Hi, Newbie to CNC

[Neale]

On the software side, the Aspire software is great but not cheap. If you have access to AutoCAD and are happy to use it, then you could stick with that for a lot of CAD work. Instead of Aspire, you could buy Vectric vCarve Pro (very good for 2D and 2.5D work, especially for things like lettering and signwriting, as well as profiling and pocketing), and if you need to do genuine 3D work, you can use Vectric Cut3D to generate toolpaths and, if needed, use vCarve to drop them into a bigger design. vCarve looks as if it has very simple 2D CAD and CAM facilities but in practice these are capable of doing pretty much all that you are likely to need. Of course there are better tools, but the simplicity of use of the Vectric toolset is a big bonus. You can also mix-and-match - design in AutoCAD if you want, then export a DXF file into vCarve to do any final modifications and use vCarve to do the toolpath generation. Aspire does everything vCarve and Cut3D can do, better integrated into a single package, plus better CAD, but you don't necessarily need it. Download the trial editions and look for yourself. You might be saving a few hundred quid that could go towards a better machine!

[urbansickness]

Looks like ill be researching a self build then, the price increase from the OX to more professional machines is quite steep so a self build seems to the way to.
Ill be cutting all the material mentioned in my first post, size wise i probably wouldnt need to go any bigger than a work area of 1200 by 1000mm for the time being.

Software wise i think ill have to wait until i sort out a machine then have a try on the free trials

Thanks for your help