Why Sandy is Captivated By Castings: IDRA Conference Recap

[@InnovativeSustainableSolutions]

I love the way Sandy explains cutting edge manufacturing tech in a way that even a mail delivery guy like myself can understand and appreciate

[@cengeb]

If you can understand ummmmm, asaaahhhh, aaaahhh, ummmm, aaahhhhhh, ahhhhh, uuuuuuuhhhh. His speech pattern is a sign of a possible brain defect, shorting out...

[@davidcutting]

I agree @InnovativeSustainableSolutions “If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.” ― Albert Einstein

[@Willy_Tepes]

This is the kind of topic I seldom find explained so simply. Thank you for the information.

[@MunroLive]

Glad it was helpful!

[@davidcutting]

Where is my Sandy Munro Calendar? lol@@MunroLive

[@chilzone966]

Sandy, thanks. For some reason that I can't put my fingers on, I enjoy your reasoning and explanation. Like a good old boy when you speak (a straight shooter). Casting off all the BS. OG at his best, thanks again.

[@MunroLive]

Thanks for watching!

[@budgetaudiophilelife-long5461]

🙋‍♂️SANDY,THANK YOU AND JOHN, AND ALL THE MUNRO TEAM FOR EDUCATING US 🧐💚💚💚

[@benoitgendron8880]

This is the type of content we love from Munro! Thanks

[@MunroLive]

Our pleasure!

[@danharold3087]

It looks fairly certain that we will be seeing more large casting and casting in general in manufacturing. My 'hope against logic' is they can bring the cost of cast parts down and replace some of the plastic.

[@truantray]

Casting is great for manufacturers, terrible for consumers. Not everyone wants a disposable car after a minor accidents. Munro says the casting can be repaired, but good luck with that.

[@chengcao418]

​@@truantraya bent front casting is a totalled car. If it's using sheet metal it's also not gonna be repaired. It's going to be replaced, and you don't replace "part" of the assembly because it's all welded together

[@beyondourarena2207]

@@truantray casting aluminium part repaired? How? theses parts are just a piece of crap if damaged, that all. Real world is not "hollywood"... 😂

[@drdanny3900]

Casting is fairly common in general manufacturing. A lot of boat motors have their engine blocks, propellers, and other components die casted

[@MrXbloodline]

Do you guys work at a body shop or build cars cause your sure talking like your all pro fabricating 😂 most vehicles can be repaired easily it's the scam service we are required to pay that doesn't fix things.

[@nedwulin4646]

Amazing! Thanks, Sandy!

[@ResumedPausing]

The moment you mentioned it's like a forging, my interest went from a bit interested to extremely interested. Looking forward to seeing this in full-scale production applications!

[@seancollins9745]

high pressure die casting produces very dense parts. More akin to billet than sand casting etc.

[@alexnutcasio936]

Q: at this time, are both ends of the Model Y gig casted or just the rear?

[@fred993a]

Thank you Sandy for an excellent education.

[@piperofsimms]

That was nerdy, interesting, informative, exciting, and Tesla positive. We love you Sandy !

[@__--JY-Moe--__]

great 2 see all the trimmings & fix'n's! glad 2 know U had a chance to examine & educate @ this expo! looks great Sandy! good luck!

[@daviddunne1006]

Sandy, you are the man! .. a big Thank You to all the Munro team (past & present) for the information you have supplied over the years, helping us "Retail Investors" be more informative about the future of transport. Aussie fan.

[@Georgewilliamherbert]

Thanks for staying engaged in the manufacturing engineering space and bringing us new directions that tools and processes are going.

[@LegendaryInfortainment]

Thanks Munro & Co., for another memorable Sandy moment. That was really impactful. I was thinking the savings in Universal Currency [time] over the lifetime of a stamping-free operation must be simply staggering.

