Thinking about this to day.

I will go for the step by step approach and stick with the TCL125 as a conversion project. Maybe a step on the way to something more purposeful.

So I will fillet this , hopefully retaining the the lenze controller for spindle operation, and build a new board with Bob and a couple of stepper drivers, (Cheap chinese variants) .
Will think about the manual panel. It would seem like a nice option. But if all fails may try to include a touch screen .

Would be nice to be able to establish if the existing boards work so if anyone is interested it would be nice to come to an arrangement ?????? Otherwise I just get stuck in !

New thread probably needed for the way forward!