So I got the table completely assembled over the last 2 days, ran the break in program and everything is working well, estimated time to complete was about 10 hours. Compressor and Plasma Cutter are on order while I do air lines and such.
While I was waiting for the table to arrive I downloaded Fusion 360 and I had some success learning it but it seems complicated with respect to just wanting to draw or create a 2D pattern easily and get a tool path output without a lot of tweaking. When creating something fairly basic I found the tool path missing areas and having to spend a lot of time adjusting things.
I have worked with Sketchup and Freecad and now Fusion and I find them way to complicated for 2D. I just want something that will get a basic design to the machine without hours of work. Maybe this is my inexperience and will get easier but if SheetCam or something else is better I don’t mind paying for it.
sheetcam is not a cad program, you will need another drawing program to work with sheetcam. sheet cam is just used for creating toolpaths, nesting and post processing. i prefer to draw my parts in cad then use sheetcam for the rest. i dont like fusion since its dynamic model based, i started drafting on vellum with a drafting machine a lifetime ago, the jump to dynamic modeling is really hard for me. i personally use autocad since i have used it for work since 1992. you might give this a try if you are looking for free cad programs: https://qcad.org/en/
You need a Design (CAD) program and a Machining (CAM) program. Some like Fusion are both CAD & CAM. But, like you noted, it’s very complicated for 2D. Unless you’re doing 3D or sheetmetal bending (Fusion has a tool that will flatten an object and account for the bend radius of different materials), I’d suggest a different set of tools.
For Design you can’t really beat Inkscape (free - it’s an Open Source application). Lots and lots of videos on Youtube to teach you how to use it. Works on both Windows and Macs. If you’re already an Adobe Illustrator person (or Corel) then use that but for most folks here, spending the monthly $ for Illustrator isn’t worth it compared to Inkscape.
For the Machining definition, I haven’t seen anything better than Sheetcam for defining the toolpaths and generating the g-code. That’s gonna cost you about $150 but it’s worth it for all the headaches you’ll avoid.