ShotShow impressions on SystemA's upcoming Revolution gearbox

[MadMax]

*reposted from Airsoft Mechanics where I also visit*

Wallace and Kumi were happy to show me their upcoming Revolution gearbox. I was asked not to spill the beans before they made proper press releases through various means. A lot has already been said and man their released studio shots are a lot nicer than what I could take at the show so I've not got much new to say. Still, I got to handle the parts directly and see what they were up to.

SchAWinggg!

Overall a very interesting gearbox. SystemA is using a similar piston to their PTW line of AEGs if not exactly the same one. I can't recall how many teeth the PTWs have, but if you've got one open take a look.

Anyhow, SystemA is using very similar avionics to their PTW. Looking through the sector to detect sector gear orientation to execute counted burst and semi. One thing I do like is that their FET board is very well heatsunk to a heavy strip of aluminum which is closely clamped to cast aluminum gearbox. Chuck in a bit of heat transfer goo and their Revolution gearboxes could have better heatsinking than their PTWs.

The gears look to be nicely milled. On closer inspection, the teeth look to have nice involute profiles, but without magnification and proper gauging saying much more would be uninformed hand waving. I forgot my hardness tester at home (dammit left it in the other jacket) so I couldn't measure hardness. Gear flanks were smooth though.

It looks like they've planned to accurately engage the motor bushing instead of letting it rattle around in loose fashion. The grooved motor hole makes me think that they've got a shoulder ring machined into the bearing motor bushing so when the gearbox is closed, it registers the bushing radially and axially. I suspect that the motor will directly mount to this gearbox instead of through a removable plastic grip a la TM.

Overall, the gearbox looks to be a very nice aluminum casting. No heavy flash and the sides close up nice and coplanar.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by MadMax

I forgot my hardness tester at home (dammit left it in the other jacket) so I couldn't measure hardness. Gear flanks were smooth though.

It's ok, everyone always forgets their hardness testers once in a while.

I cant wait to be able to buy one!

[Krookedatmosphere]

make in line to buy too

its a cheap man's PTW

[BloodSport]

Carl, did they give any impressions as to what the starting prices on these will be?

[MadMax]

Nope. Can't be cheap though. Their full up standard mechboxes already retail around $300 with motor. I would hazard a guess at around $350-$450 for a Revo box which would come with all mechanical components, motor, and electricals. Not bad if you were to tally up the prices of the bits separately though. The PTW optics board alone is $150+ and the switchboard about the same.

They've priced themselves into a bit of a corner with the Revo box. At the bottom is their prebuilt stock box and motor kits costing between $250-$300. At the top is a built MP5 PTW at around $850 with metal body sexyness and all of the internals. I can't see a reasonable price between the two without costing close to the cost of a built standard box. They would have to lower the price on their standard boxes to make space for the Revo which comes with no gun body parts.

The nice thing about superior design is that sometimes the parts don't cost all that much more to make, but you generate a more valuable product. It means it makes your worse designed stuff look dumb at the same price though. I have a feeling that their costs in electronics is not that high (even though they charge such a high price on spare parts) so they can offer deep discounts for buying assemblies.

You can tell I'm stoked about the Revo gearbox. I was going to spring for PTW MP5, but I'd rather upgrade a CA which uses low cost mags and isn't crippled by a bad hop up design. I'd miss having such a well built metal exterior, but the CA is pretty not bad at least and I can do stuff like use a sliding stock with a real battery pack up front.

[Blackspeed416]

I'm at the front of the line on this one.

[mcguyver]

At a minimum, Systema is going to have to have 2 versions of these mechbox, one front wired, and one rear wired. Anyone notice that they don't show any battery-to-mechbox or motor wiring? Then, if all you need to do is add your own selector (M4, G3, MP5), then your set. Or, they would have to maintain a front and rear wired box for each of the M4, G3 or MP5. That will only drive the base cost up, as inventory will have to be met for all of these.

A modular system where you supply your own selector would make things cheaper for the consumer. Anyone notice that the selector switches look alot like the PTW? This sort of precludes an off-the-shelf selector, and mores prorietary more likely.

I'm going to hazard a guess that this will be in the $600-$800 range in Canada.

[Firewalker]

I know what my M4 is going to be made with now, lol... I was saving up to get a systema complete gearbox, but since this is going to be released so soon, I'm gonna go with the Revo. I'd rather drop a good bit of cash on higher quality than have to upgrade a systema gearbox.

Any notes on springs being used? That is, what kind of fps are we looking at for the output of these suckers? Will they be over the useable limits on fields?

And.... The lack of tappet plate intrigues the living shit out of me

[Bontic]

Here is a detailed explanation of how the tappet-less nozzle works.

http://www.z-shot.com/Rev_FAQ.asp