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

GnarlyDudeLive

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Crissa

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Wow, yeah, Tesla already has been proven it can churn out cars faster than other automakers.

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.

They probably got the go-ahead for this article on the already debunked rumor that Tesla is using underbody castings for the battery pack - turns out it was a bad translation from Tesla using the rear gigacasting at Giga Shanghai.

-Crissa

My friend who I traded snow tires with for his Leaf going to BC Canada and back works for Yahoo ^-^

I forget what he's got now... I think it's the Kia? He's gone through several EVs, either reselling and/or renting them on Turo.
 

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Wow, yeah, Tesla already has been proven it can churn out cars faster than other automakers.

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.

They probably got the go-ahead for this article on the already debunked rumor that Tesla is using underbody castings for the battery pack - turns out it was a bad translation from Tesla using the rear gigacasting at Giga Shanghai.

-Crissa

My friend who I traded snow tires with for his Leaf going to BC Canada and back works for Yahoo ^-^

I forget what he's got now... I think it's the Kia? He's gone through several EVs, either reselling and/or renting them on Turo.
Steel welded assemblies dont really have the same problems. Has there ever been any evidence of a repair shop actually welding an aluminum casting as a certified repair though? I doubt it will be common practice as welding cracked aluminum (let alone a casting) is much less of a certainty than welding steel. Aluminum is just much more brittle and I am very doubtful that repair shops will take that liability. A ton of people can weld steel. Tons. A much smaller amount are qualified to weld aluminum and it is very very tricky on casting. Munro was shooting from the hip with that comment on how easy it would be to tig weld aluminum. I have welded aluminum. Unlike steel that acts soupy and gelatinous and gives you some warning that it is about to become plastic and when it does it still stays fairly cohesive, aluminum turns fluid, like water, and it happens very quickly. You could risk melting away the casting all together especially if the thickness varied. Its more likely that they will try to braze the aluminum casting and often the brazing alloy is stronger than the material being brazed but it will always remain compromised. And on organic casting shapes with difficult to discern force vectors its harder to be confident in a repair. Whereas, welding a 90 degree angle on a tube steel frame that is very likely replacing or repairing an existing weld there can be a high level of confidence in the repair.

All that to say, we are at an awkward place in auto manufacturing with the transitions to aluminum castings. If they do start to tend to drive up the frequency of totaling the vehicle due to casting failures, which seems likely as it is just a new harder to repair technology, it may drive up insurance cost until the repair shops and techniques are better adapted or until the casting technologies have truly driven down the price of cars so the cost of replacement isn't as costly, which does seem to be in line with what we are seeing.

But I get that's hard to hear for the Tesla Diehards. I would be happy to have any one of those facts accurately disputed.
 

Crissa

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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
 

JBee

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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
You so don't know anything at all what you're talking about.

Show your work otherwise.

Aluminium is hard to work on, beyond most shops capabilities to repair, with no guarantee if the outcome is successful. That alone pushes the repair price up, because nearly no-one will do it for liability reasons.

And welding castings is doubly hard.

If you had any experience at all with it, you would know and not spew such rubbish.
 

Crissa

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*sigh*

No. There's nothing to show here.

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


Doubly hard? Nope.

You still need the assembly to have been designed with repair in mind. Gigacasting or welded steel.

-Crissa
 
OP
OP

GnarlyDudeLive

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You so don't know anything at all what you're talking about.

Show your work otherwise.

Aluminium is hard to work on, beyond most shops capabilities to repair, with no guarantee if the outcome is successful. That alone pushes the repair price up, because nearly no-one will do it for liability reasons.

And welding castings is doubly hard.

If you had any experience at all with it, you would know and not spew such rubbish.
Tesla Model 2 Did this fella just realalize he forgot to hit the send button 2 years later. 1696814450272


From 3 years ago and not including additional improvements. As I understand it the design of the castings now allow this in additional sections as well. I recall something about there are specific markings or templates to be used to guide where to cut when doing casting repairs. Because of FUD such as the above. Notably, Tesla has been pushing their own insurance programs out so that unaware insurance companies and repair facilities with low skill employees don't become an issue in the life cycle of Tesla vehicles.
 

Chris9702L

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You so don't know anything at all what you're talking about.

Show your work otherwise.

Aluminium is hard to work on, beyond most shops capabilities to repair, with no guarantee if the outcome is successful. That alone pushes the repair price up, because nearly no-one will do it for liability reasons.

And welding castings is doubly hard.

If you had any experience at all with it, you would know and not spew such rubbish.
it is not that hard. The group I belong to does a lot of welding on aluminum boats. It just takes practice and patience to have good results.
 

JBee

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1696814450272.png


From 3 years ago and not including additional improvements. As I understand it the design of the castings now allow this in additional sections as well. I recall something about there are specific markings or templates to be used to guide where to cut when doing casting repairs. Because of FUD such as the above. Notably, Tesla has been pushing their own insurance programs out so that unaware insurance companies and repair facilities with low skill employees don't become an issue in the life cycle of Tesla vehicles.
If you would identify what the crash absorbsion rails are, you would know they aren't a part of the cast.

Give me cast specific info and I'll beleive you. The front crash tubes are only good for impacts up to 5-20mph if both are impacted evenly, like on any other modern car.

With a cast you can't tell where it has microfractures, without complete disassembly and a specific x-ray machine.
 

JBee

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it is not that hard. The group I belong to does a lot of welding on aluminum boats. It just takes practice and patience to have good results.
Do you weld structural aluminium casts with high single point dynamic loads? Would be a funny looking boat. ?

We're not talking 2D plates that are simply over dimensioned to get the engineering strength, rather finely tuned 3D casts that are designed to the minimum to save weight.

Note, contrary to common belief, in MY/M3 the casts are heavier than the folded and welded steel parts they replace.

Also note we are talking about repairs in the context of that the insurance allows. This is important, as it doesn’t cover conventional welding shops.
 
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JBee

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*sigh*

No. There's nothing to show here.

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


Doubly hard? Nope.

You still need the assembly to have been designed with repair in mind. Gigacasting or welded steel.

-Crissa
Why are you so bent on proving me right? ;)

My statement was you don't know what you are talking about, and you continue to prove it with your 5second retorts.

Put some effort into it at least.
 
 
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