There you go… All makes sense to me now… At least I know what I need to do…(Dropping pennies into a jar as I type!!! LOL )
For the record, no ill feelings about the way things shook out here at all… Still happy with my Crossfire soon to be an XL… And, happy to be part of a great group of makers!! Now let’s go make some sparks!!
^^^ 100% agree. Great community and product.
Actually that’s a Y-axis slave according to @langmuir-daniel’s post.
But, you’re right - the Crossfire upgrade controller box won’t swap for the Crossfire Pro controller box.
We never doubted your virility 
Or were you referencing viral social media? 
(Is “vitality” even a word? 
)
You are correct… LOL, thats why I have X and Y written in Sharpie on my machine! I don’t pay much attention until I’m cutting…
I’ll update my original post…
Me too
Well, now just X because I haven’t marked up the new XL Y yet. (Lazy)
I also have + and - marked so I know which way it’s going vs the Mach controls.
So it’s basically going to cost me another $1150 to upgrade to the THC when it’s available. After already putting $1495 for the crossfire, $150 for the water table, $175 for the software and what ever the cost of the XL was. Which I can’t remember right now.
That basically $2200.
Oh well. Money well spent. Just a little sore still. I literally bought the thing less than 10 days before they announced.
Can’t wait for the THC.
@langmuir-daniel said there might be some leeway on the $750 cost of the new box, but the THC is a hard $400.
The second batch hasn’t sold out, so they should start selling the upgrade kits now. Shoot- I’d bet they’d generate more money because of the quantity that would be ordered.
You wont regret a z axis and thc… no more worries about metal warp, gantry being parallel to the water table, boogered up slats… There is a little learning curve, few more settings to figure out, but less wasted material and consumables. I’ve had 900+ pierces on 1 electrode and tip.
See everyone. It is all about perspective. Good answers here. I sold my Crossfire with XL kit the same day the announcement was made on the Pro. They buyer even paid half and knows he cannot come get it until January.
Everyone should lay out some math on this before they decide not to buy the new Pro table with the THC. This is IF YOU ARE PLANNING to upgrade your current table to THC.
I upgraded to the Pro with THC. $2570 shipped. I sold my current table with XL kit for $1000. Adding the new THC to my current table will cost $1150 in the future. So it cost me $420 more to upgrade to a larger table that is also not 1.5 years old. The math works out to being $420 more because after cutting warped metal over and over and over again I would’ve upgraded to the THC. I am tired of dealing with warped metal and babysitting the table. No brainer here.
Your still gonna babysit it, depending what your cutting, but only for tip ups
Your pricing is based off of batch one and having a buyer for your old one, but yes- I get what you’re saying.
I’m just saying that math is how I made the decision to go with batch 1. Plus at $1000 I sold my current table too cheap. I sold it at that price because I got in on Batch 2 of the first tables. It takes $2K to replicate my current table and it would’ve sold for $1200-$1300. My buyer is willing to wait until January to get it, so he got a discount.
Either way, Even at another $400, I would still go with the Pro if I wanted THC. Larger table is still a plus. I am tired of cutting down 4 ft wide sheets so I can clamp and not deal with warped metal on the current table.
Tip ups shouldn’t be a problem with THC.
Yes, they are… I have THC… It has nothing to do with tip ups… THC keeps your torch at a consistant height throughout the cut, lets say .06". Thats the only thing it does… It’s not a magic bullet for collisions… In this example if the cutout show with the red line tips up, and it does everytime and is difficult to get out, then when the next path cuts the next item out (blue line) the torch is gonna crash into the tipped up part if it is not cleared… So if you press cycle start and go eat a sandwich, your gonna have scrap when you come back… The Z clearance as it travels to it’s next start point is nice, but once the torch starts it’s path, nothing better be in the way, THC or not… Although if you had an ohmic sensor hooked up to your torch, and contact for a machine pause… Now that would be cool!
I just added up the cost of the components and an enclosure, I’m at $520 just in parts, and that isn’t including the wire from the controller to the z axis components, and all the connectors… so figure another $100 easy… Also gonna need a floating head (planetcnc.com) 3d printed and assembled, say another $75. Then theres all the labor of putting it together… and the crossed fingers that you wired everything right when you plug it in and fire it up.
Thats including the IHS/THC… At least the one I’m using. If you want to use a proma, add another $250 on top of all that…
You can save about $500 doing it all yourself, depends on what your skill level and or time are worth…
That was my thinking. $500 isn’t anything to sniff at, but I’d like to save my remaining life minutes for design, cutting and constructing things…not so much fiddling trying to make the thing I need to make the things I want to. I could easily burn 500 worth oftime and potentially even parts I might inadvertently fry.
A man’s gotta know his limits
Your tip up example here confuses me. With THC and cuts in the proper order, you should never have collisions.
explain “proper order”…
Tip ups happen, If you think you can program your self away from them, I’l send you a few files…
@langmuir-daniel It would be pretty sweet if you guys had a short promo run for people that were on the very first preorders of the original CF, to get a early shot at the THC add on for the CF/XL.
I’m totally fine with the $1,200 for the setup, if literally all I have to do it unbolt the control box, bolt on the new one and swap out the Z setup. Personally, even if I can get the parts for ~$500, I’d rather not set my customers back a day or two so I can put the whole setup together, especially since I have ZERO understanding of the electronics. I’d rather just drink a couple beers one evening and swap a couple parts out. I’ll make the money back in a short time frame.
