Did this fella just realalize he forgot to hit the send button 2 years later.

[Crissa]

The damage would progress through the stepped 'webbing' as you call it. Each step would absorb a certain amount of force and then the next bit any beyond that, and so on.

So just like with welded assemblies, you cut out the crumpled pieces, and replace them.

It's no different with a gigacast.

Again, it's only repairable if it was designed so, gigacast or welded assembly.

-Crissa

 

[GnarlyDudeLive]

The damage would progress through the stepped 'webbing' as you call it. Each step would absorb a certain amount of force and then the next bit any beyond that, and so on.

So just like with welded assemblies, you cut out the crumpled pieces, and replace them.

It's no different with a gigacast.

Again, it's only repairable if it was designed so, gigacast or welded assembly.

-Crissa

I do wonder if regular sheet metal welded/bonded/glued front and rear clip actually have replacement "chunks" that can be ordered for a repairs? If not, the whole conversation really is moot, ie fix at your own risk regardless if stamped or casted.

 

[JBee]

JBee's "Community Notes" brings you Episode 69 - Debunking Forum Faun Myths

First post, of course, is the FUD that 'gigacasts can't be repaired' which is of course nonsense, since the welded assemblies have the same problems.

Oh for effs sake. Tesla sells pieces that can be bolted back on. And yes, modern welders can weld aluminum. You just have a tank of Helium and a special welding tip. It's literally the same tip you use for welding light steel so you don't burn through it.

Either way, you're cutting and rebonding. The steel assemblies are not easier to repair. Just like the gigacasting, they have to be designed to be repaired.

-Crissa

*sigh*

No. There's nothing to show here.

A bog standard, you can get at at Home Depot, welder can do aluminum.

The damage would progress through the stepped 'webbing' as you call it. Each step would absorb a certain amount of force and then the next bit any beyond that, and so on.

So just like with welded assemblies, you cut out the crumpled pieces, and replace them.

It's no different with a gigacast.

Again, it's only repairable if it was designed so, gigacast or welded assembly.

-Crissa

No that is not correct.

The cast is not the same thickness all the way through, and is designed to increase the rate of deceleration the closer it gets to the body. It all acts as a "spring" in that all of it is compressed "before" it is plastically deformed by the impact. This deformation results in the webbing splitting/deforming by the impact energy, and some of it being transferred to the cabin. This is because the rest of the vehicle also has to decelerate and experiences 100's of G's doing so.

Essentially, the whole webbing is destroyed in the process, meaning it must all be replaced, and not just a part of it with a few "welded" pieces. Sure there are a couple of cast mounting flanges that could be welded back on, but as soon as that webbing is crushed, that impact has already transferred damaging forces to the rest of the vehicle.

Simply: It is not only the front of the vehicle that experiences deceleration forces, and neither are those loads only sustained by the front of the vehicle, so even replacing the cast is questionable if the crash was too severe.

Making welding in "replacement cast pieces" completely irrelevant, as performance cannot be guaranteed, as I have stated many times now.

Have a look here at what forces are involved:
https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/car-crash-force

I also found some info from the patent with the short description by Autoevolution going like this:

"Tesla filed a patent regarding “Integrated Energy Absorbing Castings” back in July 2021, but it was only now published for all of us to review. Reading through the documents attached to this patent we recognize mega castings are not as simple as it sounds, as the new parts behave completely different in the case of an accident. To fulfill this requirement, Tesla had to design special structures for the controlled-deformation zones (crumple zones).

Contrary to extrusions and stampings, the mega castings absorb energy by generating progressive deformations and fractures in the casting. These first initiate outboard and then propagate in an inboard direction during a crash event. The progressive crush ensures robust and repeatable crash performance. It also means that after a mild crash the car can be more easily repaired by just replacing the cast structures."

So the entire cast will be replaced after a "mild" crash. No welding of the cast, no replacing parts of the cast by welding them in. It is also not the same as the welded structure the cast replaces as you claim. Remember, the bolt on crush structure in front of the cast absorbs impacts under 20mph, which is replaceable, and what EM refers to in his tweet.

It also has some images of them testing just the webbing parts of the cast separately:

Note how the webbing is deformed before the impact area crushes the webbing, even at the top on the middle image. This part of the webbing above and prior to the impact area is also already failing, by design, as this absorbs the energy as it plastically deforms and fractures the material. It's only in the lower section that the failure becomes more visible by the changing geometry.

Remember the energy has to do work in order to deform the material, similar to how huge forces are required by the gigacasting machine to inject molten hot aluminium, the crash also does this in reverse, but just using the force of impact to compress it back into a smaller geometry.

In conclusion there are no replacement cast parts to bolt or weld onto a damaged cast as you claim.

Consider this debunked.

(Alternatively, be courteous enough to other posters here and bring evidence to the contrary, that directly relates to the Tesla cast and design, and is not some "crab analogy")

 

[Bill W.]

I think that we are all getting grouchy from the extended wait for this truck to be officially released!

It would be interesting to see what type of CT-specific training the service centers are/will receive. For the existing Tesla vehicles,, they tend to replace rather than repair parts.

I dream of the day when we will know pricing/dimensions/configuration/etc. Then we will finally see what can and cannot be done with this vehicle.