So I have managed to acquire a Denford Starturn 8

bought it with the theory it was a good solid foundation for my first venture into CNC it was a non worker but had all the parts including PC....

after night tinkering cleaning swarf from the electronics bay (slight design fail for that one) a replaced fuse and its fully working

it also comes with the 8 tool turret

so here is where the problems begin....

as I am new to CNC learning to use the DOS based control involves the use of finger CAD to key in the G and M codes but since it is a training lathe and I need training this isn't such a bad thing and the Denford training material seems like as good a place to start as anything.

the first thing I am looking to do is get an oldish Toughbook so I can transfer the DOS control to a more modern PC and as I suspect I will in due course want to upgrade the controller and software to something more modern this should give me a dedicated PC for the lathe going forward.

I am thinking of setting several boot partitions one for the existing DOS control. one for having a play with Linux CNC and another for windows while I figure out what direction to take.

I am not wed to any control system so that will be something i need to look into while hopefully getting to grips with the DOS control and finger CAM

any advice or words of wisdom gratefully received

lots of cleaning oiling and servicing are in my future