Tour of the AREX Defense Factory in Slovenia
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
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During my visit to Slovenia, I had a chance to tour the AREX Defense factory in Šentjernej. I came away really impressed by the quality and the breadth of operations that the factory performs in-house. They have only been making their own handgun designs for about 5 years, but they have been a subcontractor making parts for other big-name companies (like FN) for decades.
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Amazing video!
I have been to this factory hundred times already but the way you articulate and explain complex manufacturing processes just makes it very enjoyable to watch :D
"Suddenly, wild Ziga appears..."
@@Taistelukalkkuna
*Žiga
They make their own tooling? Wow, I'm very impressed. The fact they do their own poloymer parts is impressive enough but to make the moulds and the stamping dies is quite impressive and the amount of top line gear is amazing, this is about as modern as a firearms factory gets.
Very interesting as I've never seen anything from this factory before.
Beeing very close to the Glock factory in Austria I would expect one or another former Glock employee works there and they oriented their manufactoring processes on it.
I have one of their Delta M pistols, and it's my favourite of my carry guns. Optics-ready and it'll fit G19 and CZ P10 holsters for
The state Slovenia has invested a lot of money in the Factory ...
Indeed! This is how it´s done properly. Impressive!!!!
Mold and die-making is about as high-end as machining gets. The amount of precision you need to maintain and the understanding of the downstream process is truly absurd.
I'm a machinist and a pretty good one. I can take a napkin drawing of a simple small part, hop on one of our CNC machines, and have something made in under an hour. Moldmaking is next level.
The subtle background Ziga adds a layer of hilarity to this completely serious, very educational video, without detracting from the core content or inducing cringe, like some gun-tubers. Well done.
what's a background Ziga?
@@linusdn2777 Žiga Polajnar
CEO at Polenar Tactical. Can be seen in the begining.
@@happyundertaker6255 Yeah, typing Slavic words in Latinate script is disgusting as it is, I can't be bothered to fuck around with diacritics input for a throwaway YT comment. Пиши кирилицей.
The dude scooting around the shop like a bad extra in a cheap film. Lol . Stiff arm Sidesteps off screen in the first inside shot. Yes it is entertaining but not distracting Ina damaging way .
The Ziga 'penguin walk' (...exit stage right) at the beginning was quite amusing, and _very_ Ziga.
The AREX factory reminds me about people like to knock Ruger for its Fuddy tendencies (however fair), but they are one of the few firearm manufacturers that have the ability to do ALL processes in-house, from their own foundry/heat-treating/tool & die manufacturing to finished machining, as well as the sub-contracting that they also do for MANY other firearms companies, and precision parts for other industries.
I think Ian himself once described Ruger as an investment casting company that has a firearms division.
Ruger is really respected in the US gun industry for that reason. They have very very competent material engineers
Fortunately, Ruger has improved since Bill Ruger died. They are actually introducing some interesting new products lately like the Ruger PCC, 57 pistol and their new carbine in the same caliber.
I have no qualms about Ruger's quality...but I'm still gonna grouse about the veritable billboard roll-stamped on the side of the barrel of my mkIII.
It's obnoxious enough I'm continually tempted to have the barrel turned down.
@@AshleyPomeroy
Pine Tree Castings - I did an engineering internship there many moons ago, and was able to check out a lot of cool prototype firearms AND manufacturing processes.
They also have an entire separate factory on site to produce their wooden stocks/furniture.
As a retired machinist, I was really impressed with the factory tour. And all the in house steps that they do there. Especially them making their own injection molding dies. Loved this video!
Yep. Huge nerd tests like this aren't everyone's cup of tea but for those of us who like to see "how it's made" this was a treat.
This is one of your best videos to be honest. So neat to see behind the scenes of some lesser known manufacturers. All the work being done in house sounds like they work hard and are dedicated to truly making "their own" product. Thanks Ian!
I'd love to see more tours 🙂
any company willing to allow IAN to take a tour through their factory is a company with big balls and deservedly so.
allowing Tim from MAC to go through their factory would be a real dance with the devil. machines spontaneously combusting, walls crumbling. it'd be like the factory apocalypse.
