Software

There are many types of software available to run a CNC machine, but for the hobbyist, Mach 3 is widely used. This is because it's fairly straight-forward to use and set up, cheap to buy, and provides a good support forum. This type of software is usually referred to as control software, because it's the link between your PC and the machine, connected by ethernet cable, optical cable, USB, or parallel interface (DB25 as shown) which is how I connected my machine.

             

DB 25 Female Socket

First things first. If you decide for example to make a house number from wood, you need to design it with software called CAD (computer aided design). This basically takes your drawing and produces a tool path, and code called G Code which your CNC machine will understand.

One word of warning: many Chinese machines come with free Mach 3 software. Some, but not all, are pirated copies and will cause problems, or just not work at all. My advice is not to use it but purchase the software direct from the web site. However, you can do a search for CNC control software if you don't want to use Mach 3.

Now that you've got the control software, you need to design your work. The software I use is Vectric Vcarve desktop, again support is very good, there is also lots of instructional videos on Youtube

Visit the Mach 3 website here. 

Visit the Vectric website here. 

Visit the DeskEngrave website here

Visit the F-Engrave website here

Visit the Stickfont website here.

Visit the Discriminator CNC Editor here.

Visit the Mach 3 website for Millwizard here.