JLG

I use AutoCAD for my line drawings, or to create the sketches as Fusion likes to call them. Once you have the linework you want to put into Fusion go to paper space and create a viewport with that linework in it. I typically scale it 1:1 to my drawing. Meaning the Zoom 1/1x command. Then use the command "exportlayout" to create a dwg file from that viewport. This has several purposes the main one being maintaining the scale and not having a sketch that's miles across because of an errant object out in space. It also removes any weird version specific stuff from 3rd party extensions. In Fusion you can use the Import command to import a DWG and it will bring it in as a sketch. You can open it and do all of the extruding etc to create the 3d model. You will find that closed polylines are the secret to creating easy 3d models from the line drawings. Using an stl requires 2 unnecessary conversions and can mess up scales and cause other issues with Fusion. I use autocad for the same reason you mentioned, I started on AutoCAD 9 and it's just easy for me to start a drawing with an AutoCAD drawing. The AutoCAD and Fusion combination is a good way to go if you already know AutoCAD. It is good to learn the basic drawing stuff in Fusion for editing purposes, but I just picked most of that up over time. You can import another sketch from AutoCAD into a Fusion project if you need to add a construction line etc. and don't want to take the time to learn to do it in Fusion. The only downside of drawing in AutoCAD instead of Fusion is you don't have the drawing work in the timeline so you can go back to the beginning, change the radius of a hole and have it automatically update everything you did afterward. That's a pretty advanced level of using Fusion to be doing that sort of stuff though. Youtube has a bunch of videos by Lars Christiansen, he works for Autodesk, and I have been able to answer almost all my question by searching his videos. Even on the CAM side. What software a person uses is more a matter of just personal preference. Whatever a person is proficient at is typically what they tell everyone is the best when in reality it's just what they know the best.

I'll agree with the rest who say get the little machine shop one. I got one from ENCO and did a ton of upgrades, mostly bought from LMS. I would like have a set of acetal jaws for one of my chucks. I've machined a lot of it and it's really tough, seems like there are a lot of times it would be really useful for holding plastics and soft wood.