Need suggestions for tool chain

Hi Folks,

I have a current license for GeoMagic Design, a manual sherline, a new plasma cutter, and a junk box full of steppers, geko drivers, etc...
The sherline is going to be retrofitted with steppers and the cutter is getting a small format xy table.

I need suggestions for:

1. A CAM tool. Open source is my first choice but something that costs a few hundred would be fine. This is hobby stuff and I can't justify another $500 a year software fee... I'm learning Python; is pycam a usable tool?

2. A controller that would work for both applications. I'm looking at GRBL and TinyG but am interested in hearing other suggestions. I'd like to use the same board so I have one less learning curve. They have integrated drivers, and that is ok, but I actually prefer to use separate drivers.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Regards,

SailBum

I use F-engrave and Blendercam for generating g-code. F-engrave is great for doing v-carve stuff, Blendercam does the rest ie 3d, pockets, cutout etc.

I run grbl on an arduino board with a cnc shield. I got the arduino and cnc shield together for $10 with free shipping on aliexpress. Had to wait a month for delivery.