Anyone also using CNC?

[roykirk]

Thanks for the additional advice, GammaRays. It's helpful to be able to wrap my brain around how the machines work! Those xcarve machines look awesome, and I'm thinking I might just return the one I ordered and get one of those. After reading up more on the xcarve, it sounds like another problem with the Easel software is that it's not really suitable for cutting/carving 3D objects. A lot people recommend Meshcam for such projects on the xcarve, but it's kind of spendy. It sounds like there are some free options out there I'll explore first. One major feature I'll be looking for in software is the ability to import an existing STL file and be able to output it to the CNC machine. It doesn't seem like a tremendous amount of platforms allow that, but I have read that Meshcam will do it.