Have Idra press parts started to be delivered to Austin?

[Crissa]

I was never quite clear on why they didn’t just finish the foundation when they were pouring the rest.

They didn't finish the foundation until the machines were about to arrive for every gigapress.

Which made me wonder, too, if there wasn't something they were waiting for that was special that they stick into the footings? Or special about the oversight? Maybe they need an IDRA person to check the footings as they go.

-Crissa

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[Jhodgesatmb]

Could be. I seem to recall not long ago they peeked into the window and the foundation was still a big hole.

I was never quite clear on why they didn’t just finish the foundation when they were pouring the rest.

Which part of the factory are you talking about. They have been done with the floor in the die-casting building for a year. The only part of the main building where they have been digging is the stamping building (for stamping machines presumably) and the building next to it which was at one time also labeled as a stamping area. There has been no indication that that area (the last section to be enclosed - just north of the logistics lot and just east of the GA2 area) is for gigapresses. The only videos we have (from Joe) show maybe 50 feet into the area and there is nothing of note that can be discerned other than the fact that they have trucks and concrete trucks in there. When this area was erected they created 2 floors I believe and it seemed as though they would have large cranes in there. They also, when they constructed it, created very large support pillars the length of the building (see Joe's videos from November 24th and 26th, 2021). The closed it all up before putting a floor in but that was almost a year ago. There floor area in that building is huge but at the north end they cannot dig because they put the water storage system up there (adjacent to/south of the paint factory).


26th:


24th:

 

[Crissa]

They've dug in every time a new gigapress has arrived. When they closed in the factory, they poured a basic floor, but not all the footings they had done.

They've also reportedly dug in the central 'hall' between the body-in-white building and the general assembly, and dug under the battery and plastics building as well as extended some of the work in the paint hall since they've closed it in.

They'll probably dig in the gigacasting building now that they've next. The walls don't preclude digging, to Tesla.

-Crissa

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

They have not dug in every time a new gigapress has arrived - that just isn't true. For the first 3 gigapresses they received they already had the pads installed. They did dig out the temporary floor for the 4th press but not for every press as you say.

I do not recall them doing any digging in the cell factory after they had begun making cells. Until a building is functional, sure, because they aren't making anything yet. The central area, and the new GA building, are not yet functional so definitely they could dig there and presumably are. The question is what will they produce in those areas. That is why I gave the link to Joe's 11/26/2021 video because he made predictions about what each area of the overall building will be used for what. Did I believe it then (or now)? Not really. I saw it as a hypothetical. On the other hand, once they start using a part of the overall building to produce something it is hard for me to buy into them using another part of the overall building to produce the same thing. Thus I have a hard time buying into the idea that the central area or the GA2 area might be used for gigapresses.

I am not sure what your sources are but I think that if you believe your source at one time you probably need to believe them all the time. Joe has been wrong several times, and he has become much more careful in making predictions in the past year. That is a good thing. Jeff has never really been careful. And who else is out there reporting on construction progress on a regular basis?

 

[Crissa]

Literally there was no building when they dug out for the first three gigapresses.

-Crissa

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Literally there was no building when they dug out for the first three gigapresses.

-Crissa

I am confused. It seems as though you are agreeing with me. You said earlier that they dug out the building (meaning there was a building) after getting the gigapresses and now you are saying that they started making the gigapress foundations before receiving the first gigapress before there was a building (which is true, January 2020). Which is it? It doesn't really matter because when they started digging or whether they dug after a building was functional is somewhat moot. The question I have is whether they will have the same functionality in multiple areas of the overall building.

Initial gigapress pad foundations being laid on January 6th, 2021:



First gigapress delivery on January 21st, 2021:



I just don't think that they are going to move gigapress operations out of the die-casting building. They even put in 2 new huge stacks there for the aluminum furnaces. I have been wrong before, but we will see what happens.

 

[Ogre]

Last time I saw the Gigapress area on video, there was a giant hole in the floor where the Joe T said the GP was going to be. I don’t feel like chasing through old videos to pull it up so **shrug**.

