SRU Bullpup SCAR

[renegadecow]

They're speculating what the final material might be based on the price quote by SRU since they won't say what it is.

[QQexDERA]

I have no clue what the cost of a mold is.

 

Anyway, another advantage I see to 3D printing is that you dont risk making a huge investment in something that doesn't sell that well.

 

Let's say the 3D design costs 10.000. That is going to be the same for 3D as well as for the mold. Now, if the mold does indeed cost 50.000 and you end up selling only 10 pieces, then the cost of the 3D run is 10.000/10 + material used, but the molded version has a cost of 60.000/10 + material. And that is without factoring in the cost of actually making the mold.

 

3D printing on the other hand would allow a company to make a small test run, see how it sells and make more as orders come in.

You're missing one important factor. Most 3D printing processes that use plastics give you an end product that has nowhere near the strength of an injection moulded component made of the same material. We're not talking small numbers either. A 3D printed plastic component typically only has 30-40% of the strength of an injection moulded component. Then there's other issues, such as layer separation, that you have to contend with. 

 

The cost of die-sinking has dropped substantially as well thanks to advances in technology.

[blobface]

Provided they have easy access to 3D printing facility, for such a low batch / "high risk" product, 3D printing isn't that bad an idea, especially if they're selling it themselves as opposed to through distributors who would want stock. Instead of using conventional plastic, they could get away with using certain spec of nylon through the SLS process, so they'd be almost operating in the Shapeways model, where they batch print, let's say 10 to have it lying around, once it's looking like it'd be sold out, they can then print 10 more, 50 more if the demand is there, there'd be a lot less initial capital needed for a batch / mass production investment in moulds etc. I also don't think the company is out to make loads of money, seems more like a creative outlet for the people behind it all than anything else judging by what they produce, so 3D printing is less risky, could be sustainable even at a lower return in the best case scenario.. 

[hitmanNo2]

Whilst I have no experience in 3D printing, I have read/watched quite a bit about it.  From what I gather, printing something so big would take a few days wouldn't it?

[blobface]

It highly depends on the machine, SLS is generally faster (but the machines are not affordable, and too huge for your average hobbyist). Hobbyist machines that we buy are incredibly slow, I have a Makerbot Replicator 2, if I were to try to print this thing at high enough density, it'd likely take just under two days from gut feeling (also in more parts than you'd like as the bed isn't big enough), my understanding is that those type of printers can only go so fast, after all it's basically a glue gun moving in two axis. SLS however works by having layers of powder that is melted / bonded together by a laser. They mentioned they're using 3D weaving, but I'm not sure how that's relevant as Google showed results that doesn't look applicable to this product... unless you like the cellular structure which the prototype doesn't seem to have. 

 

Also, the image they showed where they've overlayed 3D weaving text over, shows the nozzle of a laser welder... that has nothing to do with weaving or printing.. I think they thought it looks kinda cool and technical so they just put it in. 

[hitmanNo2]

I was going to say that was a random pic to use.

[chas]

Could it be that the laser is used to smoothen the surface right after  a portion has been printed?

[NeoVeNoM]

I have had a few parts built with 3D printing and regarding costs, forget it. Given the size, each part would cost too much to begin with.

 

3D printing is a "cheap" solution if you want to test your parts. Before that, pre-production molds had to be made for a few test parts.

An afterwards if needed molds had to be remade for adjusted parts, basically resetting your preproduction.

 

The down side in 3D printing is the time and material cost for production, also still not on par with strength.

The plus? very versatile, shapes and materials are almost endless, modifications to a 3D generated model can be done fast.

 

A mold is simple, very user friendly and cost effective when in use.

The neg? one possible shape. depending on the mold, certain materials cannot be used.

[renegadecow]

Maybe the core is a 3D woven nylon structure to make up most of the volume then mated to a printed outer layer?

[paranoiddroid]

A mold for a single sprue gw model is around 15k gbp is I remember rightly. So it could be bloody expensive to mould it.

 

Small batch casting could be viable.

[kenxin]

There's nothing wrong with 3d printing, however production grade items shouldn't be made with filament printers.

 

Filament printers are very finnicky things and have serious consistency issues regarding tolerances.
Also the surface of a filament printed item is definitely not nice. I'm using SLS printing to get my 3d printed stuff on and even that isn't as nice as an ABS cast.

The kits on their pictures are most likely filament printed and then sanded/polished until the surface looks more or less like an abs cast.

I'm pretty sure these are not SLS printed, the surface feel is all wrong, and SLS printing kits this huge would cost a fortune.
As for their 3d weaving thing, as far as I understand it's just metal 3d printing they're testing on the rails, and it looks awful.

 

The only other possibility I can think of is liquid printers, they tend to produce results similar to an abs cast (a lot more so than filament printers) and are a LOT faster.
However I don't know of any printer of that kind with a tray big enough to create kits like this.

I'll still get the glock kit though, that thing is hot.

EDIT:
Nevermind, Stratasys has industrial sized Polyjet printers. My money is on that.

[thatguy404]

SRU have said 120usd for the scar kit, and 97usd for the glock kit.

[renegadecow]

That's almost no excuse getting the Glock kit then. And I don't like Glocks.

[Cire_]

Pretty good price point really. I think i'l get the glock before scar. 

[machgo]

Yeah that Ultralight one looks more 'Tactical', I can't help but think this whole thing looks a bit tacky and cheap.

 

Agreed. To me it looks cheap because of the color though.  The black one on their Facebook page looks much better.

 

 

 

 

[Habakure]

That does look good but it also looks slightly varnished. Could be to do with it being the final version, fingers crossed.

[Vortix]

I get that it's a conversion kit, but nobody is going to address the horrible placement of the fire selector?

[Habakure]

Looks similar (not the same but similar), to the SA80/L85 placement. No worries for me.

[LordElpus]

I get that it's a conversion kit, but nobody is going to address the horrible placement of the fire selector?

More or less the same place as on the L85 and type 97

[TheFull9]

Difference is, you can much more easily switch from safe to semi on the L85.

 

What would've been better on the kit is an L85 style cross-block safety up where the trigger is, enabling you to leave the original selector on semi and switch much more quickly and easily using your trigger finger.  Very simple mechanism to implement.

[Cire_]

I never really needed to change my fire mode in 0,5 sec when i play so fire selector won't be a issue for me. 

[Habakure]

I'm a semi all the time kind of guy.

 

Ah hum.

[Alias1983]

Auto with gim is a waste, also only special ppl get auto anyway

[DarkLite]

So SRU posted a load more pictures on their facebook which show a major join seam in the middle of the chassis. Given this plus the obvious print layering, it's certain that they are using FDM 3D printing.

 

Problem is that FDM structures are less accurate and weaker than SLS 3D printing, though it costs a lot less.

 

You can get around the strength issue with good design, but the scar kit has a LOT of sharp angles and corners which will amplify stress and pretty much guarantee that it will eventually fail.

[Greenmeance]

Anyone know if the Scar H version of this is actually happening?