Desktop CNC Machines?

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Brian Buchan,
and I live in Kamloops BC Canada. I own a small manufacturing
business. I have an electronics background focusing on industrial
robotics, so CNC is not totally new to me. I look forward to being a
member of this group.

We are starting to do more and more custom work, and my bills at the
local CNC shop are killing me.

Most of my CNC requirements are for small pieces machined of Delrin
or 6061 aluminum, and maybe the occasional piece of 12L14 steel. Lot
size is typically 10 to 50 pieces. The biggest piece we would do
would be about 7 x 1 x 1 inches, mostly quite a bit smaller.

I'm thinking about buying (or building?) a small desktop CNC machine
and starting to do this work in house. I've spent a bit of time
looking at some of the available machines, but it's gotten a little
overwhelming. At the absolute high end of my budget, the CNC Jr.
seems a little big (read "expensive") for my requirements, but I'm
not really sure if the smaller machines (ie MaxNC, etc.) are up to my
needs. I don't think I need to wring every last second of machine
time out of whatever I buy to make this a cost effective thing to do.

Would anyone care to comment or make suggestions on the various
brands of small machines and software available? Thanks very much.

Brian