From concept to product OEM Design Services
In addition to designing our own in house products, Manticore Arms designs products for many firearms industry companies such as SB Tactical, CZ USA, Brownells, and Wraithworks. If you are a firearms industry company looking for product design experience and expertise please reach out to us and we can design and even help set up manufacturing for your product. We are always happy to look at new product ideas and see if we can help you bring them to market.
Ideation
Most ideas start late at night with a “how can we make this better for this firearm” question, or by a customer coming to us with an idea for a new product. Hand sketches and a written list of goals are initially made to help refine the initial conceptual idea and work out the core of what the product is to accomplish. Parts are often sketched on tracing paper over a photo of the firearm to understand the visual relation and appearance of the new part.
Design
Once the concept is defined, hand sketches and notes are translated into a 3D model in the computer. A design will go through many iterations in the computer, with as many as a dozen variations being generated until the one that fits the best blend of function, aesthetics, and value is discovered. 3D files can be rendered to get a realistic feel of what the product will look like. This design is further refined into its final form, often with one or several iterations of physical prototypes, and then further refinements to ergonomics and fit are made.
Production
Once the final design has been settled on blueprints are generated along with any other production documentation, often including assembly diagrams and hardware lists for internal or OEM use, and instruction sheets are created for consumer use. Production is coordinated, tooling created as necessary, and parts go into the production que. Manufactured parts are inspected, assembled, and tested as required, and finally after all that the parts are available for the consumer to purchase.