Well, looks like I'm back where I started from. Kind of.
Put a brand new bridge rectifier in the machine at BR3. Wired it to the manual image. Turned everything on and fuse no longer blows. I tested the display and once again, no life at all in the display. I checked the voltage on the wire that is marked 12V going into the display and there's a slight murmur there. 5V line is strong.
I can't understand why the machine was working fine with the faulty display, but now the new one won't fire up?
Cheers!
Adam.