Hey everyone, I've been lurking the community when I have the spare time for the past few months and I was hoping you guys could help me out with my (potential) opportunity. (Please feel free to move this if there is a more appropriate forum!)

Long story short, I have been wanting to get into hobby CNC woodworking for some time but the cost has just been prohibitive. I looked at but cant afford commercial setups, and the DIY build is appealing but this alternative might be better.

I found a guy on craigslist in a town about 200 miles away selling a "Complete CNC ready to go." I inquired, and he was asking $1,500 for it. He says he purchased it on ebay a year or two back (I can't remember) for $3k and never got a chance to use it. It's just sitting in his garage and he wants to get it to someone who will get some use out of it.

After some time talking he mentioned he would take something for trade plus some cash. I have built and shipped custom poker tables in my spare time for a few years and after a few emails he said he would take a table (similar to one pictured) for trade straight-up (I would sell that table for $1,500-$2,000; a cost of about $600 materials).

So, I am appealing to everyone here's authority on the subject. Unfortunately he doesn't have a lot of the details about the machine, but perhaps it's enough to make an informed decision.

Name on machine: "Masters CNC" (No relation to the CNC Masters corp.)
In am email from him:
"The disk has lots programs to get from cad to the cnc. They are, turbocnc, Kcam, DFXtoGcode, Mach3 and some other free cad programs. Let me know if you have any other questions. I don't know the model for the unit other than I'm pretty sure the working area is like 18" X 16". I never got the time to get into the programs and play with the cnc so I don't know much at all about it. It does come with a book called Easy CNC. I'd like someone to enjoy it because it is just sitting here torturing me because I know I don't have the time or I would be playing with it. "

Do you guys think this is a good machine to learn on, especially considering the price? It looks like it comes with the necessary software to get it going. I also have Adobe CS4, and am pretty fluent in computers and have a basic understanding of some programming languages. I think I can learn just about anything, so will this machine do what I need to have some fun in CNC woodworking?

I am interested in making some signs, 3d carvings, etc.

Thanks in advance everyone, this forum is a great resource and I plan on picking it clean once I get involved in this hobby.