1y ago

Leaked Email Shows Elon Musk Demanding "Sub 10 Micron Accuracy” Cybertruck Parts

jalopnik.com Leaked Email Shows Elon Musk Demanding "Sub 10 Micron Accuracy” Cybertruck Parts

Tesla is facing issues with the bare metal construction of the Cybertruck, which Elon Musk warned was as tricky to do as making Lego bricks

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10 microns is .4 thou, about the width of a cotton fiber. Its possible to machine those tolerances, but very time consuming as machine maintainance steps up. Its also small enough that the thermal expansion of the sheets will be larger than that
- So basically elon would rather dump money into expensive equipment to improve build quality than do the thing that's actually needed to improve build quality and pay his workers what their work is worth and make their factory environment safer?
  This is the kind of petty angry bullshit you have to do to be a billionaire. Its not about being smart, it's about on some level hating everyone that isn't you
  
  Making a lot of assumptions about what he's willing to put into this.
  He's not going to get fancy expensive new equipment, he's not going to hire the best machinists, he's not going to slow the work down to allow that kind of accuracy. He's going to bluster and shout and make demands without providing any way of actually achieving those demands. That's what Elon does. He's not an Engineer, he doesn't design things, he doesn't build things, he tells people who actually know what they're doing to build something. Here, he's just saying "Do better" without anything more, and expecting that to be enough because he doesn't actually know shit about dick.
  Frankly the closest I've seen to evidence that Elon has ever actually designed anything is the eyesore that is the Cybertruck, because it absolutely looks like something that cretin would draw in crayon and demand be made a reality.
  
  This is the very first thing I thought of when I saw cybertruck
  
  It's design demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of what trucks are for. I know people give the CEO of Ford shit for saying hes not worried about the Cybertruck because people who want to do real work wouldn't take any interest in it, but its true. Trucks all have the shape of bed they do for a reason. Convergent product evolution landed on that as the best shape for a bed for trailer hitches
  
  Actually, anyone else notice how comically small most truck beds are nowadays? So embarrassing.
  
  Very true, and very annoying. Anytime I see thst all I can think is that its a family sedan for someone not confident enouf in their manhood
  
  Also for shitty drivers. Many people buy large trucks so they don't have to drive decently.
  
  And then they don't know where the front end of their vehicle is, making the roads more dangerous for everyone
  
  I mean… I literally bought a Ford Maverick because it was like a four door family car with the added bonus of a truck bed for many of the purposes I would have wanted a truck for.
  
  Maverick gets a pass for being a small hybrid rather than a gas guzzling 1500 with no torque
  
  Oh you mean those SUVs with the open-air trunks?
  
  Reminds me of Bill Burr https://youtu.be/E3s-qZsjK8I?si=YKykzYsFt7lnPC6g
  
  I love the uncomfortable silence. He makes really good use of it too. I've seen him do that several times and it's always hilarious to me.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/E3s-qZsjK8I?si=YKykzYsFt7lnPC6g
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
  
  Lol, never saw that bit before. Bill Burr is an absolute treasure.
  
  Harsh, but fair 😂
  
  You aren't going to hit that tolerance consistently on an assembly line no matter how much you pay. Can be done by a skilled machinist, but there are too many dynamical variables in an assembly line environment, like the previously mentioned thermal expansion.
  
  I guess they could do like Nissan did with the GTR's engine: climate controlled assembly bay, temperature check on the parts etc...
  But I mean, they did it only for the engine which is relatively small
  
  It's not even about that. You absolutely don't need those tolerances for a cup holder. An assembly line will fuck it up regardless. You use tolerances like that when needed - in jet engines or turbines. Insisting on those numbers on a car is plain stupid - it isn't better (other than the ego boosting "my car has high tolerances where nobody cares") than just doing it like every other manufacturer does it. It's a waste of money plain and simple.
  
  For reference, in working with parts that interface directly with optical components about the tightest I'm ever comfortable specifying at production volumes is 0.05mm and that is for very specific dimensions and not entire parts yet he is demanding 5 times lower tolerances here.
  
  What I meant is that Elon has set a fairly un-achievable standard, as the sheet metal parts he is talking about will grow and shrink by more than that depending on weather. Additionaly, the small parts can be machined to that tolerance, but only by a skilled machinist and not at assembly line levels.
  
  Besides just thermal expansion, which will totally happen by driving on the road, the rotation of the motors and the use of brakes.
  It will also flex as it hits bumps and takes turns.
  And these will be different metals. With different thicknesses which will expand and contract at different rates.
- Which just shows he has no idea how tolerances work. Small machined parts have different tolerances than large stamped parts. The key is setting the right tolerances for each part, designing the vehicle for desired gaps with those tolerances, and continuous improvement to fix and design out issues.
  
  None at all. He also doesn't understend that the issues tesla has faced are largely due to poor process design rather than automotive design. The plans may call for small gaps ore big gaps, but they certainly don't call for iconsistent gaps
- Imagine measuring door panels on a granite block in a climate controlled room, and sending it off to the surface grinder for rework. 🤣 Or sending the frame off to get scraped. Truly, this is the most idiotic idea on the planet and it's all because he didn't care about tolerances early on. His self own has turned into whatever the hell this crap was.
- I can confirm this
  Machinist here.
  .004 ? That is exagerated but .0004 this is insane
  This is not a airplane engine !!!!

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