I first have to say when I first found this site I was SO confused with all the the talk about everything there is about CNCs.All though I still am somewhat I am hoping that everyone here can help a REAL newb along.I first became interested because I know several people who do this kind of work and I am in love with the things you can do with these machines...( BUT they will NOT tell you what you need to know to get started,afraid I guess..)You see I am in the Halloween Business and have been for over 30 years.The problems I am having..( well several right now..) is I have to buy items that I know you can make on a CNC machine, but I want to make sure I can do it before I spend myself into DEEPER debt...LOL.I have been on so MANY sites in the last 3 weeks my mind is becoming mush...I see what they do and think..WOW I want that,but common sense brought me back to Earth.( and limited funds.!!) Then I started seeing plans on how to build your own CNC and thought THIS would be the way to go.!!I started looking at plans and I must say I cant make up my mind,so many plans and prices to think about.!!What I am wondering is...In your HONEST Opinions what are the best and EASIEST plans to understand and build from.?Does anyone think or know if these machines can carve in foam.?? ( yes the pink foam you buy from Lowes or HD..)I also need to know in these machines can carve clear acrly.I will be trying to carve tombstones and skulls and such.Yes I know there are tombstones for sale everywhere but I am going to offer ones you dont see.Should I check out my local College to take classes or will just reading the material supplied be enough.?Can I take pics from the internet,download them and have my machine make what I want it to make..?Yes I know this post is LONG but it will either tell me what I need to know or tell me I should just stick with buying wholesale.Please let know what you all think.And thanks...

hey Coffin, let me tell ya the route I decided to take. Rather than jumping right into CNC, I decided to take the machinist (learning the trade)route. Why? Becuase you need to learn the correct way to measure, set up and make jigs and such. I now work nights at a Mold shop and have access to Bridgeports ,Surface grinders and a huge lathe. They have several CNC machines but these are huge work horses and I,m just breaking the surface of learning G-Code(very important when it comes to cnc). I,ve pondered for months on end trying to figure the correct machine that will make me happy and overall I decided that a cnc router one that I,m still designing http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28908

I also plan to convert a mill that I already built
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18992&page=6

Tooling is expensive and your project will not be cheap even through there are people here making cnc router and foam cutters out of mdf(compressed particle board) and plastic. I think it depends how accurate of work you plan to do. For basic tooling you could start off with dial caliper, indicator/magnetic stand, square and a steel rule. If you,re not concerned about accuracy than mdf or plastic will work fine. For stepper kit heres a link to cheap ones that will work fine http://www.hobbycnc.com/
HobbyCNC.com

Anyway really think about how much your willing to invest and what you,ll get back out of it. So far I have probably$2000 in Mill, lathe and tooling. Have I made any money? NOPE! But its what I wanted to learn and do. Do I plan to make money? Yes but I,m carefully planning and researching product and product developement. Anyway hope some of this helps(and you thought your post was long)

I was hoping to get some more answers on the questions I posted but nothing so far...What are the best to read and understand plans made..? I see so many its hard to decide.Can you make these machines carve foam.?

I'm not familiar with foam cutting, i'm a woodworker and i've built the Jgro router, free plans here (http://www.cnczone.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&file=viewarticle&id=4), i saw so many designs when i started my head spinned, i kept planning and changing plans till i realised i was getting nowhere and a friend that has a jgro and knew it was one of the ones i was narrowing down to told me just build the jgro first.

Now i'm not telling you to make one just because i did, there are other plans out there for wood routers, sorry i forgot to mention these are wood routers, there's:

The Solsylva (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29618&highlight=solsylva) - for sale

Joe's Machine (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15139) - he sells a kit or you can get the plans free, will probably need a cnc to cut these parts though

Rockcliff (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27660) - for sale, this is a bit on the small size

The benefit to the jgro is that it can be made with basically a table saw and a drill press (this is an absolute must), and it'll probably cost you about US$500 or less if you can find a few shortcuts.

The down side is the cutting area is only about 15" x 30", but you can alter this, mine (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=36187&d=1177635932) is 15" x 46", take a look at my build log here (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29024).

