It's All About Efficiency

Interesting… it’s a different process, that also affect the physical metallurgy of the metal. So the end effect whether it’s strength, durability only time will tell.

Agreed! I've always considered aluminum castings to be rather brittle, but perhaps they have such things as temperatures, pressures, and flow rates controlled in such a way that the end results are more like extrusions than like typical castings.

My response was lighthearted… and why I posted OT.

When I was in college. They were changing their curriculum. The course requirements, the Schiller was changing Physical Metallurgy from a requirement to a elective… as well as dropping g Tool Design all together.

i also like the new course replacements… Electrical Controls for Machines.

fortunately, I was in a position where I was able to take the classes as well as the new curriculum being offered.… and apply it to another degree.

I initially thought Physical Metallurgy would be boring, but it wasn’t. It was applications, with a lot of lab work… right to Destructive and NDT.

I don't doubt that the castings themselves are up to the job for the lifetime of the cars.

But I do wonder about the fore and aft joins where the center piece connects to the front and rear sections.

The center piece is where the batteries are stored and it's also where the passengers sit so that center piece is by far the heaviest of the 3 pieces of the entire chassis and that is going to place massive loads where the fore and aft sections join the center piece.

That might make those fore and aft joins vulnerable over time.

Knowing this, I think it's inevitable they are going to have to make a machine that can press the entire chassis in one single piece.

https://electrek.co/2017/08/22/tesla-model-3-body-alloy-mix/

Excellent links!Thanks!

I thought it was being born into money and taking credit for other people's work.

Money doesn't come with any guarantee of success, it's just a tool, and a damn tricky one at that...People sell their skills in the open market for an agreed upon price, if you sell me your car, you can't go around saying it's still yours, it's mine, I bought and paid for it...that's just how it works...

Not according to the manufacturers.They still own the software,and it will not run without it.You cannot own anything.If you don't pay taxes,it will be confiscated.

When you die,it is distributed according to your will(sometimes).

We can only borrow things for a while,we can never really own them.

If you get enough pissed off people, you can outlaw the practice...as far as property taxes, the state does need a legal way of dealing with abandoned property, somehow to repossess and sell back into the market properties that have been left without a legal owner....also to generate funds for local infrastructure, unless you want dirt roads, no electricity, no city water and sewerage, no police, no phones, no public schools...well you get the idea, if you want a nice town to live in, that costs money, who will pay if not you....

I am sure that the technology is far from reaching an end point.The future may hold heated molds,that are nearly the melting point of the metal to increase flow ability,if they are not already doing it.

Tesla has hired the best in the field of expertise as did Howard Hughes.Hughes inherited a tooling company from his father,and when he took over,he hired the top graduate from Harvard,who suggested that instead of selling drill bits to the oil companies,he should lease them.Even if a bit broke off underground,he still got paid for it.The oil companies wrote it off as expenses,and the rest is history.The company is still getting paid for drill bits that were broken many years ago.

Having money to start is good,but innovation is the key to success.

And Tesla is an innovator.