Inspired by Testicles half brother of Hercules
Ian's familiarity with machine shop equipment and processes really makes this video a cut above. You can tell he knows what he's looking at, and understands the various processes, at least superficially. I mean, he's geeking out over an interesting chip removal system, lol. Great content, and a really cool factory there in Slovenia!
I heard the term “cold hammer forged” but never really knew how it was done. Thank you, learned something new today
I am a Wire EDM Programmer and operator and i always get excited when i see people talking about them. Amazing machines!
The excitement on Ian’s face when he’s explaining the machines is awesome!
Seeing Ian's enthusiasm for CNC machining was a bit of a morale boost. Being a CNC operator, most days I just feel like hanging myself lol
If you do ever get to that place, you should just wear a tie to work and get a little too close to a lathe. That way it's not suicide and your family can sue for accidental workplace death.
Also, don't kill yourself dude.
hey Ian orthopedic cnc machinist here. I'm really impressed on your knowledge of different manual and cnc controlled machines. We use mostly mori seki machines. I work for one of the world's largest medical brands and Arex has better tech on house than we do.
Their products must to be fractionally more likely to get the user killed if they were to break? Being more dangerous than artificial limbs is such a super high bar to clear they probably wouldn't invest in that top shelf tooling if cheaper could pass whatever endurance test the customers ask for... Can't imagin they do better financially, or are the markups for medical things only hundreds of percent in the USA and pocketed by folks further down the supply chain?
What do you do? Machine things from an orthographic view of an object?
Well, Ian's background is originally in Mechanical Engineering -if you watch the video again you'll see the genuine warmth and passion in his eyes as he describes his specialist subject in the way only a truly, deeply knowledgable expert totally geeking-out in "his" field of expertise can as he describes these complex and alchemic processes to us mere mortals, and that's why Forgotten Weapons has it's own unique appeal...
I cut titanium and cobalt chromium metals to become artificial hip, knee, elbow, and shoulder joints. Also bone screws and plates and pins. We don't make exterior artificial limbs. The things I make go inside your bone more or less as a way of firm fixation. I would love to tinker around a gun shop with Ian. I'll bet he can show me a few cool tricks . I began running manual machines I. High school and got my 2 year Machine Trades program certification from a local college. If anyone has kids tell them about trade jobs, the pay is great and you don't come out of trade school with 100k plus of student debt.
@@matthewsierleja2193 medical implants cost different amounts here in the USA. I have shipped 10 artificial hip stems to a university of Illinois hospital that was 10k each stem wholesale the hospital will double that and the surgeon will bill 30000 usd to perform the surgery. We had one component 17 years ago had 40 usd total wholesale and the thing retailed for 1300 usd. The orthopedic companies who make artificial joints for the body make billions each year.
Thanks AREX for letting Ian take us on a tour of your factory. Congratulations on your vertical integration. Great job on the tour Ian, looking forward to the link machine video.
11:21 like if some guy on a tour keeps grabbing parts.
Having just dipped my toes in AREX firearms, I am very impressed and very excited to see them get the recognition they deserve.
I love how Ziga is always walking awkwardly in the background
When Ian was showing the steps of barrel production the cameraman did an excellent job of not showing what Ian was pointing at.
"If you look at that conveyor,.... right over there......"
Ahem... *points*
Oh, over there!
Lmao
Just bit lack of communication of expectations from Ian.
Same goes in several of Chieftain's videos as well.
I call it the Dredd helmet syndrome, where the face of the actor takes precedence over the narrative.
Yeah missed that one.
IAN, I know youtube hates your videos with ever increasing Ebenezerness. I just want to say, (British person here) that your ART is the ultimate in quality, and quite possibly the closest I will ever get to any of the featured articles. I have seen each and every one of your videos, many more than twice, and regularly stop everything I'm doing to watch your latest upload.
You know very well how much love and appreciation there is for you in this world, still, I thank you sincerely, and ask that you never stop uploading to youtube what you can (and they allow).
