Basically I'm looking for a sub $500 starting point. I want to mill aluminum and I only care about milling a small area (like around 1810). The 3d printed builds interest me because I might be able to evolve the machine by milling new parts and upgrading the spindle, and reduce cost by scaling down the build. I'm looking for a 3d printed design that's popular, actively developed, upgradable, and we'll documentated.

With that being said, I'm not too excited about the cost haha. Especially for something I don't know how much I'll actually use or not. I've seen some cool guides for 3d printing small CNC machines. Like the Root 2, or this guy's https://youtu.be/hMrXVAHU1sc. Does anyone have experience with these?

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I'm completely new to CNCs. I've never owned or used one. I come from a background of software and electrical engineering. I've been wanting to make enclosures for small custom PC power supplies out of aluminum (like 6 x 3 x 2 inches). This led me to CNC machines and I've gotten very excited over them.