Tesla Chief Engineer BLOWS Sandy Munro’s Mind!!

In a recent interview with Tesla's Chief Engineer, Lars Moravy, he and Sandy Munro discussed the size of the IDRA giga presses needed to create the Cybertruck's castings--and what Lars told Sandy not only blew Sandy's mind but mine too! Rivers of metal flowing in fractions of a second to create these giant castings on Model Y giga presses is pretty wild!

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RIVERS OF METAL: How Tesla Engineers Efficiency! With Sandy Munro and Lars Moravy

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[DrKnowitallKnows]

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[COSMEREAUDIO]

What no one says is that it is clear that elon have honoured and acknowledged Sandy's expertise and knowledge in the industry, Sandy is a legend himself

[ricinro]

Some folks may be familiar with metal casting from high school shop class but die casting is much more akin to injection plastic molding. When designing parts you always consider how metal or plastic behaves as a fluid: how it flows. Usually the injection process happens in seconds or fractions of a section and is complicated by the rapid cooling of the fluid. They make good software to simulate the flow and to predict where the fluid may not reach parts of the mold cavity or create "knit" lines where the molten metal or plastic doesn't meld together. The collaboration between the part designers and manufacturing is mostly tweaks to where the gates are located (where metal enters the mold) and the timing.

[LifeLongLearner-omjx]

As a mechanical engineer, when they had this interaction I was again blown away by the integration and pace of iteration between all of Tesla's teams. It is utterly astounding!

[johnnyb]

I watched the video of Munro touring the Gigatexas line where they cut and form the stainless body panels. It was crazy to see the engineers spend 45 minutes walking him through every step of a brand new proprietary process with no worries about another company having the capability of copying it.

[BrandonMeyer]

Sandy’s latest vid which toured the production line was insane. The gigafactory is something else. They put their methods on full display for everyone to copy. They named their suppliers for tooling and their methods. They made partnerships with companies to make laser cutters with a level of precision orders of magnitude greater than what is currently mainstream.

[DavidSaintloth]

When I first saw the video of the front casting, I noticed the curvilinear channels that I call ribs on either side of the wheel well and noticed that the advantage that one gets from using these curvilinear channels is multiple. Yes, you get a faster a flow of the liquid through the mold and more likely even cooling of the entire mold which also reduces the potential for warping, especially given that the ribs act like stability fins of for the thicker metal parts of the structure.

[brunosmith]

Antoni Gaudi, the famous Spanish architect whose quirky structures in Barcelona attract attention from all of the world's serious architects, based much of his design formulae on natural phenomena - particularly plants. So when Lars said "flows like a river" I immediately thought of Gaudi who used nature as a key design influence.

[myyklmax]

@DrKnowItAll .... I assume that Tesla creates a 3D printed model of the diecast part; Set the model into a casting mold; remove the model and reset the mold for the hot aluminum to be poured into it. Once cooled the mold is opened and cleaned for the next diecasting. The finished casting is cleaned up and measurements checked for accuracy for assembly.

[rgeraldalexander]

Good point regarding the 6, 000 ton press being able to cast the Cybertruck front, leaving Two 9, 000 ton presses to cast the rears, doubling the potential output.

[jacobuserasmus]

I have a feeling Cybertruck is going to disrupt the truck industry. Basically all the journalist and a lot of truck owners as well as FORD is saying that the Cybertruck have no chance. But I have a feeling from TESLA's marketing (allowing access to the engineers, designers and people working on the floor) might actually sway buyers. No marketing types trying to sell the truck but people working on the assembly line. Seeing the factory and the people working on the truck makes me salivate and I know from the type of people the buy trucks this is their interest as well. So the thinking is that traditional truck buyers will not purchase a cybertruck. I think this will change once the truck is common on the roads. Some off roaders will try it and if it works it will take that by storm as well. Fixability on the trail might be an issue but we will see.

We tend to forget that Elon Musk is not the only smart person at TESLA. He surrounds himself with people that is just as good or better than he is.

[jeffbransky]

The metal is not injected directly onto that cross bar. What can’t be seen on a finished part is all of the material that has been trimmed away. If you can see images of an untrimmed casting, you will see a massive cylindrical feature, which is the injection point, and webbing leading from there to the finished component; all of which are trimmed away in the finished part. It is surprising how much material is removed and recycled. An untrimmed part has a horizontal panel that connects to the bottom interior edges of the finished part. This horizontal panel distributes the molten metal to all of the finished features before it can cool and freeze causing a short shot.

[LeeWilsonJr]

A key point you might want to dive into - Sandy saying “Retooling?!?” I think this is important that Tesla is innovating on materials and new processes constantly.

Look at Sandy’s recent factory tour video - The Aluminum-Bronze die blew his mind on the door inner press. Also, the way they join the door inner and outer. More examples of new materials and processes at Tesla.

[Julian-]

Those Deep ribs can be adjusted for depth to get Most of the Cooldown distortion out. Fine Tuning wb done to the Mold itself.
Consistency with the Injection process, will Probably make the Castings hold tolerances within a Range of 1mm (.04") OR +/- .5mm from nominal. When it’s bolted to the Exoskeleton, will get even more accurate, (that last bit of spring).
Magnesium was possibly added to the formula, maybe some Tin also, both would help with Flow.
I wonder if the "Vents" have a Vacuum assist to Pull the trapped air out, ahead of the "flow".
Cheers from San Diego

[mikebailey]

factoring in giga press downtime for retooling and maintenance explains the large number of castings we see in the drone flyovers of Austin.

[papa.mike]

I have a background in manufacturing engineering and I can assure you that if the part engineer works closely with the tooling engineer (tool & die) you can make a stronger part and a manufacturing friend part. The clamping pressure of the press depends on the face to face area. So if a part is designed with much of the mass deep in the die rather than facing the other 1/2 of the die you can decrease the clamping pressure.

[cszrwi]

This interaction summarises in a nutshell why Musk's companies are so successful. Musk comes from a passion for software engineering and a Physics background. He does not guess if a process is efficient, he can find out, and if there is no reason for a convention it will scream at Elon as obvious BS. He liberates this instinct in his employees. The legacy auto industry is dead. It just has not realised yet. If you own their stock I would sell it now. They are all bust.

[rossmacintosh]

I took what the engineer said about where the liquid metal flows in to mean not at the connecting bridge as Dr. K-I-A said, but more centrally into the two wheel wells - the largest masses of the casting. If you jump to 9:30 and pause, you'll see the remnants of what could be one of the in-gates. On the smooth face of the far side, it looks like a small vertical reinforcement near the hole. I'm assuming there are in-gates in that location on both wheel wells. Metal flowing in from those locations makes more sense relative to the 'flowing river' analogy as on the near side you can visualise the metal flowing out to the edges of the casting with the ribs designed to provide a smoother flow. 'Rivers' only flow one way efficiently and I think it's fairly obvious from the pattern of ribs that the metal was flowing from near where they converge than from the opposite direction.

[johnreese]

I'm glad you caught the Giga press issue, I watched Sandy's video and it went right over my head! Thanks!!

[jimcallahan]

1. As I discussed with Scott Walker, the risk of casting machine downtime drives the inventory levels. The risk of a missing casting part shutting down the line is mitigated by inventory. This is contrary to the Toyota system "just in time (JIT)" inventory.
2. I assume the casting is cast upside down, so the casting material does not flow up to the top of the casting, but flows down to the most extreme point (like a river flows downhill).