I am not currently in a position to contribute financially, but as soon as I am, you are first on my list of two. (C&Rsenal is 2nd)
Your channel is beloved by so many, because of you. Thank you very much.
Yours simpingly,
Alex.
Wonderful video. Huge thanks to AREX for letting us have a look. I know absolutely nothing about mass manufacturing, but it looks like they have a very head-on-shoulders operation, which is much more than can be said for most manufacturers nowadays.
Right up there with the iconic Mr. Roger's Neighborhood tour video of the crayon factory. I'm an electrical engineer by trade, but I took several elective courses in machining. Your prior training as a CNC machinist really shows through in these videos. While some folks on YT are great science or math communicators, you're an excellent mechanism, processes and machining communicator. Keep up the great work.
Actually, it's the tool room that impresses me most.
They have (almost) full control over product from the most basic steps to finishing.
God I'd love to go to some of these places. The fact they let you film at all is awesome. Thanks for sharing with us!
This is an incredible video, but what I find even more incredible is Ian's presentation! He's so well spoken and does a better job than practically any company PR person, but he's just himself.
Watching this as a CNC machinist myself plus Ians great performance at Lynx brutality with one of their pistols makes me seriously consider picking up an Arex Delta.
As a Machinist, I must say good job Ian. A well rounded understanding of the process of machining.
Ian does “How it’s made”. Honestly cool to see the guts of an actual manufacturer
Great stuff.
The processes and technologies that go into the manufacturing at places like AREX are what inspired me to pursue mechanical engineering.
As a tool and die maker I really loved this video. I have built so many of these type of machines, Injection molds, automated machines 100’s of feet long. Cool to see AREX.
That is really cool to hear that they make their own tooling. The majority of auto manufacturers I know normally contract that out to a supplier that specializes in CNC and tooling. Additionally the modern nature of AREX really matches the level of automation I see on the job in the Auto industry! Good job AREX!
Thank you Ian. As a mechanical engineer. This is immensely valuable to understand the entire procedure and that gives me the idea on knowing why polygonal rifling can be done with the same procedure.
My dad worked at a stamping and die plant for 37 years and I also got to spend a day there learning from the younger cnc guys for credits in high school. My dad's 65 so computers aren't really his thing. But it was really cool learning about that stuff. Great video!
Have you shown this video to your Dad yet?
If not, then please do, because I suspect he might really enjoy seeing how Ian explains it to us mere mortals...
When I was younger I started out in a factory. We did not make guns, but we used a lot of the same processes, and older versions of this machinery. I wonder if your viewers that are not tool and die makers or machinists really get how impressive it is that they do so much work in house making the tools to make the guns? This is an amazing place.
That looked like an absolutely top-tier factory. Very impressed!
I was at the Arex factory last year for a 4 day armorer course. I was impressed with the factory and the people at Arex, people in Slovenia in general, are super nice. Great products.
That was a cool factory tour. I recently bought an Arex Delta L after seeing your other videos on their pistols. It's a really nice gun for a reasonable price. Hopefully they will start to gain more attention here in the US market and that will enable the company to make even more cool stuff.
More video tours like this please. Do an entire series.
Thanks for correcting from “data points” to “datum points,” because otherwise I would have been super confused! 😂😉
Excellent video!. As an engineer who has worked in the manufacture of dies and tooling (for the automotive industry), Arex's self-development is impressive. Ian, I can see the happiness on your face at the mix of weapons and machine tools. Ziga's background is just the right touch to break the formality without detracting from the main theme of the video. Greetings from Patagonia Argentina.
I was a machinist for 20+ years. I spent over 6 years at Thompson Center Arms, and I've done many of the operations you covered. This was an awesome video. You covered the CNC machines. The tools are held in place by air pressure, one night at T/C Arms the compressor quit, and everyone's tools fell out mid run. Another night, that tool magazine fell off instead of changing a tool. Another shift filled with fun and learning. Also, many bad words. LOL
As an automation technician in being, that tool holder was poorly designed, as things are supposed to stay in place in case of power loss. A small reservoir on a back valve would given enough airsupply to clamp it as fail safe.
