A giant Leapfrog pushes the boundaries of imagination

A Dutch Leapfrog was one of the most liked ow-budget 3D printers. It boomed in the second half of 2013. In the second half of 2014 the enthusiasm disappeared. It doesn’t mean, that the company is closed down. Just in contrary, Leapfrog is still popular in Western Europe and is trying to broaden its portfolio.

Several days ago, the Dutch presented their newest device. Thanks to its dimension, it will be on top of large-size FDM 3D printers. Leapfrog XceL has a giant working area – 0,5 x 0,5 x 2,3 m, what gives a volume of 610 l! The machine has also impressive dimensions – a casing is about 1 x 1 x 3 m.

Thus far, a 3D printer, which has the biggest working area, has been a Dutch Builder Extreme 2000. It makes possible to print objects which are max.  82 x 78 x 190 cm. Leapfrog XceL is smaller in XY axis, however in Z, it is 40 cm higher. It is similar to the Z axis of popular MakerBot Z18, which is also a quite huge machine, when you consider FDM standards.

Leapfrog XceL prints only from PLA, what is understandable, when you want to have such big objects. It has two printing heads (max. temperature: 270°C), heated working bed (max. temperature: 80°C) and enclosed, but not heated working chamber. The software can be accessed via WiFi on your phone, tablet and PC.

The producer increased the software, to manage with two printing heads. What’s important, Perfect Level – a system of automatic calibration of  the working bed was implemented to the 3D printer, because of the huge working area. The next convenience is a function of automatic loading of filaments, combined with filament detection, which gives the dual extruder 3D printing the brains to know when to stop printing, giving you the time to swap filament.

Technical specification

• working area: 53 x 50 x 230 cm (1 printing head) or 51 x 50 x 230 cm (2 printing heads)
• diameter of the printing heads: 0,35 – 1,2 mm
• material: PLA
• diameter of filament 1,75 mm
• heated bed made of composite of granite
• automatic calibration of working bed
• enclosed working chamber
• WiFi.

An official price of the device is unknown.

Finally, you can ask, what interesting you can print from PLA with such a big 3D printer? Looking at the pictures presented by Leapfrog – eccentrically high vases, plastic lampshades or chairs (what makes XceL a serious rival for German The Big Rep One). The fact is, that Leapfrog XceL is number one in printing big vases…

Source: www.lpfrg.com