Hi Andy,

The mechmate design does look snazzy. I suppose it's all about how much you have to spend. The solsylva belt-drive table http://solsylva.com/cnc/belt_drive.shtml (the one I had a go at) is easy-ish to build in a home workshop and is scalable.

Software-wise EMC2 and Ubuntu Linux are easy, excellent and free ways to drive a machine: http://www.linuxcnc.org . The Xylotex 3 or 4 Axis drive box is a fuss-free way of getting everything moving: http://www.xylotex.com/

3D CAD/Solid Modeling software with a G-code post-processor is the budget killer. People have said good things about: http://www.rhino3d.com/.

I did my PhD thesis on small wind turbine blade aerodynamics, so your venture sounds really interesting. If you get going with building a big machine for foam blade cores please keep us up to date. I for one would like to see a big home-made machine cutting out wind turbine blade

Mark