Yes I looked at LinuxCNC after Routerdriver mentioned it...daunting!

I bought the machine for £500 and went 50/50 with my brother in law, my initial idea being that it provided an excellent mechanical base to start from even if everything electrical needed replacing.

We are looking to start a new business and this machine will form some small part of that business, mainly 2d cutting sheet ply, along with hobby stuff (small 3d stuff, photo carving, sculpture etc. hence the interest in the Vectric Software)

I'm a bit of a recycle reuse nut so the idea of being able to upgrade as little as possible is the most appealing. However given that it's taken me nearly 100 hours to figure out the existing controller/head/software/post processor setup I need to be realistic with time in order to get this up and running efficiently.

I think budget wise, at this point in time we could probably put in another £600 or so what would that get us?

I can't find anything on the encoders in the schematic drawings I have so I'll check wires tomorrow when I'm back with machine.