This thread may be of some help https://www.cnczone.com/forums/comme...are-forum.html .You shouldn't need Mach 3 if the machine is able to move and I believe you are describing a homing routine.The computer that you seem to have got with the machine will have some kind of software to send the code to the controller,any idea what it is?
Unless you already have it,there isn't a need for Aspire unless you have plans to cut 3D most of the time.Vcarve will work with 3D .stl files and it costs less to upgrade Vcarve to Aspire than you might think.

Be very cautious about using the machine until you have a good idea about such things as the reference height used for the last job.It may be unneccessary to make the point,but it might be sensible to run with no collet and no tool until you are confident that no harm will result.