The CA glue and painters tape has been a game changer for me. Makes setting up and running files a ton easier when not having to worry about screws and clamps. What kind of mill are you running? I have always been interested in trying metal milling but I just don't have a space I feel comfortable creating all the shavings. I have built a few machines and cobbled together a few controllers if you ever want some help. Check about the MASSO controller. It's very easy to set up and seems to be pretty mature now in gen 3. I have used the gen 2 and it was very easy to set up.
My mill is just a lil' guy. A Precision Matthews PM-25MV. 750mm on the X, ~180 on the Y and I think 200ish on the Z? 1hp belt drive. Just a benchtop unit. I had to move it alone so that influenced my choices a bit.
I actually believe the shavings are easier to deal with than wood dust. They tend to fall so you don't find little bits of alu/steel/stainless on top of things higher than the machine. I use my mill and lathe
in a spare bedroom carpeted machine shop and the worst I have ever had was just from negligence (wool socks without shoes will find shavings in carpet). There are some advantages to being a bachelor. I first used it to build whole new interiors for some custom PCs and it more than paid for itself compared to having someone make the bits. Fun, too.
Now tooling costs? Well you know how it is. We don't talk about tooling costs.
I was torn between UCCNC and Acorn partly because Arturo over at CNC4PC offers those in his lovely pre-drilled boxes. Even with a mill and DROs there are few things I hate more than chassis fab. I was thinking some closed loop steppers with a compatible board would make things a little easier. Hit the endstops, index the tool, work within a closed coordinate system. I am intimately familiar with 3d printing and setting up gcode in slicers which has both helped and hurt. Don't need to designate where the stock is on a 3d printer. My use of SolidWorks makes Acorn appealing, but the Acorn model of upcharging for software at a constant rate really rubs me the wrong way. Workpiece probing? Upcharge. Tool height probe? Upcharge. Oh you got a spindexer? THat's an upcharge. I don't mind something PC-tethered as I have a mini 1L HP ryzen pc set aside just for it.
I think metalworking and TIG welding are things that can easily be done indoors. Though maybe don't TIG below ground level.