Keith Nuttle wrote:

I have been following this thread and commented early on about a table
saw. My comments were based strictly on the table saw, with little
knowledge of CNC except the perception it was expensive, and more
computer control tool.

Today I searched CNC and was shocked at the price, so think I may have
been mistaken about the actual meaning of the abbreviation.

As I found in my search CNC means "Computer Numeric Control" which is
the language of an automated system of manufacturing. These things are
very expensive, and if this definition is correct out of the budget of
the average wood worker.

Probably the most popular starter 'size" CNC for the hobbyist is the 6040:

http://ebay.to/2m1xMFo

I believe _most_ 6040's will rout/engrave both wood and thin metal.

I helped a friend setup one a few years ago. We used an old PC with a
parallel port (LPT) running Windows XP, installed Mach3 software from
he
http://www.machsupport.com/
http://www.machsupport.com/software/mach3/
http://www.machsupport.com/licensing/

He quickly got frustrated trying to learn G-code and his CNC has been
collecting dust in is shop ever since. ;-)