I Finally Tamed the 3D Printing Robot and Now the Leapfrog Creatr HS Is My Friend

A few months ago， I wrote a about an interesting？blog by Kees Kamper， who had “tamed” the robot he had won from Dutch 3D printer manufacturer Leapfrog and started recounting the adventures he’d had with his Dual Creatr 3D printer throughout Amsterdam. While the Leapfrog Creatr Experience blog is still regularly updated， I had since forgotten about it. At least， until Saswitha de Kok， Leapfrog’s marketing and commercial director， came through on my request to test and review their new Creatr HS. After a few days at it， I can say that I finally tamed my robot， too， and now I am having a great time with it （unfortunately， it’s time to give it back）。

That， however， is the problem when you give a 3D printer to a journalist to review. We media people generally spend so much time writing about what everybody else does that we don’t really have time to do anything ourselves. So， although I’ve probably written about？ 3D printing software Simplify3D’s new features in the past， I had never actually used Simplify3D. I admit I know very little about advanced 3D printing settings and I need the process to be as automated as possible， while still making me feel like I am doing it all by myself.

So， the first times I printed with Simplify3D and the Creatr， I ran into a lot of problems that I had no idea how to fix. Fortunately， manufacturers generally know that journalists need some help and Saswitha asked one of Leapfrog’s technicians， Pim Rutgers， to follow me through the first steps. Since I was not at home at the time， we did the “training” through a three-way Skype call with Pim in the Netherlands， my friend and business partner Matteo at my house in Milan， and I in Sicily.

Fortunately， it was enough to give me the necessary jumpstart because， since I returned home， I have seriously put that robot to work and it has been my workhorse. My issues really were mainly a matter of calibrating the plate， importing the Leapfrog presets into the software， and following some extremely clear instructions， then Simplify3D finally lived up to its name. After a little playing around， setting up both single extruder and dual extruder prints was as simple as it gets. While Simplify3D is certainly a great tool， I still missed the ease of printing directly from a USB key. You can do this on a Leapfrog Creatr， but the functionalities of the on-board computer are very limited.

Compared to the delta-style 3D printer I recently tested， I also found the machine had some more difficulties in performing more geometrically complex ？builds. It probably would have helped if I had removed the second extruder when 3D printing with just one filament， but time is money and I just had to cruise through it. The top speed also was not as fast as I had imagined （could it ever be？）; however， the quality-to-speed ratio was very positive， meaning that speeding up the extruder made virtually no difference to the final quality of the prints. I did not get a chance to try soluble supports with the machine， but the set up process for double extrusion， once you find Simplify3D’s very clear instructions online， is very easy to follow， so I would assume the results are going to be at least equal to the dual-extrusion test-build of a Cone-shaped object that I performed.

One more thing to keep in mind is that， although I found the Creatr HS had some difficulties in printing thin， intricate geometries – like the vases I tried to design using Shapeshifter （because that is the highest level I can achieve in 3D modeling） – it was excellent at producing solid， smooth parts， which is what it is built for. This is a machine that should be in a factory or in a small rapid prototyping office. It has a solid metal case and a very sturdy feel. Nothing in the printer moves unless it has to， which means that it is very stable when printing. Once you have the settings right on the Creatr HS， it prints the same （or just about the same） way every time， without the user having to touch anything.

One other very convenient aspect about Leapfrog printers is that， although Leapfrog does offer its own line of Maxx-branded filament， all of its 3D printers work fine with any other filament as well. So， I got to try a few different PLAs， the woodfill Cinnamon from fillamentum， and a few of Dr3D’s ABS feedstocks， running into no issues at all. Actually， fillamentum’s materials， in particular， always print perfectly on any printer and they certainly did on the Creatr HS.

In the end， I have to say that I understand why some people are sometimes frightened when initially approaching Leapfrog 3D printers， while some of its competitors appear to be more immediately usable. However， setting up a Leapfrog Creatr HS is not that difficult and doing so can act as a great learning ground. Which， incidentally， is probably why Saswitha and the Leapfrog team have been targeting schools and education， in general， from the very beginning. Simplify3D does most of the printing work， but， in the end， you feel like you did it yourself， and that can give you a great sense of accomplishment. Not to mention， some very nice 3D printed objects.

自動(dòng)翻譯僅供參考

終于馴服3D打印機(jī)器人Leapfrog Creatr HS成為我的好伙伴

幾個(gè)月前，我寫(xiě)了一個(gè)有趣？博客由基斯Kamper，誰(shuí)曾“馴服”的機(jī)器人，他從荷蘭的3D打印機(jī)制造商越級(jí)贏了，開(kāi)始講述他就不得不在整個(gè)阿姆斯特丹他的雙Creatr 3D打印機(jī)的冒險(xiǎn)。雖然越級(jí)Creatr體驗(yàn)博客仍然是定期更新的，我就因?yàn)橥?。至少，直到Saswitha德角，越級(jí)的市場(chǎng)和商務(wù)總監(jiān)，我的要求來(lái)測(cè)試和審查其新Creatr HS都挺過(guò)來(lái)了。之后它幾天，我可以說(shuō)，我終于馴服我的機(jī)器人，也和現(xiàn)在我有一個(gè)偉大的時(shí)間（不幸的是，現(xiàn)在是時(shí)候給它回）。

