Hi Martin,

I cannot help you or answer your questions as I am going to be in a similar position soon.

I have basically bought a VMC190 m/c. All the drives run well in manual, it seems a shame to rip out all the insides and replace them with new boards. I have all the old software with the machine. I am assuming that I can add a RS232 serial socket to my PC so I can communicate with the mill. But what benefits does Mach3 have over the original software? Also, can you get other software that would allow people to run the machine in it's original configuration? I have a auto tool changer on my machine which requires air to run, it all runs at the moment in manual mode.

How did you decide upon the CNC control boards that you bought? Was it through advice on the forum?

I ask because if I have to go ahead with conversion I was looking at the HobbyCNC EZ or Pro chopper Driver board kit, I can see it works off a paralellel port but understand you can just buy a convertor (ie parallel to USB).

Regards

Steven