Hi John, I had some issues in the beginning, but that was just because the Creatr HS was my very first printer. Also the software has greatly improoved over the last half year, the temperature is kept accuratly and the standalone works flawless.
The e3d chimera modification requires either an precise metal printhead (has to be milled for an estimated cost of 100€+) alternatively you can 3d print it, but if you get such a high quality printer and use a 3d printed modification,you will risk quality, consistency and reliability.
You will also need to upload a new firmware version, which has to include a different kind of temperature sensor and the maximum temperature of 300C instead of 275C. The firmware can be updated just as if you would print something from an USB stick in standalone, which is fairly easy.
The Creatr HS starter kit includes filament (I would prefer Colorfabb PLA/PHA over leapfrog PLA, but the leapfrog ABS is decent), printstickers and Simplify3d. The print stickers are terrible to remove and i don’t use them anymore. Instead glue stick gives much better results. You might want to check BuildTak over the leapfrog print stickers.
Also take a look at the documentation, that leapfrog provides for their filament, this documentation is basically non-exsistant.
If you want to buy their translucent “Hybrid material”, you get the following information:
“The LeapFrog MAXX Exotic Hybrid Transparent Filament is a 1.75mm filament and can be used for the Creatr, Creatr HS, Creatr XL and Xeed.”
Leapfrog doesn’t even tell you the printing temperature, which is ridicolous !
I had some bed leveling issues and cloggs with PVA. Once I got the printbed leveled (with Simplify3d and adjusting during printing), the bed was perfect and I don’t have to adjust it anymore.
The cloggs were due to unstable temperature, which was solved with the latest software.
Also wood composites will clogg your hotend. Flexible materials are barely printable, but there’s a bowden tube modification, that makes flexible printing easier.
You have to play around a lot in Simplify3d to get perfect prints, but I’m sure, you’ll get great results very quickly, as you already have the experience from 3 printers.
Cheers,
Marius Breuer
