Tesla Develops 12,000-Ton Giga Press for Production of the One-Piece Car Body

[fritter63]

Does anyone have a link to a good video or explanation of just how the gigapresses actually works? I'm having trouble getting my head around how a two piece (not to mention a 4 piece like this) mold could be removed and still get the complex internal structures we've been seeing.

How would the inside parts of the frame be molded?

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[Richard V.]

Does anyone have a link to a good video or explanation of just how the gigapresses actually works? I'm having trouble getting my head around how a two piece (not to mention a 4 piece like this) mold could be removed and still get the complex internal structures we've been seeing.

How would the inside parts of the frame be molded?

This video named "Giga Berlin Factory Tour Part 3: Castings", Alex gives a lot of details about castings, but does not specifically address how the molds comes apart. Giga Berlin Factory Tour Part 3: Castings - YouTube

A Canadian connection here: Top Secret About Tesla's GigaPress - YouTube

 

[Ogre]

There are a *bunch* of videos out there by The Limiting Factor and I’m sure he covers it in fairly understandable English… you just have to wade through a couple videos.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+limiting+factor+gigapress

I’ve been watching his battery presentations and they are ? in the best possible way

 

[Cyberman]

This dude never stops. ?

 

[Ogre]

Very good video talking about how gigacast bodies are just as good with regards to repairs as high strength steel.



Most new unibody cars use steels which are not very repairable and most manufacturers recommend against repairing parts. They recommend replacing the part. Teslas cars actually have crash absorption rails which are designed to take damage before the front and rear castings are impinged.

Add To this the fact that newer cars are designed to absorb damage to protect the occupants and the result is very few unibody cars Tesla or otherwise are going to be repairable regardless.

 

[Crissa]

There's a new video in the Gigapress series today... Patrons first, of course, as he shakes out the typos.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/tying-up-some-as-61366971

Multiple piece casts are kind of like origami; they're a matter of having pieces slide in and out in a certain order.

-Crissa

 

[Richard V.]

There are a *bunch* of videos out there by The Limiting Factor and I’m sure he covers it in fairly understandable English… you just have to wade through a couple videos.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+limiting+factor+gigapress

I’ve been watching his battery presentations and they are ? in the best possible way

Thank you, I had not come across "The Limiting Factor". Very well made and informative. Wow!

 

[Ogre]

There's a new video in the Gigapress series today... Patrons first, of course, as he shakes out the typos.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/tying-up-some-as-61366971

Multiple piece casts are kind of like origami; they're a matter of having pieces slide in and out in a certain order.

-Crissa

I need to join his Patreon. I just hate setting up yet another account on the internet and dealing with yet another source of junk email.

 

[Crissa]

I need to join his Patreon. I just hate setting up yet another account on the internet and dealing with yet another source of junk email.

Well, Patreon has the advantage of letting you support dozens of channels with a single payment. They take less of your payment the more you support - unlike, say, Google which always takes 30%.

You'll want an email that forwards back to your main, because it defaults to alerting you for every paid post and message.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

This video is more about the nitty gritty of the Gigapress. He suggests a 12k press is unlikely because it doesn’t make sense to use a gigapress to make the battery tray.

 

[GnarlyDudeLive]

I wonder, will an aluminum unibody get painted?

I would assume like other have said, there will be a hard anodized treatment of some sort.

Imagine not having the unibody rot out due to age/rust like so many others do...

 

[Crissa]

You don't need hard anodized to prevent corrosion. It's just one way to.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

I would assume like other have said, there will be a hard anodized treatment of some sort.

Imagine not having the unibody rot out due to age/rust like so many others do...

The alloy they are using for the Giga casting is supposed to:

• Flow well into the large mold (molten aluminum needs to fill the mold in less than 1/100 of a second)
• Allow millimeter precision parts.
• Resist cold shunts (Weak spots where the fluid in the mold meets)
• Avoid potato chipping (parts can warp as they cool)
• Not require a heat treat afterwards
• Be corrosion resistant

It’s like the Jesus alloy. It saves.

I’ve heard some of this from multiple sources, but the video from the Limiting Factor is the most comprehensive. Also, the important bits I’ve heard from at least a couple trusted sources.

Disclaimer: Sometimes when I watch these videos, it is truly difficult to believe, but the guy from the Limiting Factor does not strike me as someone who exaggerates.

 

[Crissa]

Jordan Giesige is a straight up guy. I have never caught him exaggerating, he almost always takes the conservative case as he digs deep into this stuff.

He points out we can't know how well Tesla is doing on these parts - they could be trashing a huge number of them. We just know they're pulling it off, and that these techniques work individually. He even called IDRA to get a confirmation of what some of the additional machines on the gigapresses are. They can't, of course, give specifics, but their description matches.

He does the work.

-Crissa

 

[fritter63]

Ok, so after watching all those vids (none of which really answered my question), I finally noticed that if you slow down the one clip of the part being extracted from the GP, you can see what's going on.

There are four pieces to the mold. Let us call them front and back, and then the sides. The front and back ones mold the ENDS of the piece, and also the TOP and BOTTOM. So any shape in those molds is constrained to just the X and Y axis. No Z axis details. Then there are two smaller "paddles" molds if you will, that come in from the sides and mate with the front/back pieces. Those form the entire chamber, and any features molded by the sides are constrained to the X/Y axis in that direction.
Not sure I'm explaining that right, but bottom line is all features in just 2 axis' to allow mold retraction.

If you pay close attention , all the parts on the INSIDE of the subframe (between the wheel wells) are rather smooth which is where the parts of the front back molds are able to move past when being retracted.

Also, if you watch as the subframe is extracted, there are parts of the molded metal that break away. I'm guessing these are sacrificial to allow injection raceways (correct word?) to allow more complex geometries, but then are designed to be thin enough to break like that. Maybe a little grinding required afterwards?

For the 12K press, maybe there will be two additional molds that can move in from the top and bottom (when the battery pack is not there), and maybe they themselves will have articulated paddles, etc to move into place and match with the outside molds.

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