Its a fact that Proper mills are not cheap, and £1000 IS cheap for a proper mill, (even if it could be debated whether the Sip30 truly qualifies as a "proper mill"?). Imo anything lesser than the Sip is just a pillar drill with an X/Y table, this will be evident when milling copper with any of them, some may work fine initially but will they last? how fast could you mill and how deep?.
I could quote the Sip30 at a retail price of £799 + vat if you prefer but that's only sugar coating the pill if like me you can't claim the vat back. It's also a fact you'll have to buy a selection of milling bits and a proper collet chuck with a selection of collets if you want to mill as opposed to just drill. At the end of the day it will cost if you want to do it right.