[@Kangenpower7]

I used to work in a 750,000 square foot lock manufacturing facility, and we had delron machines and die casting zinc parts. The magnisium casting you are showing looks a lot like the delron machines we had, but of course plastic delron melts at only about 600F. They still used a 350 amp 480 volt power to run all of those electric heaters around the mold pump area. This is why I was thinking that the Texas Gaga press can not operate until after the electrical upgrades are completed. The building I worked in, they had 3 each 4,000 amp 480 volt bussbars that ran everything in the plant. The National Electric code dictates that most buildings only have one electrical service. However Tesla needs to run 4,000 amps at 480 volts in several locations around their plant, and another 2,000 for the chargers, and many other buildings with a lot of electrical power. At one point, Weiser Lock was offered to bill them at 66,000 volts instead of billing at 480 volts, and the power utility would reduce our overall rates if we agreed to be billed at the higher voltage rate (and paid for any loss that the transformer is consuming). I wonder if Tesla will also be billed at a higher voltage, and then they can put together all of their Mega packs and the high voltage distribution system, so maybe 12,000 volt power is sent from the new power distribution panel to several 4,000 amp output 480 volt output transformers locate in several locations in the plant. So they can reduce the amount of 480 volt distribution systems they install. Looking at your display, and knowing a Delron machine will take 350 amps, the giga press seems to be over 3,000 amps at 480 volts, or maybe they are feeding it 4,160 volts (a common industrial power). Tesla wants to cycle their giga press to produce 1 body casting each minute or so. So they need enough heating capacity to melt that much material each minute! So that can take a LOT of power. The 68 each Mega packs putting out 1 MW each for 4 hours, that is a example of a lot of power. The Giga press is going to take a LOT of power. If Tesla requires 2 minutes per casting, that means they will need to presses for each casting, so that one can be produced on press #1, and the second one on press #2, so they can put out 1 per minute. Then if they have 2 castings per truck, that means the front and back are going to need their own press. If it takes a 100 KW electric heater to melt 10 pounds of material per minute, (I actually have no clue how many KW it takes to melt that much material) you could guess how many KW is needed to melt the casting over 100 pounds! For the production year 2024, if they can only make 1 casting every 2-3 minutes, they can keep making the trucks at 1 per minute for a single 8 or 10 hour shift each day. They will need to run the casting machine over 18 hours a day, to support that 8 hour long shift of truck production. Then once they are able to install more presses, they can make the castings on two machines if they need to. If each truck requires 100 pounds of cast materials, and they are building 100,000 in 50 weeks, that is 2,000 per week, or 40 hours is 50 per hour. So 50 trucks X 100 pounds is a lot of material being brought into the factory each day! 5,000 pounds per hour, 200,000 pounds per week. Maybe they can use a gas fired melting system to pre-heat the material to almost the melting point, then feed the material into the press that is located below the metal pre-heat system. My guess is the parts that must be cut off and recycled would be about 15% to 25% of the weight of the finished casting. So if the total weight of the casting is 100 pounds, then 115 to 125 pounds of melted material is injected into the mold, and the 125 pound casting then goes to a press that will shear off any excess material, and that excess material can return to the casting process (if the size is correct). So when I see the megapacks working in Tesla, then I will know that the new 480 volt transformers are going to be in place, and the giga press can get started at melting a lot of material each hour, and make a casting every minute on each casting machine. If the castings take 2 minutes per cycle, then Tesla will need to have about 400 of the castings sitting around at the start of each shift, and they can run the whole shift, while the casting machines will take 16 = 18 hours to produce the castings to be used the next day. If the castings only take 1 minute or less, then they will not need to build up any stock of them on the factory floor for the next day's production. If it does keep taking 2 minutes per casting, then Tesla will need to install more of them to bring the production down to 1 per minute with several presses. Once they can produce at the rate of 1 per minute (maybe with two presses per part), then Tesla can start to produce the trucks in 2 consecutive shifts per day, or get to about 225,000 per year. This is said to be by the end of 2025, according to Tesla news release. For those who say "Why not make 250,000 or 300,000 trucks per year? The answer is they can not add seconds to the day. They can only make 1 per minute, and not get more minutes in a 8 hour long shift, and actually with a couple of 15 minute bathroom breaks, they only get about 50 per hour. For those who say speed up the production line!. Well lets consider you are the one installing 4 bolts into each door, say you get the front passenger side, and have 60 seconds to attach the door, then run back to the next truck behind this one, attach that door, and do it all over again every 60 seconds. A very large work out every hour of every day! Sandy has seen a production run at 45 seconds in Germany, but we do not have slave drivers in America.

