The E-series Build.

[TCBronson]

Thanks for this. Useful expertise in this group, for sure.

You quoted him LOL!

 

[AriLea]

BTW, for those nocturnal information gatherers...
http://www.thefabricator.com/article/stamping/sheet-metal-stamping-101-part-I
http://www.thefabricator.com/articl...resses-produce-at-the-pace-of-customer-demand

 

[Rob Croson]

And that's part of the trick with Nylocks; most people keep trying to use them over an over; after the second or at most 3rd time they don't lock any longer.

Generally these nuts will meet these specs and can be reused several times. The typical rule of thumb used by the aircraft industry is, "Do not reuse the nut if it can be put on by hand."

When I was in the Navy, the rule was that you could reuse a Nylock once. (IOW - the original install, plus one additional use.) Of course, no one ever kept track of whether or not the nut had been used a second time, so common practice was to discard and use new every time. In some situations, it is commonplace to discard all hardware (nuts, bolts, etc.) after each use, and assemble with brand new hardware every time.

 

[Jeff Porter]

Just saw this and found it interesting....



‎Deborah McAteer‎toElio Motors Owners Association
21 mins ·
This was posted on another site by Rick Deckard; I thought some of you in this group might be interested too.

News clip from the Shareholders meeting:
86.9% of the shareholders sent in proxy or was present(17 holders). I am sure the notes from the meeting will be posted soon. Motions for 6 directors to the Company's Board of Directors passed. This was unanimous.
The second order of business was to adopt the 2016 incentive and Nonstatutory Stock Option Plan (See 2016 Stop ...Option Plan) this was also passed. (16040shares opposed)

Other things talked about: The 3rd Chassis is due to be completed this week
Paul and team feels the ePlus system is going to be one of the biggest game changer out there. They are using info gathered on this even in Beta to see trends of products people are checking out. As time goes by there will be more accessories, New Technologies and multiple sources will be added. The customer will ultimately determine what it produced and what stays around. Part of the requirements are to have a liberal return policy and attempting to keep new products backwards compatible as long as necessary. As far as electronics are concerned the overall load on the system is taken into consideration. If one loads things up too much the system will indicate what things to choose from so that one doesn't overload the vehicle. The ePlus is seen as a retailer attitude with a strong competitive atmosphere. Let the market find the cream the rest will sort itself out. Plus the suppliers like this as well as the metrics - it helps them to sell product to other manufactures. And this will allow new product to be migrated into a vehicle as things show up that one just wants to have added at any point in time. You pick whose part Odessa puts it on (after the initial sale you put it on yourself or have Pepboys do it - this items can be selected online, at an Elio Store or at Pepboys. This presents itself as a revenue steam instead of a simple point in time sale.
Several Insurance companies asked to met Elio at a Insurance Company Test track and examined the autocycle. Their reviews were positive and it was thought (with this limited prototype data) that this would basically be a Car Insurance minus instead of a Motorcycle plus situation. Mostly due to car like qualities and safety with a low damage rate to others and low cost for replacement.

Really appreciate this, thanks!

 

[AriLea]

...Several Insurance companies asked to met Elio at a Insurance Company Test track and examined the autocycle. Their reviews were positive and it was thought (with this limited prototype data) that this would basically be a Car Insurance minus instead of a Motorcycle plus situation. Mostly due to car like qualities and safety with a low damage rate to others and low cost for replacement.

All of the message was interesting, but in particular I find 'several' insurance companies examining the Elio ! at a track ! of particular interest to us. These guys will all note some competitiveness to each other and provide a very affordable package. After all, most Elio owners will have other vehicles and will likely switch their whole household vehicle insurance over to a single company.

 

[Elio Amazed]

Isn't there a tendency in auto mfg to use spring steel types of locking nuts instead of nylon nuts?

 

[Coss]

Isn't there a tendency in auto mfg to use spring steel types of locking nuts instead of nylon nuts?

