Piranha FX reviews?

[Brett Winston]

I found only three posts here when searching for Piranha FX so either I'm searching incorrectly or this is not a very popular machine. Does anyone have any experience with it that could be shared? It looks to be the right size to do repeatable cutting of the pieces I need as well as dados and rabbets in those pieces so I don't have to spend a lot of time at the router table. Thanks! -Brett

[Kristin Forbes]

I've been looking at the piranha as well. Not many reviews. I think it would suit our needs as a small cnc and a laser for engraving. Any info would definitely be appreciated.

[ed vitanovec]

I would suggest looking at the Axiom Precision sold thru Rockler. I has a small work area but is all steel construction and includes a stand and tool box.
http://www.rockler.com/axiom-autorou...nd-and-toolbox

[Nathan Shaffer]

Mr Winston,
I bought a Piranha last year and returned it within 60 days. It did not have the repeatable accuracy that needed, it would be up to .250 off and I did not change a thing, except the part. I am very Happy with the customer service I got from Rockler and will to do business with them. They now have a steel and aluminium body machine made by Axiom Precision that is the same size and cost. I can cut 6061 aluminium on it at .025 d.o.c with a taper ball end.

[Alan Scrivner]

I've only had my PiranhaFX for about 2 weeks and I like it. Actually, I really like it - - it's one of the coolest toys I've bought in a long time. I'm entering this field with no CNC experience, so can't compare to other machines. I've also never used any CNC-type software, so that's new to me too. It came with Vcarve Desktop and I watched a couple of hours of tutorials on it to get me started. I'm getting the hang of it and starting to crank out some descent work.

[Bruce Page]

Alan, please post some pictures of your cnc and work.
Thanks

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

I would suggest looking at the Axiom Precision sold thru Rockler. I has a small work area but is all steel construction and includes a stand and tool box.
http://www.rockler.com/axiom-autorou...nd-and-toolbox

We ended up buying the Axiom AR8 Pro and I would agree with Ed Vitanovec's assessment. The Axiom is one stout machine with its heavy steel construction. Just a word of advice if you do go with an Axiom and need to get it into a basement workshop, you will most likely need help because it is heavy! Unfortunately the stairway to our basement makes a 90-degree turn too. We ended up hiring a local piano moving company to carry the machine to our basement workshop. Money well spent INHO.

[Alan Scrivner]

You can't compare a Piranha with an AR8 Pro. Even the small Axiom is $1,000 more than the Piranha, so I suppose it depends on what you plan on doing with it. For me, I bought the Piranha for little projects and to learn more about CNC. It's about the cheapest turn-key CNC out there. I'm still on my learning curve, but here's a little 6x8 plaque I made. It's simple, but the details are crisp and it was super easy.

[Adam Merritt]

I bought a Ready2Lift from Next Wave Automation over a month ago and still don't have a fully working product. I would not purchase another product from them. Their customer support is abysmal overall. I have a good experience working with the engineer who designed the product, but as far as the actual support system itself, it is normal to go a week or more with no contact. Here are some pictures of the parts that I have an issue with, and here is a list of overall issues so far:

• Before purchasing, I had a few questions. It took 6 calls over 3 days to get someone on the phone, only to be hung up on. 2 days later I got a call back from an engineer, who has been great. I submitted a contact us ticket on their website at the start of this project and 8 days later I got the first response e-mail closing the request because they found out I had talked to an engineer already. I should have let this be a sign.
• The original router clamp (black in the pictures) wouldn't hold the Porter Cable 75182 motor. Turns out, the holes were not properly drilled, which caused issues with alignment. They force-mounted the clamp to the lift plate which torqued it at an angel. I had to use a mallet and punch to remove the screws due to the binding force.
• The router plate inserts wouldn't fit. The lift comes with one insert and I bought the other two sizes. None of them would fit. The cutout in the plate was slightly under-sized as seen in the pictures. After a month, I received a new plate with a new insert that fit fine. All three existing inserts fit as well. It really was an issue with the plate.
• They sent the wrong firmware, so the controller buttons for the fence controlled my lift, and the lift buttons did nothing. This was an easy fix with a new firmware update.
• It took 15 days, and a few nagging e-mails, to get them to send me a new lift plate and router clamp. An e-mail to the president 10 days ago still has not been answered.
• The new router clamp was not drilled properly either. To my shock, it doesn't line up either. I've grown tired of trying to get them to fix it, so I drilled out the holes from 1/4'' to 9/32'' on my drillpress, which allows it to lineup now.
• With all of the hardware in place, I installed the router into the lift and the lift into my cast iron router table extension on my SawStop. I then connected the touchplate and attempted to zero out a bit. I can't. The controller sees a closed loop (between the touch plate and the magnet), when they are both held in the air not touching, or, even when it is disconnected entirely. I'm guessing this is a firmware problem, because you have to have the touch pad connected and the loop closed to update the firmware. It wouldn't do the update until I closed the loop properly, so it must be able to detect open and closed on boot. I'm still waiting on resolution of this issue, but it just happened this Saturday morning.

[terry gearhart]

Has anyone have any luck with the laser from next wave. We purchased a Phirana fx and can't figure out why the laser won't work