shapeoko 3

I want a CNC Router to help with some of my woodworking projects - either build one or buy one. Cost is somewhat of an issue and
don't want to spend more than $1500. Specifically, has anyone bought a Shapeoko 3? Are you happy with it? My primary conerns are
the use of belts vs acme or other screw drive and the software suite. I know software can be a major part of the cost. Also don't like
having to buy a separate computer with a parallel port to use Mach 3. Would prefer to use my laptop to design and then send the codes to
the CNC. Still a complete novice, so I would appreciate any thoughts you might have to help me. Thanks for your help!

I've been a long-time volunteer on the Shapeoko project (started out w/ a used SO1) and am now part-time tech support for Carbide 3D. I've been very happy w/ all of my machines (SO1 to start which I upgraded, then an SO2 which I got for free for doing the instructions, then an SO3 as a "thank you" and an XL upgrade as well as a Nomad).

The Shapeoko 3 was designed to be the best value in terms of capabilities and costs, and I believe meets that goal quite well. It also addresses most of your concerns pretty elegantly. There is a community-maintained list of machines on the /r/hobbycnc subreddit on reddit.com if you want more options.

Belts are one of the things which helps to the Shapeoko to achieve its price/performance point --- they're inexpensive, allow the machine to move quickly w/o backlash, or whipping of lead screws, esp. at the large sizes and work surprisingly well.

The machine controller is an Arduino which allows any computer to control it over USB (the Carbide Motion software requires a recent Mac OS X or Windows machine but there are other options, including using a Raspberry Pi for essentially headless operation). A laptop can work well (I usually use an inexpensive Windows tablet).

The CAD/CAM software, Carbide Create is now freely available for anyone to use on pretty much any machine since it exports standard G-Code --- it's almost embarrassingly simple, but surprisingly capable --- we have a standing offer of folks sending in projects/files which they are having difficulty w/ and our returning a customized step-by-step tutorial on how to do it.

That said, things have gotten a lot better in the hobby CNC space and there are a lot of options --- if you have some specific question, I'd be glad to field it.

Thanks. Let me do a little more research so I can ask a few more questions.