yesterday, i was going to work on getting more of these done, but the hardware had other ideas. i got the movement speed under control, by slowing it way down, from 500 mm/min, to 50. moves real smooth now. then problems with the x axis motor. it would scoot over from the start point, and shudder a bit. even after cancelling, checking all the belts for too tight or loose, i've narrowed it down to the old nema 17 from the original set that came with the cnc. as the new motors for the y axis came as a set of 3, i have a spare motor to swap it out with. i've changed the motors, and reassembled what i had to take apart to get at it, and just have to hook up the wires.
lets hope that was all there was to it.