CAM software

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this board, and home CNC in general. I am attempting to build a small mill capable of producing PCBs and such. I have some reasonable ideas for the mechanics and electronics but the software end remains a mystery to me. i have heard good things about EMC, a peice of software for driving CAM equipment under linux but though i have been meaning to, i haven't made the leap to installing linux yet. i need some software to get started with and thought it might be wise to ask you guys. i'm looking for something that is free, will run under windows 98 or dos and can be downloaded from somewhere. backlash compensation would be nice too. what do you use?

look forward to hearing from you,

jeff.

ps: has anyone any experience of using cheap, ordinary studding for lead screws? i was thinking of M6 with a pitch of 1mm but i suspect it isn't amazingly accurate. the only other lead screws i can find are ludicrously priced, and the nuts are even worse! also, where might i purchase some very small milling bits suitable for PCB work?


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