Elon Musk says ‘we dug our own grave’ with the Cybertruck as he warns Tesla faces enormous production challenges::Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday that the Cybertruck’s unique design means the company faces immense challenges in scaling production.

  • pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Wasn’t he the one who made a bunch of ridiculous demands? This car seems like it was designed by Homer Simpson.

  • bitsplease@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    That’s weird, I could have sworn he said that they nearly had all the issues sorted out and that it was coming next month… Trying to remember when he said that… 2021?

    • dragontamer@lemmy.world
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      I’ve been doing PCB-board design recently. Here’s the manufactuering specs: https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/dkred

      So that’s 0.13mm tolerances to my printed-circuit board. Or 130 microns.


      Current leading theory is that Elon Musk is such an ignorant dumbass that he doesn’t know the difference between mils and microns, despite running a car company / manufacturing firm. Give that a thought. Even then, 10-mils tolerance is near this PCB design, an object that’s only a few inches in size. Cars are much larger and normally should be built to much wider tolerances than a fucking PCB board.

      • Red_October@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s almost like Elon Musk is a complete fucking moron and not an Engineer. The wanker has never actually designed a thing in his life. He just tells other people to design something, or buys an existing company, then struts around like he thinks he’s the smartest thing around.

        • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          He was fired for being incompetent. Only got rich because rich daddy and because he got lucky with stocks

      • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        If he said <10 mils, I’d might have bought the explanation that Elon actually meant millimetres. Micron is a very specific metric-based unit which to Elon might have been trying to use like a buzzword.

        The moral of the story is don’t say stupid engineering stuff if you don’t want engineers to laugh at you.

        • macrocephalic@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          And 10 microns at what temperature? Because on something the size of a car, made of mixed materials, thermal expansion of less than a degree is going to blow that figure.

          They couldn’t apply paint to a tolerance of 10microns.

          • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Yeah and that wouldn’t be too bad either… still expensive but not completely unrealistic for ALL parts of a car.

            • PsychedSy@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              Kinda unreasonable for the number of cast parts most cars use, but for machined surfaces it shouldn’t be too bad.

      • polle@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        I recently listened to a podcast about musk which was more on the anti side. The podcast had some parts about spacex and musks own work ethics, which told more of a story that he actually has some insights and knowledge and was a insane workoholic. Which shifted my perception of him. He isn’t dumb, he is a really good conman.

    • kautau@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Lmao “if Lego and soda cans can do this, so can we.” At least he found materials similar to his existing vehicle build quality

    • piecat@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      “At this point I think I know more about manufacturing than anyone currently alive on Earth.”

      • nomecks@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Cool. Build 10 pieces and fit them together with sub 10 micron precision.

        • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Ok, and once that’s done with the high level of repeatability and quality I’ve done it a thousand times, then what?

            • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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              The heaviest Tesla is around 2.5 tons…but that’s beside the point.

              The scale doesn’t matter. In fact, taking a desktop process and industrializing it makes it more accurate and repeatable - especially in a large-item manufacturing setting.

              The best argument against the 1 micron requirement is that it’s unnecessary from a practical standpoint. I completely agree with that, for sure.

            • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It depends on the model being printed.

              1 micron is easy to achieve on the Z axis with almost any printer, using any 3d printing technology (FDM/SLP/SLA/etc).

              In the X/Y axis, the vast majority of FDM printers are off the table for 1 micron - increasingly so as the Z height of the model increases, especially on bed-slingers like the Ender 3. The taller the model, the harder it is to maintain accuracy on X and Y.

              In SLA/DLP printers, it’s all about the motor, controller, and whatever shields excess light/beam diameter.

              To answer your question directly: I have no trouble getting highly reliable micron accuracy in a $99 Creality Halot. The key is to understand your model in relation to the pixel density of the screen. Some calibration prints tell you where the steps are, describing the relationship between input and output - which will most certainly be different from printer to printer at the consumer level. Once you have that data, some simple math tells you exactly how to design your object in a way that takes these natural constraints into consideration.

              Yes - at any scale, even at the size of a car…or a battleship. When you accept the constraints of the hardware into the design of the object being produced, you can get micron repeatability out of just about anything.

              • magnusrufus@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                So does that mean that you can get 1 micron accuracy as long as the part is sized to a multiple of the pixels width on the x and y? Is that just for aligned straight edges or can that be done for curves too?

                • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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                  The pixel alignment is a good place to start, but no 2 printers will produce an identical result at that level. That’s why it’s important to tune the model to the printer - not the other way around.

