Plastic can be quite strong and durable a material, and Swashdrive uses the same type of high quality long fiber composite as Glock. It is also impact resistant and fairly lightweight as well as very vibration absorbative. All great traits for a machine but unfortunately doesnt hold threads as well as machine grade metals and the vise is the weak point on other swashdrives I've seen that've stripped out. They really should have a stainless steel threaded insert, just like the other plastic machines do. Not sure if this is to save weight or not but I feel the vise on a good machine should be almost overbuilt. Also, plastic isn't always the prettiest thing, and looks like it was mass produced. Really a just an aesthetic.