Hello from sunny Madeira!

Just came across this forum, wish I had found it earlier..

I run an engineering workshop on the island of Madeira.
We service, repair, rebuild pretty much any English classic car and specialise in Land Rovers.

A few years ago, out of curiosity, I bought a cheapo Chinese laser cutter ( one of the “blue box” 40w machines) and a small cnc Chinese mill.

The laser cutter software was rubbish and buggy, so we upgraded the setup ( and fixed the really dodgy wiring). It now runs lightburn and a GRbL arduino controller, and works really well, It’s main job is to cut replacement gaskets and templates. Lightburn is a really light and easy to use application and great value.

Seeing the strength of the small laser cutter, and how easy it is to use, we are seriously considering other CNC additions to the workshop. We are thinking of a plasma cutter and small mill, but we are looking for some advice.

I want to start playing with the Chinese mill, more as an excrcise in the CAD CAM process for 3d parts, but the PC I got to use with the Chinese mill has taken a dump, and died completely, and I don’t have any with a parallel port I can use, so I’ve got to find another. And I’m wondering what the best options are regarding software and motion controllers, so I’m lurking here and processing.

TIA,

Mike.