[Cory]

A general rule that I remember hearing is that you should plan to spend as much on tooling as you do on the machine tool. It aint gonna do you much good if you have a nice and shiny mill, but nothing to go with it.

I've seen ads for used bridgeports from machine shops in my area for like $2000-2500, which seems pretty good, but I'm no expert, so who knows what you might be getting when you buy used.

$0.02 Cory