[@kylerobinson7572]

Thanks for sharing this information!!!

[@moe85moe85]

Sandy sitting , showing printed out pages of slides to the camera is classic - great content

[@martingardens]

It's a casting party!

[@jrockerstein]

Keep it up Sandy! Great work!

[@paulappleyard5832]

I struggle to see why all of a sudden people have become fixated with casting like it's a new thing in cars. Front end/rear castings were about when I started out 20 years ago especially with aluminium framed vehicles. The only new thing is the size of the castings based on someone willing to invest in larger (experimental'ish) scaled up machines. The industry is conservative and risking a product launch for a potentially risky technology leaves you with $200-300m investment that you may have to retool because one component doesn't get to the quality you need. Now someone has taken the risk and proved it can work we will see more go this way as the cost and structure benefits are worth it. Well done to all those involved in taking the risk and pushing.

[@gregtaylor9945]

Great explination and thank you for sharing the knowledge!

[@MunroLive]

Thank you for watching!

[@TechboyUK]

I know very little about engineering, but I do find that Sandy and others talk about fascinating!

[@TyphoonVstrom]

I have a 70 year old tractor in my back yard with a cast magnesium transmission housing. It will be interesting to see what the rapid increase in demand for magnesium, which is not a terribly easy metal to source, does to it's price. Everything old is new again.

[@batchint]

one of the top views selection for some time…. well done sandy… 🎉

[@jbarvideo12]

Sandy, Your analysis and redesign of car factories using casting are amazing and well appreciated! Look forward how or if Tesla will use Thixotropic molding.

[@spadjustersshubert2872]

Another great video Sandy thanks again 👍

[@MunroLive]

Thanks again!

[@edoardobursi2953]

Many of the technologies shown are sourced from Italy! Way to go for the Italian mechanical engineering sector!!!

[@jamesvandamme7786]

They use the same machine to fill cannolis

[@edoardobursi2953]

@@jamesvandamme7786 and Alfredo's maccheronis

[@chrisheath2637]

Yup - it's a giant Pasta machine - likea my motha used to have !

[@chetanburman2514]

Great video! Thanks Sandy 🙏🏻

[@MunroLive]

Thanks for watching!

[@briantyrrell3657]

Great explanation. I don't hear people talking about magnesium very often so its nice to hear your opinion on the material as it relates to automotive parts produced by that screw casting machine.

[@davidcutting]

That seating position when the video first opened would make a lovely calendar picture. Sandy Stroking paintwork etc. Where is my calendar take my money.

[@DennisMathias]

Why do I keep thinking about caulking and epoxy guns?? You remind me of Ross Perot with his charts. Very well done, Sandy!

[@micha-ix1iy]

Any insights on Teslas plans regarding Thixotropic molding, given they were industry-leading with their giga-castings and it seems like it would be a great addition to their casting machines? I only saw a Mercedes-Benz interior in the slides - so i'm assuming MB is kinda leading the pack here?

[@aomurdock]

I'm sure that Tesla will or has already evaluated Thixotropic molding. If a new technique comes along that saves cost, time & money, I'm Elon will be on it!

[@realestatenow]

Thank you for the info and video. I also appreciate your efforts are making companies more efficient and therefore helping us see lower prices in the future.

[@1944chevytruck]

Thanks 4 video!

[@MunroLive]

Our pleasure!

[@MashDaddy]

Sandy really stepped up his game in this video, well prepared, excellent explanations of processes and the costs involved. Cory who?

