One of my ongoing projects has been building my own CNC routing machine.
It's a great tool have for making PC Boards and custom parts.
It's also a great way to make yourself crazy!

Klunk CNC Mini CNC Controllers Links
Klunk:
My original attampt to build my own machine.
Built from printer parts and hardware store components.
The build is photo documented. I used a different parts configuration for each axis
Mini:
I built this mini-cnc in two days in an attempt to drag it to the Maker Faire.
It's made from Sam's Club cutting boards, 1/4" all thread, 1/4" rod and machine screws.
Control Circuits:
This is a classic Unipolar controller built from UCN5804Bs. It's very, very economical at $22 in parts.
I also designed a bipolar stepper controller, but the part count is very high.
Samples offset the costs, but I prefer the unipolar design for simplicity.
I used microstep boards to build the controller for my mini-mill. These are well designed, cheap to build and support microstepping.
Software
K-Cam is great for testing with a windows box. Once you know it works, check out something realtime like
EMC Linux There's a brain dead install that's (relatively) easy to setup. You can run the interface remotely too.