Well, the CNC is installed in the workshop. Thank goodness I have an engine crane with expandable jib 'cos it's frightfully heavy. And that's the polite version. My Denford lathe only just tops it in sheer weight...

Anyhoo, this machine has been converted to USB etc. so I booted up Mach3 and connected everything up. Flicking the on switch, the CNC lit up like New York at Xmas and I can twiddle the spindle speed knob on the front panel with great success. Then, I ran a few G-codes...and nothing happened. It seems the program isn't talking to the machine. I pressed a few of the 'printed' buttons on the machine panel (my finger went right through one and it appears the board behind it is no longer in existence) and hit tab on the laptop to try and jog a bit but no luck.

The machine came with two connections (if I can work out how to post pics I will do so later. I apologise in advance if I inadvertently post holiday pics, posed shots of my dogs or saucy snaps of my motorcycles). Oh, yeah...the connections:

- One coming out of the side with a USB on it's end. This looks like the conversion part.
- Another coming out of the original parallel port with an adapter (parallel to tiny USB2 mini b type to full-sized USB). The adapter has a green LED that lights quite satisfactorily, but that's about it. This could be the original input adapted to work on gawd knows whatever.

The G-code on Mach3 appear to run nicely it's just that the CNC itself appears dormant.

I did a bit of studying and found that I cannot run a driver test as the program doesn't seem to have DriverTest.exe installed.

The laptop is a recent(ish) T-400 Notebook running Windows 7. I'm a Mac person so Windows is like gibberish to me. Nonetheless, I think I can work it in time, with the help of 15yo Balvenie.

Discuss (please!!) I'm existing on a mix of frustration, disappointment and abject excitement.