[Bacchus]

I would be very hesitant to get a 3 in 1 combo machine. They seem to be nothing but trouble. It’s true that they take up less space than it would for all 3 separate machines, but they have some significant drawbacks. As soon as a team gets a mill their tolerances fall. It seems to me that teams who have to do everything with hand drills don’t care about anything much smaller than 0.01", but ever since GRT (192) got a mill we've always wanted to do stuff one step beyond what our machines could handle. So, it seems that mills are like everything else... Buy one slightly better than anything that you think you will ever need and you'll grow into it, and really be glad you spent the little extra bit of cash initially rather than having to buy a whole new machine later.... Also, be wary of what will fit in smaller machines...

Here are some mills that I would suggest.....
As was suggested before, get a phonebook and call all the local machine shops. It’s a lot easier to move one of these beasts across town than across the country...
Another place to look, believe it or not is eBay... Most mills on there are already equipped with dro and cutters/collets and some even have servo control. As someone said before, MAKE SURE TO GET IT INSPECTED BEFORE YOU FORK OVER $3,000

Alright, I’m done... (Finally, I know...)