Just wandered into the world of CNC!

[MikeInDevon]

Thanks Neale for your reply. It would be great to meet up as I'm sure I would learn a great deal and who knows by the time this lockdown ends I might even be able to share some of my knowledge!? I've heard that Fusion360 is good but at the moment I'd prefer something that is free to download, then I can make all my mistakes without it costing an arm and a leg. I suspect for a MkII I would turn away from grbl and move to something quicker and move scaleable but for now grbl and UGS appear to do most of what I want. I guess I'm very much in the school of upgrade/move as and when the need arises. I will probably use the machine mostly for cutting things out accurately, in particular gear wheels for clocks and other projects I have in mind.

[Muzzer]

....I've heard that Fusion360 is good but at the moment I'd prefer something that is free to download, then I can make all my mistakes without it costing an arm and a leg. I suspect for a MkII I would turn away from grbl and move to something quicker and move scaleable but for now grbl and UGS appear to do most of what I want......

Fusion 360 IS free to download and use. It would only start to cost you if you ran a commercial business off it, with turnover exceeding $100k or so. As Neale says, you can run it on Mac if you prefer but it include everything you could possibly need in one environment and has a very active and supportive user and developer base