Yeah man, still trying to recover r&d overhead to justify the cost, if u purchased these thru my supplier directly, they'd charge a grip (×3). These are expensive to make and i QC inspect each one for form, fit, function before shipping out. Although the surface finish may not look presentable, its still does what is intended. No 3d printed parts for your car i suppose.

 

Still using my Sumole branded one you were selling sometime ago...works fine, rain/snow not an issue with it (and the Knoxville area is like a virtual rain forest, seems to rain as often as not. A little pricey? Yeah, but...I bought it because I wanted it, not based on "cost effectiveness." Haven't checked this thread in a while, nice to see you brought the printed version to fruition, my friend.

 

any of those sumole ram intakes around?

 

I know it's a long shot, but would you be interested in sharing the STL file to print my own? It would be for me and me only. I'll even sign an NDA. I'll pay!

 

I'd be curious to know what Sumole's IP protection on the part was.

But, the part printed as shown does look pretty bad. Touge, there are additive manufacturing printers and materials that have MUCH better resolution that what you have pictured. May be cost prohibitive, who knows, but you could look into what Carbon could do for you. They have a couple materials that are pretty flexible and some that tolerate heat fairly well.

You can find a production partner via their website: https://www.carbon3d.com/

 

it should be released to https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=gk5

 

The only thing showing is the MAF adaptor.

 

LOL. An NDA for buying stolen IP...

 

He did the work to reverse engineer it. As a 3D guy, I know how tough that is.

 

I'm not arguing that it doesn't take effort to steal intellectual property. That's why I wondered what IP protections Sumole had on their product. They would likely be unenforcable as they would likely be limited to the country of origin. Worldwide patents are expensive.

 

From my understanding from others that have been searching for the Sumole version, I believe they are still available. A simple google search can help with that I suppose.
Otherwise, I have the 3D printed version available. PM me for more details.

Thanks

 

PM me so we can discuss if you are serious. Thanks.

 

Sumole is in Singapore I believe and I doubt they have the same copyright laws as we do.

You answered it. And I didn't steal the IP, I created my own version based on Sumole's. Doesn't every company do the same thing? Take an idea that exist and brand it to make as their own?

​​​​​​​
Sorry, can't make this available for free. I paid good money to have this reverse engineered.

 

Also to add with @sneefy suggestion with going with better 3d print material with better surface finish and quality. sounds great, but I'm sure it'll cost 3x-5x more to print that in some flexible carbon. The current material and process I am using is suitable at the price point I am willing to spend and share this product with the community. Anything else above that is not cost effective. Maybe for someone that wants in carbon can print on their own and at the expense of purchasing my STL. And it won't be cheap.

 

No, many companies actually develop new product with new ideas. Or, in the case of the Sumole scoop, they saw that the GK did not have a ram air scoop and created one from scratch. Yours takes an existing device and copies it near exactly. There's a big difference there. The distance and difference between an existing idea or product (product 1) and the new product (product 2) matters.

This is why IP lawyers are numerous and expensive. Interpreting patents is expensive and the difference from one product and another that is a copycat but just different enough to not violate patent can be pretty subjective.

But, I'd think that starting out by 3-d scanning an existing product and removing the logo is simply copying. I'm sure you had to make some tweaks due to the materials and process, but I have a hard time not seeing just a copy. Maybe the change in manufacturing process is enough, who knows. But it's someone else's design that's just being scanned and duplicated. If Sumole were in the US, I doubt you'd have done it, right? Because you'd probably get sued.

Much like many many products being sold in China are "reverse engineered" and then exact (or near enough) duplicates are sold when they are really blatant violations of US copyright or patent. But because those patents are uneforceable in China, they get away with that IP theft. Happens all the time, same situation here. But that doesn't mean it isn't theft. Just because it's not illegal doesn't mean it's ethical.

 

Carbon is the company, not the material. Though, I'd sure they have some with carbon (the material) in them. They have a range of materials that can be relatively cheap to expensive. But they are high-end printers and the range of materials starts out on the somewhat expensive end, so I'm sure you're right that it would be cost prohibitive.

 

Ok I get your point. Not sure what you want out of this, but I've made this product available so folks here stateside can have something that works just as good as the original. People have different thoughts on what is ethical and what is not. I was in the position to do something that not a lot of people would consider doing, and did it any way. Again, I'm not making a significant profit from this, just something to cover the overhead on making this available stateside for those who want to use this application. If you're looking for the original, go take a trip to Singapore and pick one up.

 

In other news, I am producing several more units in the next couple of weeks. Please PM me if you are interested.

Thanks

 

Yeah, I'm not going to belabor the point. It is what it is. I just found the question of an NDA in this context amusing.

 

Anything that would fit 2018+?