 

[rr6013]

They didn't finish the foundation until the machines were about to arrive for every gigapress.

Which made me wonder, too, if there wasn't something they were waiting for that was special that they stick into the footings? Or special about the oversight? Maybe they need an IDRA person to check the footings as they go.

-Crissa

Process, production or servicing are the only reasons I can think to wait before committing to final signoff on foundation pour. Its a long time to live with a critical measurement missed or not realized until duh…obviously. SO better wait than sorry.

 

[Ogre]

Process, production or servicing are the only reasons I can think to wait before committing to final signoff on foundation pour. Its a long time to live with a critical measurement missed or not realized until duh…obviously. SO better wait than sorry.

I think there is likely some serious hard mounts poured into the foundation. This isn’t the sort of thing you just set down on a concrete floor or roto hammer a few bolts in to secure it.

A lot of guesswork here, but when you are talking mm precision with hundreds of tons of equipment, they don’t just take a tape measure and drop lag bolts in.

 

[electricAK]

According to the video, the wooden crates went into a different part of the building...not the casting area.
There was a much larger delivery (with a black cover over it) that DID go to the casting area. Here's that machine uncovered, being backed into the Casting area. Can anybody tell what it is?

 

[Green-Mario]

I am going to guess... its Halloween decorations. It is getting pretty close, and Giga Texas needs lots of decorations

 

[charliemagpie]

The stamping areas at the CT end had huge holes, but the Gigo foundations at the other end were dug when the frame was up. And obvious more foundations to be dug after building completion.

Going by that, not a big deal to dig foundations for Gjga inside a building... conceivable the 9 ton can be put at either end. Wait and see.

 

[rr6013]

I think there is likely some serious hard mounts poured into the foundation. This isn’t the sort of thing you just set down on a concrete floor or roto hammer a few bolts in to secure it.

A lot of guesswork here, but when you are talking mm precision with hundreds of tons of equipment, they don’t just take a tape measure and drop lag bolts in.

Yeah, IDRA public reveal did show how their machine was bounded by and rested upon a framework of wide flange beam work. So the primary machine, itself, IDRA has devised for its controlled assembly, repeatable functionality and pre-fabricated requirements for its operating into the design with that framework.
Auxillary equipment, robotics and ancillary metal injection “by others” is not IDRA. Guesswork certainly engineers have reduced and eliminated in the confines of the IDRA machine. BUT siting, setting, environmental, and weirdness of installation just have to be field delegated.
Weirdness like a column standing smack-dab where the building drawings show it shouldn’t. My <FAV>was installation of a nuclear accelerator cancer treatment machine at Scripp Clinic in La Jolla. No one had seen one before so inspectors stopped the project. The machine sat three days after it was hoisted into a small treatment room with 3ft. thick walls. Finally the female cancer treatment Dr. head of the dept. blew-up insisting that three patients are dying to get radiation treatment on the machine if it wasn’t running in couple days. It took a call to the Mayor of San Diego to get those inspectors to lift the stop work order. Weirdness happens.
SO installation of machines is always fraught and even if IDRA has controlled for its machine doesn’t mean “others” can’t throw a surprise at it.
That IDRA framework definitely is permanently attached to some thing of mass. Guessing 1.5–2” plate steel pads anchored in concrete await the wide flange steel beam framwork to be welded. But that’s wildass guessing. It could be pour-in-place concrete buried below floor grade with #8 rebar reinforcing steel mat embedded in 17” thick floor poured as a solid mass. That baby ain’t gonna move over a 30” water table Tesla has there, much! LOL weirdness you can’t make it up ahead of time.

 

[ED_SFO]

Tesla is definitely on an accelerated time frame for the cyber truck. I think for sure GiGa9000 will be installed and ready to go by end of the year. Until then no need to argue about nothing.

 

[Ogre]

Tesla is definitely on an accelerated time frame for the cyber truck. I think for sure GiGa9000 will be installed and ready to go by end of the year. Until then no need to argue about nothing.

I will be disappointed if it’s not installed and cranking out samples by year end.

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