Vowel dropping was hotly discussed in our office when I suggested the prsnlz.me name for our sexy new site. I won in the end and the abomination to the English language that is our URL was born. The LeapFrog crew over in the Netherlands have gone the same way with www.lpfrg.com and printer 'Creatr' and 'Xeed'. Nice.
But enough of that, what about the hardware? Well, the two models (technically four models if you consider the dual-extrusion versions of each) are fundamentaly different — a qucik look at the attached slideshow will show that. The Creatr's open housing and commensurate €1250 price tag point it firmly at the beginner, though the company goes on to claim that:
"The Creatr is a real game changer for entry-level 3D printers. Look no further if you are looking for an easy to use, fully assembled machine. The laser-cut aluminum parts are all of high quality, and so are the printed products."
So they're pitching this on quality, not cost — just as well as you can pick up a Solidoodle for roughly a third of the price of this little LeapFrog. The construction appears solid with a nice aluminium frame.
With the Xeed LeapFrog make some eyebrow raising claims — the first of which is the opening sentence of the description: "At half the price of the competition we provide a revolutionary machine." Half the price of the competition? At almost €5000 for the single-extrusion version, it's no where near half the price of, say, Stratasys' Mojo. It's maybe half the price of a uPrint or DesignJet 3D (model depending on your location) — it would be interesting to get them side by side for a comparison...*makes note in Wunderlist*
The professional look of the website and the machines themselves can be attributed to the fact that LeapFrog is owned by Flexologic B.V, a well established 2D printing company — which explains why the LeapFrog machines were on show at DRUPA, the world's largest printing show (for those of a flat persuassion). Could this backing be what the printers need to succeed? The tie up with Stratasys and HP over the marketing of the uPrint seemingly failed to show spectacular results — 3D printing and 2D printing may share the name, but there's a reason 3D printing is also called additive manufacturing! The business models are converging between 3D and 2D, but they're still too far apart to be clubbed together.
Vital Stats: 1) Creatr
Outer Dimensions: 400 x 600 x 500 mm
Build Size: 300 x 250 x 260 mm
Max. Print Volume: 19.5 Liter
Positioning accuracy: 0.05 mm
Min. Layer thickness: 0.2 mm
Electrical Connection: 100-240 V
Material types: ABS, PLA, PVA
Standard size extruder: 0.35 mm
Speed X and Y axis: up to 0.35 m/s
Extrusion speed: 200 mm/min
Vital Stats: 2) Xeed
Outer Dimensions: 800 x 600 x 500 mm
Build Size: 370 x 340 x 290 mm
Max. Print Volume: 36.5 liters
Positioning accuracy: 0.012 mm
Min. Layer thickness: 0.1 mm
Electrical Connection: 110-240 V
Material types: ABS, PLA, PVA
Standard size extruder: 0.2 mm
Speed X and Y axis: up to 1 m/s
Extrusion speed: 200 mm/min
