If you don’t have a CNC machine yet, what are you waiting for? There are tons of DIY ones around and for most of us who aren’t making parts for the space shuttle that’s all you need. This MTM Snap-Together CNC Machine is cool because as the name implies it can be totally snapped together. I haven’t seen one in real life so I am not sure how rigid it is due to it’s snap together construction but it looks like it is solid enough. Best of all you just need a sheet of HDPE and a single router bit to cut out all the structural parts (you will need to borrow some time on a friends existing CNC machine to cut the parts).
The electronic system is Arduino based, this page gives you all the needed electronic details to get going and this software page will help you with the software needs of the system.
Thanks for the tip Tony.