My wife has been a glass blower for over 20 years and has been very successful. She wants to make the jump to plasma cutting. I’d like to surprise her with **The Crossfire CNC Plasma. Once she has this, what else is needed to get started? The torch? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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Is your wife good with computer aided design programs?
People tend to buy these machines and think it’s going to be as simple as downloading some pictures off the web and hitting start. Then they get frustrated when they find out that it’s a lot more involved than that to take a design and make it ready to cut.
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She is familiar with it. She’s very good at approaching new ventures with caution and she’s great at doing her homework before diving in. She has been introduced to an industrial size table. Much different of course from one of these.
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Great. As long as she knows what to expect, it’s an awesome tool to have on the shop.
You’ll need the plasma cutter, a dedicated 220 volt line for the plasma, a good compressor and air drying equipment.
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Can she use other software if she wants?
You don’t have to use Fusion. I use FreeCad and Inkscape with Sheetcam for creating the g code.
You can use any program that will export a DXF or SVG file in Sheetcam.
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What is your current set up for your shop?
Do you have compressed air?
do you have enough air volume to run a plasma cutter?
Some type of equipment to dry that air?
Power enough to run a 30-50 amp electrical circuit?
Reading the manual will let you know some of what you need.
You will need :
CAD software (you use this to create/sketch your design) There are different ones and everyone has their favorite.
Cam software (this takes your sketch/design and allows you to choose how your part gets cut) everyone has their favorite.
Watching some of video’s online will give you a small window into the software.
You need to be somewhat mechanical so you can assemble your table and troubleshoot when a problem arises.
Time to spend learning the machine and the software.
Patience will be needed, in fairly large quantity’s
Your age will play a large role in it when it comes to software.
As @ds690 has said don’t think for a min you just download a pic or even a ready to cut file and just throw a piece of steel on the table and push a button and get this really cool design/part.
If your good with all of that then jump in, cause there is not many things cooler then seeing that thing cut parts.
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LOL, so says the youngster… 
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When I was young, I thought people at my age I am now were almost dead. 
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They were. 50 years ago people in their 50s and 60s we’re worn out. It was a harder, more physical work life for most. There’s a reason Social Security retirement was 65 - they’d collect for a couple of years and die.