learned a lesson about RF30 style mill

If the machine is Taiwanese it's very possible that the bolts are imperial. Many Taiwanese metal working machines are made with imperial fastners but of course not all. For Taiwanese mills & bandsaws I have seen them more commonly with imperial fastners than metric.
 
When I first got my mill/drill I read tales of woe all over the internet about the head going out of alignment when you needed to change tooling. I looked at all kinds of contraptions that people came up with to solve the problem. Then I happen across a video where it was suggested to figure out all of the tooling you would need to use for a particular project and set the head at a height where you didn't need to move the head to change tooling. I have followed that suggestion and so far I have not had to move the head while doing a project. I can't even remember when was the last time I moved the head on my mill/drill. One thing that really helps is using ER32 collets to hold the tooling. ER32 collets are very flexible when it comes to changing tooling.

Back to the issue of tightening the bolts. My mill/drill has 3 bolts. I tighten the middle bolt first then the bottom bolt and finally the top bolt. I do this in stages just like I do when tightening head bolts on an engine.
 
You will greatly benefit with the use of fine threads. A much stronger thread with more surface contact. More Torque is applied with the same preload and also the fact fine threads have less chance of loosening due to vibration because of the greater surface contact.
As far as having a shorter throw. Does it really matter between being tight and loose?
 
When I first got my mill/drill I read tales of woe all over the internet about the head going out of alignment when you needed to change tooling. I looked at all kinds of contraptions that people came up with to solve the problem. Then I happen across a video where it was suggested to figure out all of the tooling you would need to use for a particular project and set the head at a height where you didn't need to move the head to change tooling. I have followed that suggestion and so far I have not had to move the head while doing a project. I can't even remember when was the last time I moved the head on my mill/drill. One thing that really helps is using ER32 collets to hold the tooling. ER32 collets are very flexible when it comes to changing tooling.

Back to the issue of tightening the bolts. My mill/drill has 3 bolts. I tighten the middle bolt first then the bottom bolt and finally the top bolt. I do this in stages just like I do when tightening head bolts on an engine.

Often times the tool that needs the change in height is the drill bit. So having a set of stubby drill bits can solve that problem and not need to change height when you may have had no choice with the long bit.
 
If you are using a drill chuck then drill length can be a real problem. On the other hand the ER32/R8 adapter is hollow so you can slip those long drills up inside the adapter when changing drills. This is one of the reasons why I went with ER32 collets when I was setting up my mill/drill. I have never used a drill chuck on the mill/drill.
 
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