A lot of what they use now is plastic fasteners; just push them together and you're done; in the few areas that they do use nuts and bolts, yes, like a spring steel lock washer; or nuts with cotter pins through them.

 

[Ty]

So don't quote me on it, but yes. The tool stamp sets can be shipped. But I think this run of 25 has been stamped by a contractor, just my guess. Typically for this size company like EM, they contract their first tools to be made by a contractor business. This is done using a 'build plan' which includes the graphic solids files, possibly even post-process cutter paths etc. EM will eventually need more than one tool set per part, and those will be made the same way, but possibly with the target presses in mind. Building a few of the 25 Elios proves-out the tooling build plan is complete. And of course proves quite a bit toward the rest of the Elio assembly/build plan.
I expect right now EM has only one stamping tool set for each part, and that's enough tooling to get the 25 built in ? Detroit ? plus the 100 where ever that gets built. I do hope they ship the tooling to Shreveport to stamp out for the 100 lot run right there.
Someone else here worked at the Shreveport factory when it was making Hummers. And he can likely say how many tool sets are needed for 1000 Elios per day. (probably did say already)
At some point in time EM would evaluate the costs of making their own tool stamp sets. I suspect they won't find that cost effective until there is a full production online and generating cash flow.

I'm that guy. While I saw the welding area, it was heavily shielded and outside what I was working on. I can honestly say I didn't see any stamping presses there. They could have been in another building but GM did some weird things. The Hobre hoods were shipped in from overseas. I don't know why the Hombre hood was so different from the S10 but they looked about the same to me. Anyway, they called it the GM Shreveport Vehicle Assembly Plant. Assembly vs. manufacturing. I would not be surprised one bit if stamped parts arrived via rail car from a different company. They could just assemble the Elio from parts made elsewhere. Well, the engine will be forged elsewhere. That much we know. It'll be milled and assembled in Shreveport though.

 

[Ty]

When I was in the Navy, the rule was that you could reuse a Nylock once. (IOW - the original install, plus one additional use.) Of course, no one ever kept track of whether or not the nut had been used a second time, so common practice was to discard and use new every time. In some situations, it is commonplace to discard all hardware (nuts, bolts, etc.) after each use, and assemble with brand new hardware every time.

In the Air Force, we had these impulse carts which is a fancy word for aluminum shotgun shells. Well, the carts were explosive and were what kicked munitions away from the jet to get it out of the slipstream. Anyway, every time you pulled one out, you had to scribe a radial mark across the primer side starting from just near the primer and going to the outer edge. You could reinstall them as long as there were fewer that 10 marks. They were in place for emergency jettison in some positions and some positions, we knew it would get fired. Pilots always like to drop practice bombs (and real ones) when they get the chance. We would use new carts in positions where we new they wouldn't fire. Once they got a good number of scribe marks, we'd put them where they would be needed to fire. That way, we weren't wasting usage. Hey, taxpayers paid for those things. We weren't going to waste them. Despite whatever rep governmental types get, we ARE stewards of taxpayers' dollars!

 

[Marshall]

In the Air Force, we had these impulse carts which is a fancy word for aluminum shotgun shells. Well, the carts were explosive and were what kicked munitions away from the jet to get it out of the slipstream. Anyway, every time you pulled one out, you had to scribe a radial mark across the primer side starting from just near the primer and going to the outer edge. You could reinstall them as long as there were fewer that 10 marks. They were in place for emergency jettison in some positions and some positions, we knew it would get fired. Pilots always like to drop practice bombs (and real ones) when they get the chance. We would use new carts in positions where we new they wouldn't fire. Once they got a good number of scribe marks, we'd put them where they would be needed to fire. That way, we weren't wasting usage. Hey, taxpayers paid for those things. We weren't going to waste them. Despite whatever rep governmental types get, we ARE stewards of taxpayers' dollars!

I think you are probably lonelier than the Maytag repairman.

Imagining a government employee watching out for the taxpayer just blows my mind.