                  Can you get it on curves? Yes, certainly. For 3d printers, even the position you choose for the model within the build area makes a difference.

                  The question is really about executing the process of engineering in the correct order.

                  The most common mistake is to design the thing you want to build first. In reality, you start with what is essentially a sketch of what a functional end product looks like. Then, you buy/build tools/manufacturing equipment. Finally, you refine your sketch into a manufacturable product based on assessment of the most reliably repeatable results available from the actual machinery as it is installed.

          • halferect@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Then take them to a different environment and measure them and then put a Lil water on them and measure them. Then get a mechanic to fix them and then shove it up your butt because any real engineer designing a car would tell you that kinda precision is just fucking stupid at production level for a car

            • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I’ve already said a dozen times: no shit Sherlock, this is absolutely unnecessary for this application.

              It’s also completely irrelevant to change up the environmental parameters when that is not a constraint set at the outset of this conversation.

              I swear to God, it’s like there’s an entire subspecies of moron non-engineers who exist for the sole purpose of arguing where no argument exists.

              • halferect@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                A car doesn’t go through environmental changes? Because we are talking about engineering a car. You are talking about your 3d printed dildo of musks cock or something that you got into microns or some shit. It’s almost like there’s a entire subspecies of moron non-engineers who exist for the sole purpose of arguing about why musks cock is microns… you asked what to do next

                • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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                  Are you still arguing with a ghost? Nobody said a car doesn’t go through environmental changes… It just has nothing to do with this discussion.

      • dragontamer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Bullshit.

        The thermal coefficient of expansion of say… Aluminum is 23.

        That means that when a 1 meter piece of Aluminum rises from 20C to 21C, just one degree Celsius, it grows by 23 microns.

        Your 3D printer is not a temperature controlled precision instrument. Your tolerances are no where close to 10 microns let alone 1 micron.

        There are micron-level precise instruments in the engineering world. They all come with temperature characteristics because thermal expansion is a bitch. 3D printers that literally heat up hundred degrees and cools down regularly literally can’t be this precise, the heat alone wrecks your precision.

        • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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          Bullshit.

          You’re changing the premise of the question.

          Pick a temperature - design your model to be whatever you need it to be at that target temperature - just like every other engineer with 26 years of experience, such as myself.

          (by the way, my UV resin printer is quite temperature stable.)

          • dragontamer@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Your resin printer does not have the resolution of 1/15th the size of a damn white blood cell. Your blood is 15 microns per cell or so. Red blood cells are smaller at around 7 microns.

            You, and Elon, have confused your units quite significantly. I’ve given you the opportunity to see your error by reminding you the difference between thou, mils, mm, and microns. But apparently you haven’t gotten the hint yet.

            My university created micrometer-sized balls, gears, and other such devices. They’re called MEMS and are really cool. They’re not made with 3d printers but instead lithography (same technology as computer chips, because they’re so small its easier to make through lithography). You’ve confused your units and its clear based off of how you’ve been talking. Take a step back, and double-check the difference from thou, mil, mm, and microns.

            • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Sigh.

              Please stop being confused about the capabilities of modern SLA/DLP processes.

              What is the diameter of A PHOTON? And don’t forget to answer ignorantly, in a condescending i-know-more-than-my-betters tone. No, seriously - look it up. You clearly don’t know.

              How many blood cells wide is light? By all means - tell me what the particulate size of photocuring resin might be? Could it be…2 microns maximum even for the largest ceramic-infused resin slurry - with sub-micron particulate sizes easily available even from Amazon? Yes - far, far smaller than blood cells. This is why you can’t let this shit get on your skin. It will literally traverse the blood-brain barrier. The fumes can get particles of this size into your bloodstream.

              Well, what on earth can I do to get 1 micron accuracy from zero-width photons and 2-micron UV cured particles? Perhaps - design my model to be LITERALLY ANY SIZE that happens to be divisible by 2 on X, Y, and Z axes, then center it on the build plate?

              Can you please get with the program, here? I’ve likely been doing this work longer than you’ve been alive. I’m not even supporting Elon’s demand, which is almost certainly unnecessary for this application.

              • dragontamer@lemmy.world
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                What is the diameter of A PHOTON? And don’t forget to answer ignorantly, in a condescending i-know-more-than-my-betters tone. No, seriously - look it up. You clearly don’t know.

                Thanks for giving me more absurd examples. Your UV light is a 400nm wavelength or so. Or roughly 1/3rd a micron. The fucking wavelength of your curing light.

                Now get outta here with your attempts at pretending that your $200 UV printer has the level of accuracy of three fucking wavelengths of the light it’s using.

