Welcome to the zone Wally, I intend to use my router to make wooden clocks as well, I assume you have visited this site :
http://www.pathcom.com/~u1068740/index.html
If not, I highly recommend a visit, nothing like free plans to speed things along...Gary even has the plans in DWF format, ready to "feed" a CNC router. (after converting to G-code of course)
I would suggest reading through the info on this site, there is an overwhelming amount, but there are a lot of helpful (and damn clever) people that will help you if they can.
Read through the wood router build log's, most machine's there will do the kind of work you are interested in, just have to build to suit size requirements.
As for software, TurboCNC is a free download and works well, and it runs on DOS, so pull out that old PC covered in dust and fire it up!!!
Joe's build is pretty sweet, if you have the time, have a look here :
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15139
I believe he is making kits and has a lot of happy customers, well worth a look.
Good luck, and if you build, make sure you post a build log so we can see your progress and help out where possible.
Russell.