Greetings,
I am about to purchase my first table and have one question, Is it worth the extra $1,200 for the pro w/THC when I am just starting out, or just begin with the crossfire XL??
Thank you and Cheers,
Christopher
Yes, if you have room for a pro I would recommend it. Thc is a life saver on 16 gauge art work.
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I agree, THC is a life saver on a larger table. I only have a 2x2, but it was worth it to me to add Z & THC. WHEN you upgrade an XL table (because you will), it will probably cost you $1200 in material and time. On the other hand, by the time you’re done, you will KNOW how your Z & THC works so maintaining it afterward is entirely under your control…
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Yes, pro! Don’t forget about the wait as well. It is absolutely worth the wait.
I almost pulled the trigger on the original crossfire, but no THC or initial height sense worried me. As soon as I saw the pro, I ordered in like 20 seconds. No regrets.
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Definitely worth it! I only had my Miller Plasma cutter at the time and didn’t know anything about CNC. I purchased the original CrossFire I think in batch 2 when I found it. If I would have known that LS was coming out with the CrossFire Pro I would have waited. So when I received an email about the Pro I jumped on the pre-sale and got mine on batch 1. I’m still today in the process of assembling (working out of state) the Pro still but will be selling my original CrossFire after getting the Pro up & running. So if you have the room and extra cash now go forward with it. I promise you that you will look back later and will not regret it. Good Luck!!
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I am a first time cnc owner and I went Pro
I have never used any computerized cutting or milling machine and chose the Pro
The larger size is a fantastic idea as you get more out of a 48 x 48 than you would over the old 24 x 24
THC makes all the differance and you can toggle it on and off
Pro…pro…pro
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Lots of factors, space being one and how much cutting you plan on doing? For me, I bought the first batch CF and used the pants off that thing. No joke Iv make a living off it. Ended up buying another CF and then the XL upgrade. I went from a 30, to 45 and now 65 amp plasma in less than two years. I shoulda upgraded plasmas sooner and also went with the PRO sooner, but I wanted to wait for them to iron out some things. Plus its alot to take in understanding CNC programming and running the machine. So I personally would go with the reg crossfire and get use to it, make your money back then you can always jump up to the pro. Its def nice having the PRO but I can attest I’v used the CF for almost two years and do over 3k a week in sales. In fact I used it without a water table for like 6 months and I highly recommend you not do that! Bigger platform is not always better. Its harder to get tipped parts out of bigger tables, harder to find dropped parts, risk messing up lots of material if you have plasma or program issues during a run (happens all the time). Plus I do believe they are going to offer the add on THC for the CF so you could always upgrade. Or just go to the pro when you got a better feel for things. I personally would invest in a Hypertherm xp45 cutter if you don’t have one already, and go with the CF for ease and space. If you got the space and cash, get a good plasma and go with the PRO. The cutter is what makes a huge diff in time.
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If you have the space go for the pro. THC is brilliant!
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Thank you all for helping me on this. Since this is an avocation for me and considering the state of affairs in the world right now. It seems that everyone who has the CF wants to upgrade to the CF Pro. So on those notes, does anyone want to sell me a used CF? I’ve got the plasma cutter and computer. I’d need the software though. I was seconds away from ordering the Pro then my main revenue gave me a slap in the face by all the bars and restaurants being closed again in Chicago (I’m the plumber maintenance guy for a lot of them).
So it looks like I’ve got to hold onto some money and can’t wait till January for a Pro to make it to me, since I don’t have high hopes on what’s going on in the world.
CF fully set up w/o plasma cutter is $2100 w/ shipping. Anyone got one for around $1200 +shipping?
I just want to get started.
Thank you all for helping me
Christopher Segar
FWIW, I don’t want to upgrade to the pro. I’ve added THC to my 2x2 Crossfire and it works great, is reliable, and, with ‘Indexing’, I view the table size as 24 x infinity (actually more like 24 feet as this is the length of my shop in that axis). Practically speaking, the real limit is what I can lift onto the table…
I think buying a used Crossfire is a good strategy at this point, but logistics are tough. Moving an assembled table is tricky, making sure is was built well and maintained is something else again.
Pro with THC
How’s you decide to add the z and thc? Been eying eBay listings but not sure.
How’s you decide to add the z and thc? Been eying eBay listings but not sure.
Adding Z was easy. I had a devil of a time leveling my work under the cantilevered arm of the gantry. Between build of up slag on the slats, sheets of metal that were curved due to being stored leaning against something, and metal warping while cutting, even with only 24"x24" of range, the variation was almost always much more than the clearance offered by a reliable torch height. Finally, adding a Z axis allowed me to have a higher pierce height than cut height so that I wouldn’t go through consumables as quickly. Once I had the basic table working, cutting the pieces for the Z axis was trivial.
Adding THC took a bit more convincing since Z axis allowed me to accurately do short cuts. However, anticipating some work that required cuts as long as the length of the table, I realized that I really needed to track the surface of the metal. With the great write ups on this forum, from both @Dicky and @Burgs04, it was pretty clear what was required. I’m a retired Electronics engineer so the electronics part of it was easy and the support on this forum made up the difference… 
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Nice. Can you share you you accomplish the z axis ?
You need to learn how to search the forum! Here is where I posted my Z Mods: Crossfire Gets An Upgrade - Floating Z Axis Installed - #89 by TomWS
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That’s above my pay grade!! Lol
Thank you I’ll do a little better digging.