This page was first made in an attempt to help those, like the writer, new to CNC and not from an engineering background. Over the years I have made some interesting contacts with CNC professionals in the UK. I'm happy to pass on your queries to an appropriate person if you are contemplating purchase (or construction) of CNC milling or routing equipment. 

Milling machine or router?

3 axes, or more? 

More? You're looking for true 3D on the desktop? 

Do you really need that expensive CAD/CAM software?

If you are an engineer who stumbled upon this page and you want to build profiling and cutting machines with minimal hardware / electronics, you should check the UK company
ADVANCED MICRO SOLUTIONS . Their TrueMotion is "a Mechatronic system driven by a single state of the art micro controller with few other components". The company seems to have taken a new look at issues like power, cost and ease of use.