Owch !!!
a bit uggly on the aluminium :( im a bit gutted
i was over the moon with mine, 3mm single flute 3000rpm, cant remember the feed i also had a go with the engaving spindle at about 10000rpm cutting small fonts (low feed) and they both were lovely and crisp

if mounting the work higher doesnt work out to well id be really tempted to stick a block n tackle above your gantry and make provisions to drop it down by 3/4 for alli and any fine work

im confident you would be amazed at the diffrence it would make
i guess it depends on what you are going to do with the machine generally