it is a set of ballscrews but that would cost $1K+. No way to fit that in my allowance right now.
The mill is in good shape and has very little backlash. Mach2 has a backlash compensation which they advise to use only as a last resort. For work requiring only a couple of thou accuracy can I get by with the stock leadscrews? Do I really need ballscrews?