elon musk just bought this gigantic machine for cybertruck tesla has acquired the world's largest
casting machine known as gigapress and will use it to construct the body of the cybertruck
tesla has been heavily investing in casting and alloy technology in recent
years in order to enable larger casted parts with the potential to greatly simplify manufacturing
how powerful is this machine let's find out hello everyone and welcome back to elon musk evolution
where we bring you the most recent news about elon musk and his multi-billion dollar companies
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any of our amazing videos and let's begin the company purchased several units of the world's
largest casting machine idra creates these massive multi-million dollar machines tesla's first giga
press installed at the fremonts factory went into service in 2020. the machine was the first
of its kind at the time with a clamping force ranging between 55 000 and 61 000 kilonewtons
tesla already makes the model y with a single rear body piece that replaces 70 different
parts in the vehicle tesla received several more massive casting machines at gigafactory texas and
the company has now begun producing the model y at the facility with both front and rear single piece
casting idra has been teasing a new 9 000 pound giga press that will be the largest in the world
for the last few weeks given tesla's history with idra it was assumed that the new machine would be
for the automaker once more elon musk ceo of tesla has now confirmed that the machine will be used
for the cyber truck body this is not surprising given that tesla has already stated that the cyber
truck will be built with a stainless steel exco skeleton body which will necessitate a
new level of casting capability tesla stated on its website about the cyber trucks exoskeleton
cyber truck is built with an exterior shell made for ultimate durability and passenger protection
starting with a nearly impenetrable exoskeleton every component is designed for superior strength
and endurance from ultra hard 30x cold rolled stainless steel structural skin to tesla armor
glass the company admitted early on that it would need to develop new manufacturing techniques
in order to put the vehicle into production this massive new casting machine appears to be part of
that plan the cyber truck was first unveiled in 2019 the electric pickup truck was supposed to be
in production already but the automaker delayed it in order to focus on increasing model y production
the company now intends to begin production of the cyber truck in 2023 while there are concerns
that tesla will not meet this deadline this new machine is a rare indication that the company
is investing in cyber truck production so what is a gigapress idra group in italy manufactures the
gigapress series of aluminum die casting machines they are notable for having the world's largest
high pressure die casting machines with clamping forces ranging from fifty five thousand to sixty
one thousand kilonewton each machine weighs between 410 and 430 tons or between 900 000
and 950 000 pounds idris catalog has included base specification gigapress machine since 2018
with tesla inc beginning use of a customized ol 6100 cs gigapress in late 2020 for the production
of chassis parts for the tesla model y molten aluminum shots weighing 80 kilograms are injected
at a speed of 10 meters per second into the cold chamber casting mold the cycle time is eight
thousand ninety seconds allowing for production rate of four thousand forty five finished castings
per hour or one thousand castings per day the process of die casting involves forcing molten
metal alloy into a reusable mold then opening the bowl to remove the finished piece after
it is solidified robots clean and cool the open mold to 185 degrees celsius or about 365 degrees
fahrenheit and fresh molten aluminum is prepared for the next cycle which begins 12 minutes after
the first each new casting is trimmed to an approximate size measured and checked for flaws
before being sent to cnc machining to finish size ingots and offcuts of aluminum are melted
in a natural gas-powered melting oven at 850 degrees celsius or about 1600 degrees fahrenheit
until liquid for tesla's giga press-based casting operation slag in the form of aluminum oxide is
mechanically removed from the surface and the remaining liquid metal is pumped through heated
pipes to an enclosed warming oven operating at 750 to 850 degrees celsius or again 1400 to 1600
degrees fahrenheit heated by 400 kilowatts a tank blanket of nitrogen gas covers the molten aluminum
which is circulated to maintain to an even temperature to prevent the formation of oxides
impurities are removed using argon gas in a rotary degasser with silicone carbide filter removing
most other particles larger than 25 micrometers to allow separation robots spray 35 milliliters
of soybean oil in a thin layer inside each half of the mold at the start of each casting cycle
by pumping out the air from inside the mold a low vacuum of 50 millibars is created at
about 1400 degrees fahrenheit a precise amount of molten metal is pumped from the holding oven into
the casting chamber of the giga press and forced into the mold using a high-speed plunger with an
additional eight milliliters of lubricant at 400 degrees celsius the mold is opened and the raw
casting is removed a robot reaches in and removes the casting which is then placed in a quenching
tank to cool it from 400 to 50 degrees celsius or from about 750 to 120 degrees fahrenheit
the approximate edges are cut with a mechanical trim press and the excess aluminum is recycled
back into the melting oven the castings remaining useful portion is x-rayed to
check the internal structure laser trimmed drilled for fittings and computer measured for accuracy
and how did elon musk come up with this idea a tiny die-cast hot wheels toy cardis desk
allegedly inspired his latest big idea musk who is prone to wondering what the practical size range
for a die-cast vehicle is realized there was no real reason why full-size automobiles couldn't
be manufactured using the same design philosophy mr make a machine maker after all it is his entire
responsibility to find these types of competencies so while designing the radical model wide redesign
which would incorporate tesla's new generation of batteries into the chassis of the latest iteration
of the cars to roll off the assembly lines musk decided he was no longer satisfied with the rear
underbody's inclusion of 70 different parts each of these 70 components must be screwed
welded or otherwise glued to its neighbors it's a complicated and frightening process
that consumes a lot of factory floor space energy and time while also allowing for silly mistakes
sandy monroe a leading auto industry engineering consultant drove the point home when he told musk
that the back of his model 3 looked like a patchwork quilt to him later that summer the
massive machines 20 meters long and 6 meters high were installed at the company's fremont california
factory according to musk these massive giga presses which are so large that they won't fit
in the factory and must be quickly covered with a rudimentary shelter in a parking lot or reduce
the factory's robot count to 300. this reduction comes with a clear benefit for tesla in terms of
quality control and the production headache of producing and pipelining 70 different parts this
undoubtedly lowers the cost of automobiles making them more affordable to consumers fitting those 70
pieces together like a jigsaw required a complex and costly cnc or computer numerical control
process so in april 2020 elon musk announced to the world that he had purchased two of the
world's largest casting machines from the italian engineering firm idra in order to create massive
self-contained parts initially the model wise rear underbody and that's it for today's video
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