been maching for over year though mostly with lathe but have done some mill work with bridgeports and haas at school. would like to get something for some hobby work at home.

would like to machine stainless,alloy/mild steel and aluminum.
416,304,303-4130,4340-7075,6061,2011,2024

with stainless just need to make cuts 3-5 inches long with 1/4 to 1/2" end mill
at most cutting channel 1" wide wouldnt mind multiple passes but depends on the feed. otherwise rest of the stuff is pin holes

which machine would work well Sieg X2,Taig or do I need to step up to $1000 machines?

power feed would be nice have seen the smaller hobby mills for cutting aluminum and plastic with cnc kits.

appreciate any helpfull insight.

I think you are going to need something a bit larger than an X2 if you want to do much stainless, look at the X3. I have an X2 and it's a nice mill for what it was designed to do. Neither machines are in the same ballpark as the BP's or Haas you have played with in school.

I wish I had the schools budget for machines and tools.

probably use stainless sparingly and try to stick with the easy grades 303 and 416. would just be needed once for finished item once prototyping is done. most of the work will be aluminum some steel and very few occasional stainless piece.

appreciate more comments and suggestions.

might be able to get away with drilling most of the stainless then just mill down some finishing cuts.