Bart Dring’s Polar Coaster Version 2 Is Even Better Than the Original

In August of 2017, inventor extraordinaire Bart Dring caught our attention with his Polar Coaster. It was a tiny 3D-printed CNC pen plotter designed for drawing designs onto common round beverage coasters. The Polar Coaster was the perfect combination of clever design and a fun purpose, and now Dring is back with a new and improved version!

The Polar Coaster Version 2 is also 3D-printed and operates in a similar manner as the first: the coaster rests on a rotating platter turned by a stepper motor, and a pen is attached on a stepper-actuated horizontal arm. Those two axes work in unison to plot a design onto the coaster, and the pen is lifted up and down with a servo mechanism. But, the similarities end there, and the new version offers a number of improvements.

The most noticeable visual changes are mechanical. The original 34mm deep NEMA 14 steppers motors were way more powerful than necessary, and have been replaced with more compact 20mm deep NEMA 14 motors. The rotating platter has been switched from a belt-drive to a gear-drive, which reduces the cost and complexity of the build. The platter even uses a revised bearing design that makes it more stable and spins more smoothly.

All of the Polar Coaster’s electronics have been completely revamped as well. The original used a Grbl HAT controller, but the new version uses an ESP32 with Grbl_ESP32 firmware. The new control board hosts its own web interface, which can be used for controlling the Polar Coaster and for sending G-code for the plots (which can also be loaded from an SD card). Dring hopes to eventually add support for sending images and SVGs directly, too

The Polar Coaster Version 2 is more affordable than the original design, but it’s also better in every way.