The Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT has a lot of great tools for building things. We like tools.
We are building Johnathan Wards' [MTM PCB Mill]
We will be making some changes to the design to fit our needs (switching to laser cut, motors, electronics), but we will probably end up using a similar toolchain to the CBA. We're still figuring things out (and the machine isn't built yet), but if you want to familiarize yourself with what is coming, you should take a look at cad.py
cad.py
To install cad.py on a windows system, you will need:
Python
http://python.org/
PIL
http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/
Numpy
http://sourceforge.net/projects/numpy/files/
Scipy
http://sourceforge.net/projects/scipy/files/
cad.py / cad.cfg
http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/fab/
a file to open.
