Leap Frog 3D Printers

[3Dsmile]

I have first hand experience with a Leapfrog Creatr (about 2 years old, I use it every week). I use the newest update of Repetier host 1.06 (and not the 0.9 Leapfrog one).
The quality of the machine itself looks good, however when you open up some panels you can see the machine is made in eastern europe. The finish is just not really what I expected.

Non the less the machine performs very well and has a great buildsize. There are not a lot of things that I can’t print on the machine. Till now the machine is working ok.

The most problems I have with the print quality are with prints not sticking to the printbed when printing ABS, even when using the supplied stickers from leapfrog and making sure the printbed is completely level. I now used 3Dlac which works like a charm.

Printing in PLA is no problem, however the print quality depends for a large part on the brand and type of filament u use. For instance I made an pin using glow-in-the-dark filament which looked like crap, when I printed this pin in red filament on the same settings, it came out very smooth.

So you will need to take your time and experiment with different settings, filaments and preparations, but this is not very different from most of the other printers out there.

Overall advice

Overall I’m happy with the device, you just have to be innovative and try different things/settings.

Use Kapton tape with a sprayed on layer of 3Dlac and you shouldn’t have any problems with prints coming off.

Also check out http://creatrtips.freeforums.org/ which has a lot of people who have a creatr and try to improve theirs.

[Outbound]

This thing has been nothing but a headache since I got it. Every time I fix a problem and think I’m on my way to happy printing times another problem pops up. Constant hardware issues due too poor engineering and manufacturing keep popping up.

I’ve spent far more time getting it to work that making things with it, and most things I try to do are replacement/improvement parts for the actual printer. I’ve had to replace the original tubes because they only used to clog, the x-axis rods because the original ones were bent, the buts and bolts on the printer bed in order to be able to calibrate the machine accurately, remove the filament rolls from inside the machine, print out and install spring loaded filament loaders to deal with constant jamming, replace the board due to a short circuit which burnt out the original one and now the replacement on turns out to be faulty and Leapfrog wants me to buy yet another controller board.

I do not recommend it at all. Check out the 3D Hubs printer guide and spend your money elsewhere.

[Pedro_1]

I own two leapfrog creatrs for two years now, the leapfrog creatrs print quality is awesome.

i use simplify3D as it slicer software it works better than repetier.

they are low maintainanse and easy to repair if needed.

i have them printing almost 24rs a day.

i use them to actually print my products, my products come out so nice that injection molding isn’t neccessary.

[Local_Makers]

Hello,

I have a 3D Printing Shop in Amsterdam and we sell a range of printers including the Leapfrog. The Leapfrog has many advantages but simplicity is not one of them.

I highly recommend the Ultimaker 2, or the Original if you are on a budget. They are the best printer on the market for their price range. The only benifit the LeapFrog Creatr HS has over the Ultimaker is a slightly larger print volume and the dual extruder. However it’s faults definitely outweigh these two advantages. It is not easy to use or adjust and takes 30 minutes to heat up when the Ultimaker has already started printing for 28 minutes.

Come by the store if you would like a demo.

Print3D Matter

Ferdinand Bolstraat 182

1072 LV Amsterdam

020 470 2314

[frankadons]

Hi, I have the leapfrog HS and the Ultimaker 2, if you look for a simple easy to use printer, the Ultimaker 2 beats everything… if size is important (the reason for me to buy the Leapfrog) then the HS is a nice choice , but … I have a little story to tell … I started with a prusa I3 … worked fine, but not as stable for large objects (movement of the frame)… I started building a MendelMax 1.5+, very stable, very good , but a lot of work to calibrate first time … then again, this printer, once good configured, gives the same quality as a Ultimaker 2 … (you only need to be a technical person to build/configure/calibrate).

I ordered the HS In june 2014, delivery time was estimated 3 weeks … it became 4 months… I received the printer in october, Unpacked it and tried to print in good quality (had a lot of experience with my own printers and had in the months I was waiting, ordered the Ultimaker 2 (I couldn’t wait, needed a second printer for customer object printing)). First problem, when starting the printing, connection fails sometimes, connection between computer and printer drops after heatup etc … for now, I have a very large support log with leapfrog, this problem still exists. Second problem, overextrusion. I got a new firmware but the problem stays … they are looking into it … ok, you can change extrusion multiplier on the slicing software but when I ask the printer to extrude 100mm, the HS delivers 111mm … not ok …

I managed to change the code and the printer now works like a charm … It’s really good, the hardware is very good calibrated and because of this, it makes it possible to print a very high speed. (my max is 320mm/s with good results, only larger objects of course). I really think this printer is one of the better on the market, only because of the new model, and having one of the first printers available in Belgium (where I live), I think it still has child diseases … but … if you’re a newbie, never worked with 3D printers, this can be your worst nightmare … one thing I have to say, Support at leapfrog is very good, they do everything to help and give good directions. They told me that a certain batch has this problem. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the creatr series … but, you need to know what you’re doing … as with everything…

[3boyutmerkezi]

Well I have 2 Creatr HS ( I was one of the very very first owner when this printer first released) using it around 3 months.

