Hi Deadguy71,
I think you are saying just what we all thought when we first joined the forum or started out on CNC. Everything is a compromise between performance/ size/ cost/ knowledge/ etc/ etc/ etc. and we all have to start somewhere.
For my part I started by obtaining as many parts as I could that were going cheap on ebay then designing around them. If I started again from scratch I would surely have a different machine entirely - but one thing that would be the same is Mach3, everything has to be designed around this in my opinion.
If you have time and the inclination take a look at my website to see the direction I took.
http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/Best regards.
Tweakie.