Manufacturing the Cybertruck... excited to see process for folding stainless body parts.

HaulingAss

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I am speculating here but if the front and rear clips are going to be single piece castings and assuming the structural battery pack is itself consistent, I would hedge that the gaps should be more uniform due to the castings themselves being more precise (less parts/less variance/less skew). The wildcard will be the body panels themselves and how precise repeatedly they can be manufactured via folding and bending. I am as well hoping for the best but prepared for the usual.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Tesla develop radical new manufacturing processes for the Cybertruck. In fact, I expect it.

For example, Tesla may learn the best way to fabricate the main side panels is to ditch the idea of a traditional metal brake that forms one bend in one operation and, instead, passes the side panels through a machine 1/8 mile long that uses rollers to bend the panels gradually at high speed. In this implementation, flat panels would enter one end of the machine at, perhaps, 25 mph and, without slowing down, travel the entire 1/8 mile while being gradually scored and bent as it travels through the high-speed rollers such that it spits out bent panels into stacks at the end of the line. This is just one possible example of many, how it could be possible to manufacture the Cybertruck in previously unfathomable volumes and at very low unit costs. It's all about the machine that makes the machine.

Pink Floyd - Welcome To The Machine - YouTube
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Crissa

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When you have a roll of material, there are lots of solutions possible that aren't once you cut it apart.

Think of the speed that say the edges of cans are created, or many small doo-dads, just done in a far, far larger scale. Sure, some parts are stamped, but the very can that a battery is in is folded and crimped.

-Crissa
 

Tinker71

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When I called BS, I was not referring to anything someone said here, it was in direct response to the linked article written by a metal fabricator with 12 years' experience. I think it's funny that such a person would pretend to know more about materials technology and fabrication than a man like Elon Musk who owns a rocket company that is pushing the known limits on metal fabrication on a daily basis.

People have been telling Elon Musk he can't do certain things for over two decades now. And Elon has been proving them wrong for over two decades.

One thing I've learned in life is that people who think they can't do something are almost always right. You can't do something you believe is impossible. Very little is possible if all you see are self-imposed limitations, real or imagined. Elon has shown an ability to find a path around the limitations because he believes there is a way to do anything that doesn't violate the laws the physics and he has passed on this attitude to the people who make up his companies. That is why SpaceX is taking NASA astronauts to the SpaceStation while companies with billions more in resources, like Boeing, are still grounded. The metal fabricator who wrote the article was looking at the limitations of known processes. It's not clear why he thought Tesla was limited to known processes. It's very short-sighted to tell Elon Musk what he can't do.
I have a lot of faith in Elon and Tesla. Every once in a while they do get into a little trouble by oversimplifying or overcommitting or just plain we will figure it out when we get there.

The windshield wiper might be the best example of this.
 

HaulingAss

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I have a lot of faith in Elon and Tesla. Every once in a while they do get into a little trouble by oversimplifying or overcommitting or just plain we will figure it out when we get there.

The windshield wiper might be the best example of this.
What is the problem with the Tesla windshield wiper?
 


Dusty

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What is the problem with the Tesla windshield wiper?
Specifically, the CT windshield wiper. It was an afterthought. It was left to the 11th hour of design, and creating a "neat" looking/congruent solution is making the Tesla engineers punch their pillows before falling asleep at night.

I think it'll be the thing that haters will relentlessly focus on, and will be cried about ad nauseum on the internet.
 
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CyberGus

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Crazy
I hope your right or that expert is right.
Why?
Im not in favor of any truck or car with Fe body panels. I work on 100s of aircraft and plastic body panels are more robust and super easy to work on.
A Major Pain
On small dent one small scratch and I work my tail off resurfacing steel where plastic a hot air dryer and a push and plastic is fixed.
Welding plastic is super easy
Painting plastic if done right is bullet proof
Forming same as the metal press but with high temp high strength fiber reinforced plastic.

CERE Here
As Boeing engineer, I worked on plastic panels with internal formed stiffeners just like Tesla Giga press and PEEK reinforced with graphite was bullet proof. CAI showed no fasters needed.
You can design pop in fenders or door panels out of plastic reinforced with short fiberglass fibers that is lifetime rust dent proof.
Future Hope
Tesla after a few attempts of SS body CT they will switch to plastic body panels
Ummm, no. Those are not panels on the CT, that is the actual body ("exoskeleton"). They cannot be removed as they provide structural integrity.

On my DeLorean, the stainless panels are strictly decorative, hung over the fiberglass body. But on the CT, they are structural.
 

HaulingAss

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Ha Ha. It's an abomination so far. We will see how they fix it.
So, you're saying you don't like the way it looks?

Is that a development version or the one they will release as a production version? It seems like your aesthetic criticisms are jumping the gun. Speaking of guns, a lot of truck owners would kill to have a giant wiper that looks like a submachine gun mounted on the a-pillar. Personally, I like the Cybertruck for it's function (even though the aesthetics are pretty appealling in their own right). I mean, it's a truck.

I guess I can't throw shade anyway, I've been driving a 2010 F-150 when I absolutely need a truck. Yeah, it's cringeworthy even if the commonness of it somehow mitigates that. This is what it looks like:
Tesla Cybertruck Manufacturing the Cybertruck... excited to see process for folding stainless body parts. 1640897647648

Pretty embarrassing (and I don't embarrass easily). I think I would prefer the single "machine gun" wiper! It's more manly looking.

Let's wait to see what Tesla releases before throwing shade on them. It's a vehicle in rapid development.
 
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HaulingAss

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I refuse to have wiper size envy
The small size of the F-150 wipers is only half the problem. The other problem is they just won't stay up, they just cower, limp and useless, a little above hood level. I've tried to get them to stand proud and make a statement, but they keep flopping back down!
 

Tinker71

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The small size of the F-150 wipers is only half the problem. The other problem is they just won't stay up, they just cower, limp and useless, a little above hood level. I've tried to get them to stand proud and make a statement, but they keep flopping back down!
They also chatter as varying speeds and can be quite intermittent.
 
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CyberGus

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The small size of the F-150 wipers is only half the problem. The other problem is they just won't stay up, they just cower, limp and useless, a little above hood level. I've tried to get them to stand proud and make a statement, but they keep flopping back down!
Tesla Cybertruck Manufacturing the Cybertruck... excited to see process for folding stainless body parts. 1640905577710
 
 




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