That's a good idea Chris - one of the great knifemakers in my industry, Kevin Wilkins, uses a Haas for his work... he was even featured in the Haas magazine recently. The thing is, my upper limit is still pretty much the same, so I can't just buy a (roughly) 10K fried Haas, then spend another 10k fixing it, you know? How much does it typically cost to replace the electronics on something like that, anyhow?
That said, I'll definitely call around to the local dealers and see if they have anything like that, thank you for the suggestion.
Honestly, I'm not even sure I need a "knee" style mill - I just want something with the rigidity to cut 18" of steel when I get into that level of processing & design work.
Someone sniped me on a bridgeport I was bidding for on ebay tonight though
I'll keep trying.