[@williamwoo866]

Thanks Sandy more I learn as always

[@danneil8778]

great stuff, Sandy, thank you.

[@MunroLive]

You are so welcome!

[@chrisheath2637]

Who would have thought I would ever be interested in car manufacturing ? Sandy does it again....

[@sebassanchezc-1379]

Everything will be made that way

[@CiaranMcHale]

Well, not quite everything. I mean, I don't see that could be used to make blueberry muffins. ;-)

[@hodor3024]

Ram a blueberrry-dough slurry into a hot, muffin-shaped mold.

[@CiaranMcHale]

@@hodor3024 I stand corrected! Remind me not to eat at any restaurant you might own.

[@ThisRandomUsername]

Can you go into how you avoid galvanic corrosion when bonding steel, aluminium and carbon fibre?

[@MashDaddy]

Coated metal held with fasteners, no worries fibre

[@ThisRandomUsername]

@@MashDaddy I've heard that Carbon Fibre is one of the worst things when bonding to metals because it's quite noble, so the metals corrode instead. If you look at Street Bandito's videos they warn against this contact adamantly. Also, what about the fasteners that punch through the metal layers for fastening? I've seen this in how Tesla bonds their steel and Alu parts.

[@Omnis2]

Thanks for sharing and whatnot

[@kdenyer1]

Nice to hear the future 😊

[@flymypg]

What about material costs of steel vs cast aluminum vs TPI magnesium? Do the waste and labor reductions overwhelm the differences in raw material costs? What about capital costs?

[@ArabicLearning-MahmoudGa3far]

Thank you very much

[@MunroLive]

You are welcome

[@SuperYellowsubmarin]

Thixomolding in magnesium has a huge potential. Would love to see more of it out there.

[@alexnutcasio936]

At this time, are both ends of the Model Y gig casted or just the rear?

[@MotorCityMoments]

Nicely done.

[@MunroLive]

Thanks!

[@TurnRacing]

WOW so good thank you for sharing

[@MoreFormosa]

amazing new tech, love it

[@arlindbanushi]

Second time Sandy comes to Brescia and I still miss it.

[@petersimms4982]

Totally honest 😊

[@RMJTOOLS]

So magnesium parts in an EV? The same ones that seem to be spontaneously combusting? Does 595 have a “Fire Proof” magnesium alloy?

[@runeklok]

There is a company in Jackson, Michigan that I'd recommend you visit Sandy. They have the largest (production) thixomolding in the US. I'd recommend you see it and look at the casting quality.

[@RogerM88]

There's a big issue many BEV Automakers aren't focused about besides some cases as BMW with the i3 and i8...weight! Big casting pieces are for production costs savings, as improve assembly time. But doesn't offer significant weight savings, crucial for BEVs.

[@Aershig]

Great information as usual. Is this technology available from domestic (U.S.) companies?

[@tatradak9781]

Fascinating subject....is stainless 314 or 316 compatible with magnesium?

[@rogerlafrance6355]

I think geodedic castings with composite skin or filling a possibility as a next step. Some talk of repair, modern bonding methods can deal with that. That leads to the concept of glue on styling.

[@davidjohnson2001]

Dr Sandy can you address the Cost of Repairs for Giga Casting vs OG.....

[@vancity2349]

Toyota should be thanking you Sandy!

[@ssharkkkkkk]

Thanks for this video very interesting. Could you please make a video about casting repairs - there is a concern that with wider adoption of castings repair costs after crashes would significantly increase and with that also insurance and the number of write-off cases after less severe crashes.

[@lesbendo6363]

Sandy, amazing technology. Amazing world we live in if only we don't f@#k it up! 🇨🇦

[@howdy3423]

Is the thixo molding stronger than die cast because it improves the alignment of the grain structure? Thanks Sandy

[@StopTheBurn]

Casting for near future production. Listen to Uncle Sandy!

[@Andrei-ng2yz]

I would love to see a more in-depth review of this in terms of repairability and cost of repair for the owner...

