Quote Originally Posted by DareBee View Post
A 10000RPM (or faster) spindle and high feed rates would be a must for 3d surfacing aluminum (if it were me)
Yes I agree. The Kent KVR2418 seems the nicest in most regards so far. It has a 10K rpm spindle, along with rapids all the way up to 1300ipm, and feedrates up to about 600ipm. It also has a lot of stuff standard that seems to be extras on other machines, though granted it has the price to match. I'm also looking at:

HAAS minimill2 (doesn't seem like a strong contender)
Sharp SV2412
First MCV300
Hurco VM1
Hardinge GX300

I have to go to the shop today and confirm how big the largest doors are in the building, I'm not sure that they're actually big enough to fit something like the KVR2418 through...