                The size of the color red? That’s 700nm wavelength, or 0.7 microns. Your resolution that you’re printing here is no where close to the size of red-light photons.

                zero-width photons

                Oh, so you don’t know how light works either. Good grief man… light has a size and you’re running up against the size limitation of the light itself. Especially because I know for a fact that these UV Printers are NOT using lasers, so you have no way to actually line up all the photons to hit the same location since their wavelengths are all unaligned.

                In any case, car parts are not made at scales comparable to the wavelength of infrared light (ie: the “size” of a infrared-light photon).

                • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Shocking narcissism, yet again.

                  You clearly have no intent to learn from your mistakes and pollute your entire argument with ad hominem and every other logical fallacy in the book - all wrapped up with a bow of dismissal of the original premise.

                  Oh, and by the way, light is both a particle and a wave. “light has a size” - indeed, the wave of light we aren’t talking about has a size - called wavelength. Don’t be afraid to use the most accurate terminology for your irrelevant responses! The wavelength has zero influence on the dimensions of the final product, as any wavelength more than a couple nm out of spec won’t cure the resin at all, and there will be no object to measure. I think you know that and are just trying to win an argument by talking over the heads of the average readers on here - which doesn’t help your case.

                  It’s extremely likely you legitimately have a personality disorder, and are capable of much more if you clean up your act.

        • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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          This is definitely true in terms of industrial production. (super cheap for “makers” - taking the hardware constraints into consideration with the design, of course).

        • FakinUpCountryDegen@lemmy.world
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          https://www.creality3dofficial.com/products/ld-002r-lcd-resin-3d-printer

          Don’t forget - it’s not as simple as just buying the printer. You need the right resin, several iterations of test models, and the right modifications of the model to work within the constraints of the printer and material.

          With the right tuning, you will be able to create parts which measure within 1 micron tolerance reliably. (don’t forget to use an indicator and good reference blocks - you aren’t going to measure microns with a caliper or micrometer)

  • 🍔🍔🍔@toast.ooo
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    “When you’ve got a product with a lot of new technology or any brand new vehicle program, especially one that is as different and advanced as the Cybertruck, you will have problems proportionate to how many new things you’re trying to solve at scale,” he added.

    does it have new technology? i thought it was just like, shockingly ugly?

  • Lanusensei87@lemmy.world
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    You’d think the guy claiming to “know more about manufacturing than anyone else on Earth” would have anticipated such issues at the start of the design process.

    • skyspydude1@lemmy.world
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      And GM, the epitome of “slow and bloated legacy dinosaur”, who in the time since Tesla announced the cYbErTrUcK, managed to design AND RELEASE a truck before Tesla even had prototypes. At this rate, I think they’ll technically have 3 different trucks out before a single cYbErTrUcK is sold.

      • kautau@lemmy.world
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        The automotive giants always could have outpaced Tesla, they just didn’t want to because until it was viable with enough consumer interest (and competition), it was cheaper to only produce fossil fuel vehicles (and lobby against electric vehicles at every turn)

    • Custoslibera@lemmy.world
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      Of all the cringiest things to ever happen on the internet this is one video I just can’t ever rewatch.

      Just the most cringe in one video.

    • Raptor_007@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I remember watching this live, happy that my wife chose not to join me once they rolled it out, and ESPECIALLY after the window demo. Ugh. Cringiest night of my life.

    • skyspydude1@lemmy.world
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      Given that I had dumbass coworkers at work who gleefully dropped $500 to “reserve” one of each trim, despite not even being able to even afford the cheapest trim (which will never even come close to existing with the listed price+specs), I’m not betting that it’s probably 1/4 of that, and about 1/4 of those will ever actually translate to purchases.

  • kandoh@reddthat.com
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    When I was a kid, I asked my dad why the cars on the road didn’t look like any of the prototype cars I saw in autoshows or car books.

    Now Elon has given me the answer. Those cars are hard to make at scale. One is doable, but thousands is impossible.

  • Enkrod@feddit.de
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    Who could have known that traditional manufacturers who have been building cars for decades have reasons to do it the way they did?

    Surely not the man who reinvented the subway (but shitty) reinvented content moderation (but shitty) and reinvented the car (but shitty).

    How come “normal” Teslas with traditional coachwork are selling, well not great, but good and every time Musk thinks he’s the genius who’ll singlehandedly completely reinvent a very competitive product he just creates a worse version?

  • Smacks@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I actually thought this was an elaborate joke. The “Cybertruck” looks like a piece of shit, and apparently is a piece of shit.