> Compared to some of the programs I have written this is
> still a very simple ask

It does look fairly straight-forward. I mentioned a while ago a
friend who's industrial laminate cutter had packed a sad. Not
very complicated, functionally, and it was around $2000+ to
get a replacement PCB from the Italian manufacturer. Unknown
to me someone had already quoted her $1700 to re-do it using
a PLC, which disappointed me because it was well within the
capability of a PIC. And particularly disappointed, for her, when
the PLC man botched it and disappeared, leaving it unfinished,
and it's working in a walking wounded fashion to this day

>  ..  it's the hardware questions I want to get right first

If you did find out what this micro is, what could you do about
it, realistically ? If it's a 1991 device finding a replacement would
be most unlikely, never mind getting it programmed

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