Although 3D printing is still incipient and not widespread, its development is advancing by giant steps, on the one hand its expansion is increasing every day and on the other the technological development of 3D printers is increasing. Within this last aspect, it stands out Theta, a printer that does not use traditional coordinates but uses polar coordinates and that also has up to 4 extruders with which you can print objects of up to 4 different materials.
Theta operation
Simply introducing four extruders like this would not only consume a lot of power for the printer, but the printing of each part would slow down enormously. This has been solved thanks to the use of polar coordinates. On the one hand, the dish where «the warm bed»Has movement, is what is known as Theta coordinate (hence the name of the printer) and an R coordinate that is materialized thanks to an oscillating arm. These types of coordinates make printing faster since not only the extruders move but also the printing base.
How much does a Theta printer cost?
The good thing about all this is that the project of this printer is framed in the RepRap project, a free 3D printing project, or what is the same, a Theta printer can be built at home without having to pay anything. On la web From the project you will find not only the firmware necessary to make it work, but also the designs of the parts, the shopping list, etc…. Here is a complete guide to assemble it at home. In addition, in the RepRap forum we can find printed parts for this printer, so we will not need to have a 3D printer beforehand.
Of course, the cost of this printer will not have the same price as a normal 3D printer, since Theta has 4 extruders and this will make the printer quite expensive, but if until recently many printers cost up to 4 times the current price of a printer 3D, What obstacle is it to have a theta printer?