Newbie help pls on purchacing a machine

[peacheyphoto]

Hi
Im a complete novice on CNC machines. I was originally looking into buying a laser machine but then realised to cut the thickness I was after the cost was ridiculous and I came across CNC machines. Which to be honest Ive never heard of before untill yesterday...
I want to cut wood, mainly MDF shapes and letter. Aprox 15mm depth and no larger than 30cm length.
Ive seen one on ebay which I think will be ideal and in my price range its a CNC 3020T, is within my price range £350
Does anyone know what software I would require to design them, and how easy it is? I cant imagine its too difficult to design the lettering and shapes I want to cut. ...Im a complete novice, I do apologise.

[dazza]

I cant comment on the machine but regarding software to get you going look up artcam express it would be a great start and a little over 100 notes,it will enable you to do what you want aswell as create the tool paths afterwards.
same as vectrics cut2d vectric aspire,vcarve you,ll find its a doddle

[martin54]

Welcome to the forum, don't know much about these machines personally but from what I have read on this & other forums it seems to be a bit hit & miss with them, you either get one that seems to be ok or is a pile of junk & not really usable unless you spend a lot of money putting it right. Biggest problem with them seems to be the control system.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of help & support from sellers of them either so if you do get one with a problem you are pretty much on your own. If you have no experience with engineering/electronics then you might just as well put the money in the bucket & if you do have some experience you might still have to spend quite a lot more to get a usable machine.
Then again you might be lucky & everything works as it should straight out the box, are you a gambler???
Software wise again it depends what you want to do & how much you are prepared to spend, free software about that works perfectly well but doesn't have a lot of support so you have to muddle through yourself trying to figure things out or commercial software from people like vectric that has lots of support & tutorials to get you started.
Does the machine come with any software to start with??