small CNC suggestions?

[Marc Myer]

Glad the Creek has started this CNC group!
I'm looking at getting a small CNC mill again. I formerly used a Roland, and had a Taig for a short while, but it was a long time ago.
I'll be looking to do small work up to 12" or so at the widest, won't need much Z depth. Will be cutting primarily plastic and aluminum.
Can you suggest what to look at? I'm really curious what you are using for software. I admit to looking for simplicity. I want to create simple 2-d paths in Illustrator or Corel and export to G-code or whatever will work well. But dadgum it, there are so many approaches and many have a steep learning curve! Plus, the really good software seems to cost as much as the hardware.
Suggestions where to look first?
marc

[Bob Reda]

Marc,

Shop is comming out with their new benchtop unit soon. That means that there will be some used bench top models comming up for sell, probably some good deals, keep an eye on the shopbot forum. Also as far as simple software, look at the Vectric software, you can download the trial versions and play with it.

Bob

[Kenneth Hertzog]

Marc
I use sherline equipment and my controller is flashcut both are on the internet and have great web sites. I like them because they are an american company and tech support is great. When I bought the package I got vector cad and I still use it today for simple drawings. works great for that.
ken