然而，這就是問(wèn)題所在，當(dāng)你給一個(gè)3D打印機(jī)記者的審查。我們媒體人一般花那么多時(shí)間寫(xiě)別人都做，我們真的沒(méi)有時(shí)間做任何事情自己。所以，雖然我可能寫(xiě)？ 3D打印軟件Simplify3D在過(guò)去的新功能，我從來(lái)沒(méi)有實(shí)際使用Simplify3D。我承認(rèn)我不是很了解先進(jìn)的3D打印設(shè)置和我需要的過(guò)程中要盡可能地自動(dòng)化，同時(shí)仍讓我覺(jué)得我做的這一切由我自己。

所以，我印有Simplify3D和Creatr的第一次，我遇到了很多，我不知道如何解決問(wèn)題。幸運(yùn)的是，制造商一般都知道記者需要一些幫助和Saswitha問(wèn)了一句越級(jí)的技術(shù)人員，皮姆羅格斯，通過(guò)第一步驟跟著我。因?yàn)槲也辉诩业臅r(shí)候，我們做的“培訓(xùn)”，通過(guò)三方通話(huà)的Skype與皮姆在荷蘭，在西西里我的朋友和商業(yè)伙伴利瑪竇在我的房子在米蘭，和我。

幸運(yùn)的是，這已經(jīng)足夠給我必要的JumpStart，因?yàn)樽詮奈一氐郊依?，我都認(rèn)真地把那個(gè)機(jī)器人的工作，這一直是我的主力。我的問(wèn)題真的是主要校準(zhǔn)板，導(dǎo)入越級(jí)預(yù)置到軟件，并遵循一些非常明確的指示，然后Simplify3D終于沒(méi)有辜負(fù)它的名字的問(wèn)題。過(guò)了一小打轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)，當(dāng)設(shè)定了單螺桿擠出機(jī)和雙擠出機(jī)打印是因?yàn)樗玫揭粯雍?jiǎn)單。雖然Simplify3D無(wú)疑是一個(gè)偉大的工具，我還是錯(cuò)過(guò)了方便直接從U盤(pán)打印的。你可以做到這一點(diǎn)的跨越式Creatr，但機(jī)載計(jì)算機(jī)的功能是非常有限的。

相對(duì)于增量式3D打印機(jī)我最近測(cè)試了，我還發(fā)現(xiàn)該機(jī)已經(jīng)在執(zhí)行更復(fù)雜幾何一些困難？構(gòu)建。它可能會(huì)幫助，如果我已經(jīng)刪除了第二臺(tái)擠出機(jī)時(shí)，3D打印，只需一根細(xì)絲，但時(shí)間就是金錢(qián)，我不得不游船穿過(guò)它。最高時(shí)速也沒(méi)有那么快，因?yàn)槲蚁胂蟮模赡芩?jīng)是？）;然而，該質(zhì)量對(duì)速度比是非常積極的，這意味著加快擠出制成幾乎沒(méi)有差別的打印的最終質(zhì)量。我沒(méi)有得到一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)去嘗試可溶性支架用機(jī)，但雙擠壓設(shè)置過(guò)程，一旦你找到Simplify3D的非常明確的指示聯(lián)機(jī)狀態(tài)，很容易執(zhí)行，所以我會(huì)假設(shè)結(jié)果將是至少等于雙擠出測(cè)試建造我執(zhí)行的錐形物體。

還有一件事要記住的是，雖然我發(fā)現(xiàn)Creatr HS在印刷薄的，復(fù)雜的幾何形狀有一些困難 - 就像我試圖用變形者設(shè)計(jì)的花瓶（因?yàn)檫@是我可以在3D建模達(dá)到最高級(jí)別） - 它是優(yōu)秀的，在生產(chǎn)固體，光滑的部分，這是它是專(zhuān)為。這是一個(gè)機(jī)器應(yīng)該是在工廠或在小的快速原型辦公室那個(gè)。它有一個(gè)堅(jiān)實(shí)的金屬外殼和一個(gè)非常堅(jiān)固的感覺(jué)。在打印機(jī)沒(méi)有移動(dòng)，除非它必須的，這意味著打印時(shí)，這是很穩(wěn)定的。一旦你有正確的Creatr HS的設(shè)置，它相同（或幾乎相同）的方式，每次打印，而不必碰任何東西的用戶(hù)。

另外一個(gè)跨越式打印機(jī)非常方便的方面是，盡管越級(jí)確實(shí)提供了自己的行Maxx的品牌長(zhǎng)絲，其所有的3D打印機(jī)正常工作與其他纖維為好。于是，我開(kāi)始嘗試一些不同的PLA，在woodfill肉桂從fillamentum，和幾個(gè)Dr3D的ABS原料，遇到了任何問(wèn)題都沒(méi)有。其實(shí)，fillamentum的材料，特別是，總是完美打印在任何打印機(jī)上，他們肯定沒(méi)有在Creatr HS。

最后，我不得不說(shuō)，我明白了為什么有些人有時(shí)會(huì)害怕的時(shí)候開(kāi)始接近越級(jí)3D打印機(jī)，而它的一些競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手顯得更立即可用。然而，建立一個(gè)跨越式Creatr HS并不難而且這樣做可以作為一個(gè)很好的學(xué)習(xí)地。其中，順便說(shuō)一句，大概就是為什么Saswitha和跨越式團(tuán)隊(duì)已經(jīng)瞄準(zhǔn)了學(xué)校和教育，在一般情況下，從一開(kāi)始。 Simplify3D做了大部分的印刷工作，但在最后，你覺(jué)得你自己做到了，并且可以給你成就一個(gè)偉大的感覺(jué)。更何況，一些非常不錯(cuò)的3D打印對(duì)象。