I have to say that it is huge heavy and noisy as shit. If you want to use it in your home don’t think about it (I m using it in my office in a seperate room so no problem for me)

Pros :

Leapfrog support team !(they are great and helpful and if there is any problem they send you the part immediatiley

dual extrude (there is not much dual extruders around right now (except chinese ones) but it is reliable.

If you want to print PLA with PVA it is a good option.

Cons:

Since it has open enclosure, not good for ABS prints.

You will need support team help (everyweek , very frequently)

I don’t know the engineering of creatr original but creatr HS has a dumb of head design. (melting cooling fan adapter, etc etc)

If I had a chanse before I would definetly purchase ultimaker original and made a dual extured upgrade LATER !

Believe me or not since I make too many works to the industry, you won’t need dual extrude that much.

read the article about 2014 3d printer buyers guide (3d hub).

Creatr is Like their logo small green beuatiful frog but it is venomous .

[3dlyx]

I am running my Creatr (2nd generation) Dual Extruder for about 2 years now. It is strudy and reliable, befor I really was happy with the print results and the handling I had to make (print) some upgrades: nozzle cooler for print quality, bridging etc., new extruder mechanism to print ninjaflex and other softer filaments. Modifications to the buildplate to heat faster and to use standard ikea mirror tiles to print on. Spool holders, because the setting the spool up horizontally gave me a lot of troubles. Some minor upgrades (lube-egg, 90 degree z-stop). Still to do is a top cover and door and maybe a HEPA or actvie coal filter because I have it in my home office.

So you see, I can (and must and will) learn a lot if you decide to get one of these, but its quite rewarding with awesome big dual color/material prints that will run smoothly overnight without checking every 5 minutes.

[3dlyx]

Sorry for the typos, typing on my mobile phone… ^^

[3dlyx]

pics or it didnt happen:

see print quality here:

http://my3dprinting.ninja

https://www.3dhubs.com/cologne/hubs/my3dprintingninja

Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects

[Hakan01]

I have a ca 2 year old Creator with 2 printheads. I have done some small fixes but nothing radical

and I’m happy with the machine. I print pla and abs down to 0.1 mm layer height. The only complaint I have is that its noisy. I have not compared with other printers so I don’t know if other printers are as noisy. It’s a big, very sturdy and heavy machine +30 kg.

[Bernard]

Hi,

I own one since November 2013.

Since 11 September I haven’t been able to print anything anymore.
The motherboard has been replaced twice. The complete double extruder unit with all the wires has been replaced twice.

First time they sent a steppermotor. Then they sent a damaged extruder unit. Finally a working one arrived.

The X-axis rods have been replaced.

And sending something takes between 10-14 days.

They gave up helping me printing with PVA. I did a few of testprints with their values. When it didn’t work, it was my problem again.

But since then I haven’t printed anymore.

A few times the hermistor and heat cardridge have been exchanged.

The printer has been exchanged twice now.

First time a lot of bolts and nuts were not tightened. And one levelhole for the glass plate was broken. So I couldn’t print.

They exchanged the printer and the nuts and bolts are not tightened, but they don’t want to talk about it anymore.

Everything works ok on the printer now, expect printing. The printer gives a temperture reset.

They are investigating my model to find the problem. This model I always print when I make a change in the machine.

just to be sure that it works they way I want.

The first printer was all metal. Heavy but sturdy.

The second printer was all pastic and loos. And the third one looks like it has been assembled with parts that came back.

Got plastic parts, metal parts. And lot of stickers on the electrical parts.

The last one didn’t come with a print of cone and the levelprint. That is not what their quality inspection report says, but who is counting. The printsticker is on and you can see that is has never been used.

Ohw and the old motherboard prints smooth, but since they changed some components on the board the startpoint of your print shows.

The service department have no idea what they are doing. Everything they send comes from Rumania. Hence the long delivery times.

The way the investigate the problem is not hopefull. My problems started when a thermistor was broken. For that problem the motherboard got replaced.

The only way to communicate with the service department is by eticket.

If you have a nice person, you are able to ask 4 times a question. Some just don’t react.

Please don’t urge them to hurry up, because you have paying customers waiting. It will cost you a week before any progress is made.

Returning the printer costs money. You will pay for the transport fee and a 15% use-fee.

So all by all, I regret the buy of this printer.

I understand that the printers are not plug and play. But the long delivery times are killing for sure.

And I know that machines have issues and need some tweaks. But then you loose garantee.

