Harold and Gunner have pretty well covered all the bases, but please
allow me to throw in my 2¢

I have a V-N #6 that came with a complete set of collets, but no
end-mill holders. Seeing as how the 5V collets are rather scarce, I
decided to limit my use of them as much as possible. So, I made my
own end-mill holders. It's not that hard to do. I used ordinary
cold-rolled steel and didn't bother with hardening them. They are
accurate and are holding up very well.

I'm not sure how much Z-axis space you have on your #12, but if you
don't have them, already, you might want to outfit yourself with screw
machine length drill bits. I recently got US-made fractional,
lettered, and numbered drills in one big index on sale from Enco for
an affordable price.

I've found that my V-N doesn't like Albrecht chucks; they're too long
and eat up too much space. So, I got a ball-bearing Jacobs; big
mistake. It's huge. Finally, I got conventional Jacobs chucks. They
eat up the least amount of Z-axis. A sensitive drilling attachment is
almost a must, too. It's impossible to get much "feel" of cutting
action when cranking up on that massive knee.

In case you didn't see my post of a few weeks back, I've put together
a CD containing V-N #6 and #12 literature, such as catalogs, accessory
catalogs, letters from V-N, blueprint of the cutterhead assembly (the
#6 and #12 cutterheads are identical), etc. I make the collection
available on a donation basis. That is, I mail the CD with the
understanding that the recipient reimburses whatever amoun they feel
like. BTW, R.C.M readers are to be commended for their generousity.
I've concluded there are some mighty fine people in the r.c.m.world.

Orrin