[@johntrotter8678]

Any idea why Tesla did not shift to gigacasts for refreshed S and X? And why not a front cast on the refreshed Model 3?

[@brucec954]

Probably not for S and X because they are low volume.

[@makerspace533]

NRE

[@3dkiwi920]

I love hearing Sandy stumble his way through describing a process he's only barely grasped himself.

[@TeslaElonSpaceXFan]

😍

[@mymelt1770]

Eye opening stuff…

[@paulkieffer1189]

Thanks sandy & munro!!!

[@-LightningRod-]

super interesting

[@MunroLive]

Glad you think so!

[@-LightningRod-]

@@MunroLive the Future is so very bright for all of us if we can only realize the danger all of us are facing,..the cars, the stars all of which now seem to be in our reach , i think could literally be ripped away from us if we do NOT address the externalized costs of what we have already built.. This type of process, appears to me anyways so very efficient and necessary to continue our march into the 21stCentury. You are a LEADER in 21stCentury progressive manufacturing MrMunro, what YOU think matters. What YOU choose to bring to the forefront and our attentions is important if we intend to survive what i think is coming for us all. I always believed that Tesla, as forward thinking as the Juggernaut is, well, ..it doesn't have to build just cars now, ... does it?

[@Greggertruck]

Could you get Sandy to do a release price estimate video for Cybertruck?

[@Steph1]

Is magnesium available easily/cheaply in large quantities?

[@WANDERER0070]

That was GIGA interesting

[@Gabriankle]

I visited the 595° website and they have a Fire-Resistant Magnesium alloy and exclusive license to use it. This alleviates my one concern about Mg. Looks like it's go go go!

[@darylfortney8081]

But doesn’t magnesium burn aggressively? Would it be a safety concern during an EV battery fire?

[@Saoldric]

Yes, pure magnesium does. But when its alloyed with other metals, its percentage is low enough to not be a problem.

[@swhbpocl]

King!

[@oasiasoasiaso]

Interesting 👍

[@edwarddejong8025]

My father made products via aluminum casting. One thing about cast parts is that they are not repairable. Once you have a crack in an aluminum part you gotta scrap it. If car companies make these entire rear ends as one casting, any fender bender is going to cost a fortune. As i learned in my materials class at MIT, Steel is the only material that has the unique property of strength, and localized plastic deformation that allows it to absorb so much energy without shattering. Fiber composites are the only materials that surpass steel in strength, and of course in race cars and exotics carbon fiber is all over the place. Aluminum castings are cheap - great for the manufacturer - but not a step forward for the consumer. Cars need to last 30 years now, and if insurance prices are reflective of repair costs, Tesla is already terrible at repairability. So i don't see these giant castings as the panacea that so many people think they are.

[@stephen8623]

Sandy, I always enjoy your extremely informative presentations. Better, cheaper, and faster.

[@TunekoLtd]

That slur casting sounds like things that Gissco is also doing. I am hoping making my car wheels in that format. They are going towards 450 Mpa

[@randyhyland847]

What about the fire risk of Magnesium? Cool tech but nobody wants to be in the middle of a magnesium fire.

[@willykang1293]

Geely was the second one had gone to bigger Giga casting followed by Tesla, I remembered…

[@4literv6]

I thought the Cadillac ct6 used some impressive castings or at least the prototypes did? I think the celestiq is supposed to have a couple large casts as well. Plus the nio etc5 has a single large rear casting since being introduced.

[@nickmcconnell1291]

Gee.... didn't my 1968 VW bus tranny have a cast magnesium case?

[@freeaccess5905]

Good content and thanks for sharing it with us. I have couple of questions: Does the flammability of Mg have any issues? It is much less flammable in larger castings, but is it an area of concern? Is it feasible to use the MIM (Metal powder Injection Molding) for any of these parts? The pressures are much lower and it can be used for very complex parts similar to plastic molding. They just need to compensate for the shrinkage as the binder is sublimed off and sintering fuses the powder metal together. Not sure that it is practical for large parts.

