5 ms·

I don't think they are, although I'm happy to be corrected if mistaken. It seems to me it's just a poorly named machine. How is this different from a press?

ainiriand 6y ago
The main difference is that in a press you have a sheet of metal that you shape in some way and in a casting machine you get molten metal in which you apply force to generate a shape.
- Judgmentality 6y ago
  Right, I understand the difference between casting and pressing. But the article frequently says "Giga Press" instead of "Giga Cast," I think they're actually referring to pressing machines and it's just not a very well researched article. There is nothing that mentions molten metal being used, and it regularly references previous pressing machines which did not take in molten metal. Again, I'm happy to be wrong here, but I'm not seeing the evidence of this being a casting machine. And I'm seeing a lot of circumstantial evidence that is indeed a press.
  - nickik 6y ago
    This is just bad naming by the company (and or Tesla). This is 100% sure a molten aluminum die casting machine. This company already makes such machines for Tesla and this is the newest one. You can find videos of machines like that being assembled right now in Berlin and Austin. And you can find videos of it working in Fremont and Shanghai. This video Tesla battery day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQfKZ5lo9dc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQfKZ5lo9dc That they have order an even bigger one has been part of investor calls and presentation. Here you see it assembled in Austin: https://youtu.be/02KR9sb5P6E?t=687 https://youtu.be/02KR9sb5P6E?t=687 You can see that it is vertical, a stamping machine stamps horizontally.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - baybal2 6y ago
      > This is 100% sure a molten aluminum die casting machine. May well be semi-solid rather than just injection casting given them bragging about "alloy not needing heat treatment"
  - pengaru 6y ago
    It's clearly performing a casting process, just watch one of the videos. Maybe they're calling it a press because the molten metal is being rammed into the mold under pressure vs. gravity. I agree that there's poor naming at play here muddying the waters.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
chiph 6y ago
A press typically works with room temperature metal, or metal hot enough to be slightly soft. The blank is placed inside, and the press comes down and crushes it into the shape dictated by the mold. Excess metal is sometimes cut off by sharp edges on the mold. A die casting process starts with molten metal, and the metal is injected under pressure to fill the die cavity. The mold is separated and the new part is removed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSyBsdJkQu8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSyBsdJkQu8 After die casting and the part cools, a press may be used to trim any excess off.
- baybal2 6y ago
  Injection casting is quite a bit newer than gravity casting, which dominated the industry until 197x-198x. Gravity casting had problem with voids, and fine features, but otherwise much more economical. Injection, or semisolid casting is much more expensive, both because of more expensive machinery, and mold expense.
  - chiph 6y ago
    Gravity casting using sand molds were, like you said, just how you did it until that time. Dad had an early 90's Saturn SL, and it's engine used the lost-foam casting process. You could see the surface texture in the metal from where the polystyrene had expanded when it was made. Sand molds weren't able to show a feature that fine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_I4_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_I4_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-foam_casting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-foam_casting
    - baybal2 6y ago
      Engine blocks are still sand cast, and there is not much need to use anything else for their production if you can nail the fluid dynamics in the mold. Only very small scooter engines I know are mold/semisold cast, everything else I know is gravity cast.

ainiriand 6y ago

The main difference is that in a press you have a sheet of metal that you shape in some way and in a casting machine you get molten metal in which you apply force to generate a shape.

Judgmentality 6y ago
Right, I understand the difference between casting and pressing. But the article frequently says "Giga Press" instead of "Giga Cast," I think they're actually referring to pressing machines and it's just not a very well researched article. There is nothing that mentions molten metal being used, and it regularly references previous pressing machines which did not take in molten metal. Again, I'm happy to be wrong here, but I'm not seeing the evidence of this being a casting machine. And I'm seeing a lot of circumstantial evidence that is indeed a press.
- nickik 6y ago
  This is just bad naming by the company (and or Tesla). This is 100% sure a molten aluminum die casting machine. This company already makes such machines for Tesla and this is the newest one. You can find videos of machines like that being assembled right now in Berlin and Austin. And you can find videos of it working in Fremont and Shanghai. This video Tesla battery day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQfKZ5lo9dc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQfKZ5lo9dc That they have order an even bigger one has been part of investor calls and presentation. Here you see it assembled in Austin: https://youtu.be/02KR9sb5P6E?t=687 https://youtu.be/02KR9sb5P6E?t=687 You can see that it is vertical, a stamping machine stamps horizontally.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - baybal2 6y ago
    > This is 100% sure a molten aluminum die casting machine. May well be semi-solid rather than just injection casting given them bragging about "alloy not needing heat treatment"
- pengaru 6y ago
  It's clearly performing a casting process, just watch one of the videos. Maybe they're calling it a press because the molten metal is being rammed into the mold under pressure vs. gravity. I agree that there's poor naming at play here muddying the waters.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

chiph 6y ago

A press typically works with room temperature metal, or metal hot enough to be slightly soft. The blank is placed inside, and the press comes down and crushes it into the shape dictated by the mold. Excess metal is sometimes cut off by sharp edges on the mold. A die casting process starts with molten metal, and the metal is injected under pressure to fill the die cavity. The mold is separated and the new part is removed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSyBsdJkQu8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSyBsdJkQu8 After die casting and the part cools, a press may be used to trim any excess off.

baybal2 6y ago
Injection casting is quite a bit newer than gravity casting, which dominated the industry until 197x-198x. Gravity casting had problem with voids, and fine features, but otherwise much more economical. Injection, or semisolid casting is much more expensive, both because of more expensive machinery, and mold expense.
- chiph 6y ago
  Gravity casting using sand molds were, like you said, just how you did it until that time. Dad had an early 90's Saturn SL, and it's engine used the lost-foam casting process. You could see the surface texture in the metal from where the polystyrene had expanded when it was made. Sand molds weren't able to show a feature that fine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_I4_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_I4_engine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-foam_casting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-foam_casting
  - baybal2 6y ago
    Engine blocks are still sand cast, and there is not much need to use anything else for their production if you can nail the fluid dynamics in the mold. Only very small scooter engines I know are mold/semisold cast, everything else I know is gravity cast.