I plan to make a lot of different small aluminum parts and plan to get a mill in my basement. Should I go with a knee mill with 3-axis CNC fitting or a full-fledged HASS cnc? I never worked with a HASS cnc before, maybe it is too hard to setup for different prototypes?

thanks
Andrew

Depends on your budget and the complexity of the parts you'll be making. If the parts have a lot of drilled and tapped holes, you'll find the true VMCs like the Haas will save you time because of the tool changer and rigid tapping. The VMC is going to take heavier cuts and be more accurate than the knee mill because of its basic construction. The typcial VMC also has built in flood coolant which makes cutting aluminum much easier as you can really crank up the spindle speed.

Check out the Haas Tool Room Mill.

VMC-like capabilities only in a smaller, mill foot print albeit without the full on capacity of a VMC but similar capabilities and controller.