[@robertroberts5218]

This reminds me of when the allied forces world war II examined shot down German aircraft to discovered that they were pressing big parts rather than assembling multiple small parts to achieve the same assembly. So the Germans got better equipment manufactured faster and cheaper and that really woke up the Western manufacturing eyes. The advantage over 10 snips metal brakes rivets and welds was tremendous. 80 years later and the automotive industry in some parts still hasn't figured out the advantages.

[@Poxenium]

My question to all engineers out there is: what comes after castings? What's the next manufacturing technology after Tesla makes the car out of one casting with PU foam/plastic on it, as panels?

[@jamesvandamme7786]

Hot Wheels has been making them like that for years.

[@chrisheath2637]

Huge 3D printers with multiple materials....print the wiring with the car...metals and plastic....

[@damfadd]

Hemp? Henry Ford created a car with hemp ...got with a sledge hammer it bounced off ...no damage ...remind you of some car ???...don't know how the hemp car went with bullets tho

[@ricinro]

The current limitation is speed but multiple heads, foaming techniques, fiber knitting and others I am failing to imagine could replace some manufacturing techniques if they can make parts quickly (in a matter of seconds rather than hours)@@chrisheath2637

[@MrXbloodline]

Because soon we will be able to a whole car body hust like a matchbox car. Man the future is going to be cool if the government doesn't mess it up

[@alfedtron9043]

how many floor sweepers do you have

[@musingsbymarco5001]

Italianni sanno della grande forza!

[@pawek9528]

I believe this casts craking nearly like a glass, unfixable car body?

[@AndyRRR0791]

When is someone going to try overmoulding stamped sheet parts, potentially to "glue" multiple stamped panel structures together?

[@LeptonSlinger]

In the past it seemed people kept saying that casting would lead to lighter vehicles as well. However recently, that narrative seems to have changed. The evidence is a 7,000 lb Cybertruck, and no change to the new Model Y weight over previous versions. Would you comment on this? Is this simply teething pains for this new technology, or is this a better fact for all cast parts?

[@rogercrier9115]

I would have thought that the 3mm thick stainless steel body, and the bigger battery and bigger tyres might muddy the waters on your weight calcs? Not to mention the biggest windshield and wiper😯 I'm sure they will address at least some of the weight down the line. They recently had a go punching holes in the bodywork, but the bullets wouldn't work!

[@crazydrifter13]

Aren't we all captivated by castings 😂? My only doubts are repairability with all the glue and castings...I hear a small fender bender could easily turn into a write off which isn't great for insurance prices, the environment and really anyone else too.

[@TheEvilmooseofdoom]

People keep thinking the exterior body panels are the parts being cast.

[@crazydrifter13]

@@TheEvilmooseofdoom I'm not one of those people

[@alexnutcasio936]

2:40 Sandy creating his own paper offal 😮

[@andreandre1051]

👍👍

[@magamike1800]

Didnt talk about energy use.

[@dog_leg]

I don't know how I would feel about having solid magnesium parts in an EV. Have fire hazard experiments been done in conjunction with a fully charged battery? My fear is that it would burn so fast and hot, it would melt through the battery and cause an explosion.

[@nononsenseBennett]

Still waiting for an all plastic (FRP) chasis.

[@WANDERER0070]

Didnt Lotus made those ?

[@FrankieShovels]

But then it wouldn't rust out and you wouldn't have to replace it every 15 years

[@joebachmeier6747]

Lol. Doesn't magnesium burn alot better too, i dont really know.

[@antegcabo]

7:40 - Aluminum & aluminium in the same sentence?

[@zodiacfml]

congrats on your success suggesting castings to Tesla but castings already feel old. Problem with castings is size and weight and the expensive tool. I think the future is going back to steel but new with car designs that are boxier or monolithic. The Cybertruck throws out many conventional car engineering and design and there's a lot of opportunity.