What i can tell you is this, it's a good project to get your feet wet so to speak, then from there you can decide if you'll want to move on to something better, but i think it can do what you need depending on the size, i've cut plywood, MDF, solid wood and plastic with mine so far, i'll sooner or later do an engraving test on aluminium but that's pushing it a bit, but do yourself a favour, don't ponder too much, you'll find yourself pondering longer than you think.

Good luck

In answer to your first question, yes you can CNC foam. People do it successfully with mills, routers, hot wire machines and probably several other machines that I haven't heard of. For your application I'm guessing a router is the best first step since hobby grade machines can easily handle foam, wood, and plastics.

Contrary to what you may have seen or heard neither a CNC router nor a CNC mill are able to make anything on their own. There are several other steps in the process that are always assumed by those in the CNC world and sometimes the line between the various steps will be very grey. I'll explain the process in reverse because you end with the machine doing the work but where you start can vary. You will likely be able to skip several of these steps but I'm including them for other beginners out there who plan to work with

Step 4: (this is where where you want to end up) You load a piece of stock into a "robotic" :) machine and some type of cutting device removes material from the stock to bring it down to the desired shape. (router, mill, EDM, hot wire, etc…) FYI: You will need to learn a few tricks for fastening the stock material to the machine and how to tell the machine where you put it.

Step 3: You load a set of instructions into the controller that drives the machine so that it knows all of the movements that it will need to make to cut the part. FYI: you will need to learn how to operate the controller.

Step 2: You write the program that determines the movements that the machine will make. This programming language is called G-Code. Some machinists start here but the G-Code for engraving is usually written by another software package

Step 2 alternate: You use a software package that writes the G-Code for you. (MasterCAM, BobCad, FeatureCam, FlashCut, SurfCam, Gibbs, VisualMill and many others)

Step 1: You build a model of what you want to make using a CAD package. (AutoCAD, Rhino, BobCad…)

There are many specialized software packages on the market that can simplify and reduce the number of steps involved. If you are going to be building something intricate like a watch or a car engine then you might add a few steps to the process. A sign maker might use a single software product that handles all of the steps from layout of the sign on screen to controlling the cutter. You might want to consider SheetCam.

The machine is usually the simplest part of the process. You should check out several CAD/CAM packages and some PC based controller software. With BobCad and Mach3 (made by artsoft) you will have everything that you need to get started. Mach3 has a trial version that is free but is limited to small g-code files.

Side note: you will need to clarify the statement: Can I take pics from the internet, download them and have my machine make what I want it to make..?

You can take line art right of the internet, load it into a Cad package and 5 minutes later have your machine producing a part. But you have to realize the difference between 2D and 3D. This usually only works with 2D projects like engraving, signmaking, panels and sheets, and is easiest with line art but since CNC routers are designed for large flat areas it is very common. What you can't expect is to take a picture of a person and end up with a sculpture or take a picture of an airplane and have a toy come out of the machine. 2D picture = 2D result: easy. 3d stuff takes a bit more work.

With that said: You can accomplish everything you are looking to do with free software. It's just that without expensive software a business can't work efficiently enough to cover the overhead. Hobbyist's and small businesses can usually start out with the freeware and then work up from there. With better software more of your time is spent loading material into the machines and less is spent in Design/Drafting/CAM.

Checkout this link, halfway down the page it explains how make an engraving in 5 steps using free software. The author is using a mini-mill but the steps are the same for a router.

http://www.hossmachine.com/cnc_conversion.html#Testing

you are asking a question that no one can fully answer.
im building my own cnc machine and looked around the net for several months, before i decided on which one to build and that was based on my needs.
im building my cnc from hobbycnc kits and plans because they will guide you all the way. as for how easy they are to read depends on how you understand figures and such.
building a cnc machine takes patients and i see that now.
if you have never built one i suggest you stick with a site that will walk you through no matter what you know.
since i have never built one im sticking with hobbycnc because you can get everything you need from and through them.
and from what you want to do and make id start there (hobbycnc.com).

.....................Robert