Xoon

I was simply making sure that people understood that he had mental illnesses, apart from being trans. I don't really care about whether or not it is a mental illness, not really worth discussing with left wing fanatics (Note: Not calling you a left wing fanatic). They are only 0,1% of the population, I have better things to worry about.

A mentally ill (not referring to being transsexual) trans-woman. Nothing out of the ordinary here, statistically speaking.

Slapping a mill bit on a industrial robot? Hmm, thats too bad.

I am not trying to dispute that 3D printers are slow, I am just brainstorming. In theory, you could mill your handguard in 5 seconds if you wanted.

How long does it take to mill the rest?

Good point. Though, it made me think, what about 3D printed aluminum? You could accomplish new types of geometry with it. Crazy shapes like these which are pretty much impossible to cast and very expensive to machine: Another thing would be carbon fiber construction.

Coming back to this, wouldn't it be possible to monitor the temperature of the mold and keep it heated at a constant temperature? Can't simple thicker plastic be used to make it more rigid? I was more thinking of low volume runs or something like that. 3D printing has come a long way, I remember a 3D printer that uses light to harden a resin into a shape, which is then cured, this avoids the layered approach which makes the plastic much stronger. I like hex keys, probably because every fastener in my workplace is either hex key or a bolt. Though, I think the torx is superior, except in price. You could make it a little thicker than needed, and smooth out the welds, to remove the weld mark. Wouldn't stir welding accomplish this? The rifle is looking nice.

Ah, I see. Why not use a hex key? Easy to manufacture, works with power tools with no problems, and easy to store in the rifle. In case of a total loss of hex keys, just raid a local IKEA for a century's worth of hex keys. 3D printing could work. But is there no plastic handguards?

Now I know why all modern rifles use slots instead of holes. Out of curiosity, how is the handguard mounted to the rest of the gun? Just two fasteners? Why not have one on the top and one on the bottom instead of two at the bottom? Or have the handguard slide in on the rest of the gun, and secure it with one fastener? And what type of fastener do you use? Hex key?

That's good. Since the handguard is made by extruding the aluminum, have you considered making it a circular instead of hexagonal to improve its strength and reduce the material usage? Also, instead of using ovals to perforate the handguard, I think a 60 degree staggered formation of circular holes would improve the strength again. Something like this: Please correct me if I am wrong

Good point, I guess no-one has had problems with aluminum?

Why not thicken the plastic?

CNC milling? Why not plastic?

ok. I am deeply sorry for offending you, your highness. I have a curious question. How is trigger guards manufactured? Bending a square rod? Bending a wire/rod? Stamped? Milled? Molded plastic guard? Thank you for telling me, I did not know this.

Considered bullpup design?

Quality issues with the welds?

I see, you have taken a lot into consideration. One thing I think you should keep in mind later, is to make the rifle winter/arctic friendly, bigger trigger guard or the ability to flip it away or remove it. Any cast part can be skeletonized for weight savings i think too. No styling, basically, not this: Oh and, If you want some advice on making parts more automation/mass production friendly, just ask.

You have a point, but I think I was a bit unclear. I meant making the rifle more abuse proof that normal, not sincerely more reliable. For example stronger charging handle, as the HK416s is easy to break with too much force, thicker frame which does not bend or get dented that easily. Soldiers do the weirdest things with their rifle, including using them as chairs, hammers and spears. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions by the way.

That's nice. Are you going for a light rifle, sturdy or is it still up in the air? Just to give a example of two rifles that fall in each category: AG-3, Norwegian produced modified G-3, very rugged rifle which can take a beating and be abused a lot, often joked about being used as a hammer. HK-416, new service rifle and very light and ergonomic, though has a few complaints from soldiers transitioning from the AG-3 about it being too flimsy and easy to break.

Out of curiosity, what is your target group for this rifle? Military, sport, hunting, fun and/or you?

Having the plates parallel to each other causes a slight yawing in the projectile into the plate, effectively reducing the sloping of the main plate. This is why they found reverse sloped spaced armor to be the most effective, it is however, not very space efficient (see my prototype frontal armor. A side question to the OP, what type of projectile does the enemies of the Cascadia use? Mainly APCR like Cascaida? Also, aluminum/steel spaced armor:

Out of curiosity, wouldn't the spaced armor on the hull cause APC rounds that do not shatter to have increased penetration?

Trying out spaced armor:

I am sorry, I guess I was a bit vague. I think I meant block diagram, something like this: Also, since I have had some free time (and gave up 3 hours of sleep) I began designing the P2239, kodename "Badekar": Mock up: Prototype rolled frontal armor: Prototype cast frontal armor: I am probably going to test other armor solutions, need to find some decent spaced/composite armor that fit the timeframe.

Could you make a flowchart showing the how the PIDs would work? Thyristors? Anyways, electronic PIDs were readily available by the 1950s in the cheap. Pneumatic PIDs were favored simply for their ability to actuate valves and such without a needing extra equipment. Also, as a side question, could I theoretically make a my own autoloader design for my AFV? Or FCS?