I was privileged enough to be given a tour of the AREX factory by Ziga and Grega a few years ago. A truly impressive operation and very gracious hosts.
So apparently I had hammer forging completely wrong: I thought the mandrel was hammered down the barrel blank, as opposed to the barrel being hammered around the mandrel.
Educational as always!
I had thought similar, although, how do they get the rifling in that case? I'd assumed an extra step akin to reaming, but that's at leat two complicated procedures.
Ian to the rescue!!
There is a similar process to that called button rifling. They basically pull a roller through the barrel that pushes the grooves into the barrel.
@@spookyindeed Yup. ^This^, but in reverse...
@@spookyindeed how do they get the mandrel out? I would expect it's pretty stuck after having the barrel hammered around it?
@@spookyindeed Thank you! Perhaps that’s what I was thinking of
Remember, I gave you a booklet on deep hole drilling technology at the Brownells stand during IWA22 in Nürnberg. Very same brand as seen at Arex. Just quite an older model. Magnetic chip conveyor sometimes even works on stainless steel.
@@TheInfidel_SlavaUA Some grades of stainless steel are more or less magnetic than others.
A (very) general rule is that the magnet on your stainless refrigerator at home will not adhere to industrial food processing stainless structures and implements.
I'd love to test this one day, but in theory if you move the magnets fast enough you should be able to drag even non-magnetic stainless steel chips (and copper, aluminum, etc) up the conveyor. A plastic conveyor, mind you... going to induced drag from eddy currents instead of direct magnetic attraction.
@@mfree80286 The magnet you would need to get that to work reliably would likely be in the Tesla range... which might cause a few other problems...
@@TheInfidel_SlavaUA Stainless steel is usually a austentitic microstructure which while its full of iron, is not magnetic. Through mechanical/thermal working you can get some of the crystal structure to turn back into ferrite which is magnetic.
This is also very dependent on the grade of stainless steel, some have a considerable amount of ferrite and some have pretty much none at all.
For me not only is the process fascinating but the machines themselves are as well. Because people have to design those things.
I hope other manufacturers offer you tours Ian.
As an industrial engineer, I love looking at the layout, the subsystems and how they interoperate to create one larger functional system. These tours are fantastic!
That side shuffle out of the shot got me 🤣
Absolutely brilliant. Was not expecting this style of video or to ever see inside a modern arms factory. Very clearly explained. Glad you are able to travel again.
As a mechanical engineer, this was an absolute dream. Amazing.
I love to see the behind the scenes on how these are made. It makes you appreciate the quality and care companies put, or don’t, into their product.
Very cool! Even happier with my own Delta Gen 2 now. Your video in which you talked about how it's a merger of the best features of modern pistols really convinced me to buy it. I especially liked the ability to disassemble the gun WITHOUT pulling the trigger.
Ian, you really go above and beyond. Superb !
Ian is happy as a child in a toy store, with a must touch policy! Machines and guns, like heaven on earth!
Awesome video, seeing the way production is and how everything is made in house makes me very proud to own an Arex pistol.
Really cool that Arex is open to allow filming. Thank you so much, that was very interesting. And it looks like you really enjoyed that factory tour.
Ziga being Ziga at the background is a nice little touch. ;)
A really splendid video Ian, well done, it was extremely informative and very interesting to see the processess involved, as a self taught manual machinist I can appreciate the techinical elements, as well as being a rather marvellous shade of green with at the sight of all those CNC machines and EDM rigs, hammer forges etc.
This is certainly one of your best videos I think, in terms of showing how modern practices have evolved to make top of the range firearms. It would be interesting to see a mid 20th century firearms workshop, like Colt or FN around WWII to compare the difference
Wherever you are in the world, it's the same exact green.....
I don't know about mid-20th, but C&Rsenal's channel has a video going over archival footage of a WWI-era firearms factory.
Spot the Ziga
That was a great video not just for the information but for your obvious enthusiasm for the topic.
I'm going to need to re-watch the videos on their firearms, but, the level of care and QA/QC coupled with the number of processes done in house is impressive.
It is impressive and confidence inspiring when companies don't outsource parts of the process.
