Originally Posted by
Bakamoichigei
As best as I can figure, a lot of it has to do with design and production considerations they made. Such as the choice of using inexpensive geared steppers with custom gears... (As detailed in one of the updates) They're quick and accurate, but I guess maybe it required them to make the end effector as light as possible? To that end, they've got a titanium nozzle which is light and dissipates heat so well that it doesn't really need much in the way of a heatsink or a heat break or anything-- there isn't even a fan on the hotend, it's passively cooled! --further reducing weight, as well as component count and assembly costs. Then there's the fact that the linear rails are molded into the unibody frame, which also saves costs in basically every aspect of production. (Parts, tooling, assembly...) It seems they put a lot of thought into how to get the costs as low as possible so they could offer it at that price. But yeah, only time will really tell.