How much does one of those things cost in dollars? ~$10,000? $20,000?
Prusa MK3S+ kit is $800, but this could probably be done on a $200 printer. Not sure how much was spent on the 4th axis, but it uses a regular cheapo stepper for a motor, so I can't imagine it was very much. Like $50 or less maybe?
Yeah, 3D printers are cheap these days. The printer I currently use cost me a grand total of $82 on walmart.com through a sale. I have also added some upgrades like frame braces, an x-axis tensioner, magnetic bed, better lead screw coupling, and dual gear extruder (all purchased relatively cheap on aliexpress), but it honestly printed decent out of the box. I also changed the software on it to Marlin, which costs nothing because it's all open source. Here are some pics of stuff I've printed to give an idea of quality: https://imgur.com/a/wXgfTSf
That's not too bad for less than $150 worth of printer.
It's not breaking news that tech like 3D printers gets vastly cheaper over time but it still blows my mind.