What's also impressive is your detail and explanation all along the tour, not just going "look at this neat machine doing.... something in the background!" like most "factory tours" on youtube.
That magnetic conveyor for the shavings was really cool.
As a gun enthusiast and CNC operator, this video was the coolest video ever for me.
I was interested in arex but didn't know what their quality control was like. Now I'm very interested in getting one to try out.
Fantastic tour and thanks for sharing with us! I always love being able to see how things are made and I had no clue how the hammer forging worked for the barrels so that was a huge plus!
Nice tour and explanation. AREX did the smart thing by giving you access to film. No secrets revealed, but a look at the nearly total production.
Your knowledge of factory machinery and equipment make this tour thoroughly enjoyable. Well done.
That's got to be the cleanest machine room I've ever seen
Awesome video. If I'm not mistaken, aside from making parts for other companies like you mentioned, they've even built tooling for other companies because their process and results are so good. Great to see.
I love this kind of content and have worked with CNC machines for quite a few years before my current work, I always enjoyed working with the production engineers at my last role to develop efficient jigs, tooling and automation. It's always impressive to see a simple block go through so much to a finished product like that.
as someone in manufacturing with aspirations to work in the gun industry I quite enjoyed this tour. thank you for sharing!
That is an extremely impressive factory. Great video!
Very interesting to actually see the whole process. My all-time favorite tour. Thank you, Ian
Kudos on getting quality audio in that environment.
This is a very impressive factory. It's rare to see a company have so much of their process done in house.
Extremely envious of of you taking this tour. It looked Fascinating!
Very cool tour! This is a firearms designers dream come true.
Probably millions worth of equipment in that factory.
This is cool, it's like the TV show, How it's made. Good video Ian.
Funny start to the video, such a cool factory, to be able to tour it like that must have been an absolute joy
Thanks for the look at the place where the AREX Delta Gen 2 M I bought after your review Ian.
Great video. More factory tours and 'Forgotten Weapons - How It's Made' please.
The amount of skill to do all that in house. Impressive tool shop.
Very enjoyable, thanks for taking us along!
It seems to me G.J. was excited during the factory tour. High level quality educational video!
Fewer than 100k views, yet this is one of the coolest videos you've ever done!
Very impressive, ive toured alot of manufacturers in Europe during my apprenticeship in Germany and worked for a few in the US. That place is really up there among the best from seeing this video and very clean.
Interesting that the description text on the barrel display board is in English. I am impressed (and somewhat humbled) at the language skills of the people Ian interviews in Europe.
Very satisfying. Full production on site is quite impressive
I’ve watched just about every video you’ve published. This is close to my favorite
Ok this one hit pretty close to home for me. First because my grandfather sold polishing media as his last job in a long career in the tool and die industry so the deburring machines were cool to see, and my father sells lubricants and coolants which were present in a lot of the processes. Second because I'm Slovenian on my father's side and have actually been to that part of the country.
That WAS very cool. Thanks, Ian!
I see you found your sympathy for my Country... Nice video and honest comment. I hope guys from Polenar also show you some Slovenian "culinary attractions". I always enjoy your videos. Hvala in lep pozdrav.
Factory tours are so great, love the content Senior Ian
Ian is geeking out so hard right now and it's my favorite
Always enjoy this sort of content. Also, good to see smaller shops that may not be as well known in the states get some love.
I loved this, i hope you get into the FN factory one day!
Thanks for the tour fellas!
The video itself was terrific, one of the best I’ve seen on the channel. Kudos to Ian and to AREX for making it possible.
I did notice one small thing at the end. It seems like the pitch of Ian’s voice was slightly higher, like the very last part that was recorded at his place was done at a faster speed than normal. Was this just me, or did anyone else notice this?
Video quality on this was top notch!
Thank you for the great tour!! Way sweet.
This was awesome, one thing I take away, when I did fabrication work, I wish it was in a firearms manufacturing. I would've enjoyed my work so much more. Awesome stuff, especially some of their tooling and processes.
Ian is definitely geeking out on this tour!
Really exceptional quality coming out of the AREX factory
ian's knowledge of machining is amazing!