Nervous

[Jared]

I have a machine arriving but I am nervous I am starting to see more negative compakints about it here on this forum. We pay a lot of money for it and I expect it to work has advertised.

[stevem]

First off, what machine did you purchase?

Don't worry about what may happen. The Axiom CNC machine are as good as you can get for the money! Do they have some problems?
YES. Do things break YES. Is there anything you can do about it? YES. There is tech support and this forum.
Sometimes these machines are pushed to their limits and things just break. Sometimes the machines just don't work as expected.
I have only had my machine for about 16 months and so far it has worked as expected. I have had some problems, but most of them were operator error and some were machine error.
I have had 2 cnc machines so far. The first one lasted me 4 months and I wound up taking it back, got a credit and bought the Axiom.
It was all the machine I could afford at the time. Others on this forum buy an Elite which is over $10,000.
No matter what you buy, no matter what brand you buy, there will always be customers that have problems with their machine. None of these things are perfect.


Believe me when I tell you that there are other cnc machines you can buy for about the same price that are nowhere as good as the Axiom.
Everyone knows this, which is why they bought an Axiom.
There are also cnc machines that cost far more, can cut much faster, have more accessories and better owner manuals than Axiom.

You will break many cnc bits while using the machine. That is all part of learning how to use your machine.
Tech support for this machine is usually a phone call away. They are very helpful. This forum is also very helpful as well. There are many on this forum that are willing to help when you have a problem. That is what the forum is all about.
Some of us have only had a cnc machine for a short time. Some have been using a cnc for many years and have had more than one machine.
The skill level of some of the people on this forum is fantastic. Some of the projects posted are beautiful.

There is much advise here on this forum and much to learn on your part. Everyone here are willing to listen and try to help you out.

Welcome to the forum!

[grg]

Keep in mind that most people don't post positive stuff so viewing the communication on here is probably a bit skewed negative. I just got a shopbot PRT (an old shopbot) 4x8' machine from a friend who bought it at an auction with an option to buy it or help him get it up and running to flip it for a little $. The Axiom is a rock solid machine and while I'm dying to have a 4x8' CNC router, there's no way in the world I'm swapping out my Axiom for that old shopbot! The Axiom is rock solid and accurate. Any of the entry level-ish machines are going to possibly come with a few teething issues.

[traindriver]

You didn't screw up. I've had my AR8Pro for 3 1/2 years, and while it doesn't run all the time, I have run a few jobs that took 20 -30 hours of constant running (large 3d carvings). I've also crashed it several times early on as I was learning, but the machine is tough enough to withstand the punishment. In the event you get the machine and it doesn't run correctly right off the bat, the guys at Axiom will help troubleshoot it and make it right quickly. After that, it's hour and hours of play time!

[laflippin]

Let me pretty much second what other posters have been telling you in this thread--the Axiom machines are constructed to be extremely stable and precise (mine is an AR8 Pro+, had it only since October--it is a big, big upgrade from my first machine, a NWA Piranha that I bought as an absolute newbie in June). If you purchased one with a spindle I think you will be very happy with that option (vs. a standard router).

All that said, there are some things you should be prepared for....especially if you are very new to CNC machining. Unfortunately, the printed user's manual that Axiom provides...well, it kind of sucks (as you have undoubtedly heard right here at this forum). Axiom Support has told people in the past (including me) that they are "in the process" of updating their user's manual, but I haven't seen any evidence of that at all. It can be slightly unnerving, for example, to start reading the manual and realize from the get-go that the manual is telling you to use a couple of basic keys that don't exist by the same names on your controller keypad. By this time, Axiom has had time to address stuff like this, and they should (at the very least) insert an updated note with their $10K machines alerting clients to the various errors in the current manual. They are certainly aware of the problems, so currently your best solution is to call Chad McCarty (Axiom tech support). Axiom is a very small group and the employees seem to wear more than one hat at a time, so if you can't get a live person on the tech line, don't be afraid to try the sales line to run down someone to speak with. Chad, once you get him on the phone, is knowledgeable and he will stay engaged with you until your problems are satisfactorily addressed--at least that has been my experience.

[stevem]

I agree that the manual is sub standard. I have found more info on line at Laguna and Powermatic. They are selling the same machine and have better info for the controller we are using.
The Axiom is really a tank and will take much abuse. Everyone here and on many other forums from other brands of machines have all gone thru some sort of problem and have had some issue with something.
You will be quite happy with your new machine.
One thing I can suggest is once I got my machine, I went thru the entire thin and made sure all the nuts and bolts including the small set screws on the couplers.
I even opened the case and checked all the connections. On my machine, I had a few loose connections that only took a few min to tighten.
The only other thing I had to address was the X axis homing switch was not set to where it should have been and when homing the machine the X axis was off by 2". All I had to do was move the small homing bracket to the proper position. It only has a small allen screw to loosen.
After that, everyhing has been working great.