The design is poor. The assembly is really poor. And a glass plate can’t be perfectly straight. But if we print a layer with a height of 0,1 how bent is the glassplate allowed to be?

No answer. They replace the printer.

I hope you will have more luck when purchasing a Leapfrog.

[Ashley_1]

I have the original Dual head Creatr from 2013. At first it was a big headache and took almost two months of troubleshooting to get it working. Things like incorrect firmware, thermistor going bad, low print quality, etc… The Extruder heads are not the most efficient but I am working on replacing both of them with E3D hotends. However, once I worked through the issues and switched to Simplify3D the print quality jumped up tremendously and I couldn’t be happier with it!

The Creatr is a great printer but I would not get it if you want “plug and play.” Requires a bit of knowledge of 3D printing to get everything working.

[3Dscaleworks]

So you see, all have differnt opinions. Plug and play does not excist because you have to know tour printer.

To work with simplfy3D software is very good and youl get the hang of it in a few months because every model you print will have tere own characteristics and you will become more experienced over time

The Leapfrog is good value for the money , i work with is one and an half year

[Armando_2]

I had a CREATR DUAL since April 2014. When arrived I was impressed by the construction, I started printing in very few hours. Unfortunately I had a big problem and they changed for free the complete printer, the replacement was not good as the first, it was clearly a refurbished one. I have also experienced problems with the fans of the extruders, it is difficult to perform maintenance since it is not engineered very well. It is noisy and only USB connected. On the other side I used to print some spare parts for a customer, it worked for many hours without a problem. Having an enclosure open to the top doesn’t help with the heated bed but it is possible to cover with little effort. It is not easy to set but with SIMPLIFY software you can have very good results, check some of what I did here:

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What I strongly suggest is to use good quality filaments, those received with the printer where not exactly top of the pop…with VOLTIVO ABS it works like a charm, I am also very happy when printing with NYLON. All in all a honest printer, probably you can find something better on the market. One of the selling point is the large working area, it helps a lot.

[kedongreenidge]

Based on the feedback I don’t think ill get it .Thanks Guys

[XLIIDesign]

Hi,

I’ve been using my creatr for a year now.

Reading the comment already posted i have little to add. I’ts a good machine but the leapfrog R&D can still do allot to improve. If you like to tinker with your printer than you can buy a creatr. If you have no mechanical skills maybe its not the printer for you. Can’t advice on what since i have no other experience.

As for the build size, yea its nice if you need it.

Personal i have good experience with the economy line filament of theirs, never had to try anything else.

Leapfrog support is good.

The guys and girls there really want to help you get your printer going again if anything go’s wrong.

My best advice is to really think about what you need and visit a trade show. Don’t believe the marketing wank they throw at you! Talk to the people that have used the printer and are printing the type of thing you want to print. (but i guess you’re already ding that)

[coho3d]

Hi, I am the current Mayor of 3D Hubs in Seattle. I love the Leapfrog line of printers. I have a creatr, and an HS on the way. Solid workmanship, Made of metal. VERY easy to calibrate and many great features. I am also a reseller of Leapfrog 3D Printers and I off a package that includes live unlimited video and training and support. Let me know if I can assist you in anything at all. Craig@coho3d.com

[Sas_Kroes]

Hi, I cannot comment on the Creatr, although I have heard very good stories about it,which was why I purchased a Creatr HS. I received the printer a few weeks ago and I must say I am very content with it. Standard settings are fine for some parts, which makes it very easy to use. For other parts they are not really sufficient and you really have to get into the Simplify3d settings to tune - it’s a trial and error process, but in the end my prints are high quality. My dad uses the printer in his school, he bought the Creatr as an education package and received a lesson plan with it, which supposedly is very clear and inspirational to the kids. I do recognize some of the overextrusion issues mentioned below: they are very good at dealing with it though, good support and new and better firmware and software keeps coming out. So far I am really happy with my choice. Funny thing: I thought the Creatr was just how a 3D printer was supposed to look since everything looks the same on the net, I just saw an Ultimaker (the normal one, not the mini one) and I thought it was just so overwhelmingly tiny hehe.

[hendrickahendri]

I own a Creatr single extruder and received my Creatr HS (for the dual head functionalities) early january. Where the Creatr defenetely had some startup issues, the HS is a well engineer piece of equipment competing with the other popular models out there because of its good price for dual extrusion and large print volume. I mean, it’s heavy and big, but this is a machine that will last for years to come in my workplace. With the Creatr I had to replace some bearing due to the axes being scewed (fast service), though the issues causing this was solved in the HS by applying some milling parts. really a second generation machine that is up for the future if you ask me.

[bendalf]

Hey,

I’m wondering what code you changed and which firmware version you have?
Also having some issues but when it prints, it prints very good.