Motors turning, yay.  I went through the procedure to calibrate the motors and its not working.  I'm using the sherline driver setup with motors  800 steps per revolution (microstepping), equates to 16,000 steps/inch.  I setup the machine in inches but it seems its moving in metric, how can I tell what units the dro is showing?  When I auto set the axes, the steps per are huge sometimes 30,000 and when I restart mach3 I get a warning that the kernel speed is too low for the setting. 

Shouldnt the steps be 200 per rev? Most steppers are. Stock screws on the Sherline? 1/4-20? I would have thought with 10x microstepping you would be in the 2000 range. How far does it move when you ask for 1". I am pretty sure on the General Config page, the very first dialog box "Lock DRO's to Set Up units" needs to be checked.

I just went and looked up my settings for my Sherline lathe as it still has the stock screws. I was showing 8000 steps per for both axis. Stepper at 200 steps per X 4 turns per inch on the screw X 10X microstepping = 8000 steps per. I am running a G540 or a HCNC pro not the Sherline electronics. Shouldnt be any different.

8000 would be correct according to the info you gave, if its still not quite right try using Sherline Mode as it seems some people with the G540 needs a wider pulse.
Hood

200 steps/ rev of motor X 10 ( microsteps) x 20 screw rev / inch = 40000 steps per

- 200 steps / rev are the norm 1.8 deg steppers but there are others like .9 and even better
- assume you are microstepping at 10x
- with no gear reduction it takes 20 revolutions of the screw to move the axis 1 unit = 1 inch

Depending on the velocity you will define or desire, you may need  to use a higher Kernel speed. The kernel speed will be llimited by you computer.


RICH