Thanks guys.
Building the CNC will definately be an adventure. Check out
www.cnczone.com for some guideance.
Hopefully you have some CAD experience. Not necessary for CNC programing but it makes life easier to make a drawing in CAD, drop the drawing (.dxf usually) into a CAM program that writes the g-code for the CNC controller and burn from the file.
Options for building computer controlled machines is about endless.
One last passing thought...plasma is nasty, dirty stuff. Black dust everywhere. Walls and ceilings are a yellow brown color...