CNC Machine Types & Hobby Brands

3-axis routers, benchtop mills, plasma tables, foam cutters, and the hobby/prosumer brand landscape — orienting before you buy or build.

The "what kind of machine" decision drives everything downstream — controller choice, CAM, workholding, spindle / VFD, and dust/coolant all flow from the machine class. This page is a brand and category map; firmware/software are split into their own pages. For lasers see Laser Firmware & Controllers; for upstream design see Mechanical CAD and 2D Drafting.

3-axis hobby routers (wood, plastic, soft aluminum)

★ Carbide 3D Shapeoko (Pro / 5 Pro / HDM / HDZ) — the prosumer router default. Belt-drive on smaller frames, ball-screw HDM. Ships with Carbide Motion + GRBL — fully open at the firmware seam. Huge community.
★ Onefinity (Woodworker, Journeyman, Elite, Foreman, PRO) — ball-screw on every model; Buildbotics / Masso controller. Cleaner out-of-box than belt machines, more expensive.
Sienci LongMill MK2 / Mk2.5 (12x30, 30x30, 48x30) — Canadian; lead-screw, GRBL/gSender. Excellent value for the size.
Inventables X-Carve / X-Carve Pro — original belt-drive hobby router; X-Carve Pro is the newer all-aluminum Onefinity-class. Ships with Easel.
Avid CNC (formerly CNC Router Parts) PRO 4848 / 60120 — semi-pro; rack-and-pinion gantry, ball-screw Z; ships with Mach4 by default. Big-format aluminum/MDF.
BobsCNC Evo 4 / Quantum — entry; lead-screw + GRBL; cheap and serviceable for plywood signs.
Genmitsu / SainSmart 3018 / 4040 / PROVerXL — sub-$500 starter routers; GRBL + Candle stack. Small, but a real way to learn.
FoxAlien Masuter 4040 / Vasto / 3S 3040 — budget aluminum-frame, GRBL.
Stepcraft M / D / Q-series — German; modular tool-changer (router, drag knife, 3D print head, laser). Closed-ish controller (UCCNC).
CNC Onsrud (small format) — industrial-leaning; ExpressCNC controller; not a hobby brand but mentioned because used Onsruds appear in hobby shops.

★ Tormach 440 / 770MX / 1100MX / 1500 — prosumer benchtop; ships with PathPilot (LinuxCNC under the hood, see Retrofit). The "real machine" pick for hobby metalwork.
★ Pocket NC V2-50 / V2-10 / Penta Machine V2 — desktop 5-axis; LinuxCNC-based with their custom UI. Tiny envelope, real 5-axis work.
Sherline / Taig — micro-mill / lathe family, decades old; many run LinuxCNC retrofits or Mach3. Steppers stock.
Bridgeport Series I / II — manual knee mills; LinuxCNC retrofits are extremely common. See Retrofit.
PM / Precision Matthews PM-25MV / PM-30MV / PM-727 — Chinese-import mill family; popular CNC-conversion base (Mach4 / LinuxCNC / Centroid Acorn).
Grizzly G0704 / G0759 — same import family as PM-25; widely converted.
Datron neo / M8Cube / MX series — high-RPM (60k) trade-up; closed controller. Expensive.
Haas TM-1 / Mini Mill — entry industrial; closed Haas control. Mentioned because used Haas appears in serious hobby shops.

★ Langmuir Systems CrossFire / CrossFire PRO / MR-1 plasma deck — affordable hobby plasma; ships with FireControl (proprietary, Linux-based, LinuxCNC-derived) on Langmuir-branded controllers. Very community-friendly.
PlasmaCAM DHC2 / Samson — closed-system; proprietary Windows software. Industrial-leaning hobby price.
Baileigh PT-22 / PT-44 / PT-510 — hobby/prosumer plasma; varied controllers.
DIY plasma + Mach3/4 + Proma THC — extremely common path: build a frame, drop in a Mach controller and Proma THC, run SheetCAM. See Plasma & THC.
Hypertherm Powermax — the torch, not the table; pairs with everything. Their Sensor THC is the OEM THC; expensive.

Wazer Desktop / Wazer Pro — small-format hobby waterjet; closed controller, proprietary cartridge garnet feed. Real waterjet at hobby prices.
OMAX ProtoMAX — desktop, closed system; OMAX's hobby tier — closer to entry-pro than hobby.
DIY waterjet builds — historically rare due to the pump cost; a few open-source Velocijet / OpenWaterJet projects exist but none mature.

DIY hot-wire foam cutters — typically GRBL or Marlin on a 4-axis frame (XYUV). GMFC, DevFoam, DevWing Foam are common (paid) job generators; open-source options thin.
Drag-knife attachments — Stepcraft, Donek Tools D2/D4 drag knives mount on most routers; CAM via Estlcam, Vectric, Carveco. See CAM for Hobby CNC.

Sodick / Mitsubishi wire EDM — industrial; mentioned because used wire EDMs occasionally appear. Closed control.
Sherline / Taig / Grizzly G0602 lathes — same retrofit story as the mills; LinuxCNC and Mach3 are the realistic options.
Tormach 8L / 15L Slant-PRO — benchtop slant-bed lathe; PathPilot. The lathe analog of the 440.

4th-axis rotary tables — generic Chinese 100/125/160 mm rotaries with stepper drives bolt to most hobby mills/routers. Driven from the controller's A axis.
Pocket NC tilt-rotary table — accessory for their 5-axis line.
Avid 4th axis kit — for Avid PRO routers.
Sherline / Taig 4th axis — small-format rotaries for the matching mill.

Largest hobby community, GRBL ecosystem, wood/plastic/light alu: Shapeoko or Onefinity.
Big sheets, semi-pro, you'll deal with Mach4: Avid CNC PRO.
Real metal, prosumer benchtop, no firmware drama: Tormach 440/770MX (PathPilot = LinuxCNC).
Tiny envelope, true 5-axis, willing to pay: Pocket NC V2.
Hobby plasma "just buy it": Langmuir CrossFire PRO.
Retrofitting an old Bridgeport / G0704: see Retrofit — LinuxCNC + Mesa is the dominant FOSS path.