As exciting as waterjets are, my team has found huge success with desktop CNC routers. They are relatively cheap, relatively intuitive to use, and cut softer materials like wood and polycarb very easily, and are advertised to cut aluminum if you know what your doing.
We use a
Shapeoko 3 XL with DeWalt Router and it's become our new favorite tool. It has a build volume of 33" by 17", and comes with very easy to use software. Our XL version is about $1,600, abut you can scale up(XXL 33" by 33") or down(Standard 16" by 16"). Feel free to pm me if your skeptical, on the fence about buying one, or just want to know more!
