November 3, 2021
Tesla's SUPER Mega casting machine
Latest news regarding Tesla's SUPER Mega casting machine is a IDRA 12,000 ton SUPER mega beast, the rumor is talking about Die-Casting the whole car structure at once, for me as a professional Die-Caster I say this will not happen! Is not that is can not be done but is the cost behind it. I will say 12,000 ton to Die-Cast machine will be enough to do the whole car frame yet the most expensive part of the the Die-Casting process is the Deburr and surface sanding process. Die-Cast process exert high pressure to the tooling and cause high erosion to the gating area. This cause heat check marks, crack lines all sort of sharp features on the casting. Althought the cost of reducing robots and stamped parts the cost of the labor intensive or intense robot after process will eat up the cost saved. Not to mention the deburr and sanding environmental control equipments and cost.
For me I think and I will recommend a front, middle, and rear chassis combination for the application. But if the goal is to Die-Cast the whole chassis at once (Un-seen part which is all underneath the car) this will be the way to go~This is the ultimate way to save cost and mass produce the chassis at once! This is going to increase Tesla's profit like a rocket launch!