They must be working in the new building, we drove down Friday and nothing going on outside except assembling a new sprung structure (tent).
I wonder if spinning or explosive forming would be better ways to make his domes? However, there would still be the problem of getting sheets of stainless in the sizes that would be required.
I recall that the first description I ever read of explosive metal forming decades ago described the “swimming pool” variant of the process and its use for exactly this application – propellant tank domes for liquid-propellant rockets. The metal “blanks” were described as weldments to approximate net shape, not uniform sheets – quite reasonable as the finished domes would have been welded to the cylindrical sections of the tanks in question. In looking at Wikipedia’s page on explosive forming, it seems the rockets in question might well have been Soviet ICBMs.
The fixed die for a 9-meter diameter tank dome would be massive and would be difficult and/or expensive to fabricate in one piece. Using the process might result in more dimensionally accurate and/or better quality parts than the current cheaper and – one presumes – faster method of weld-ups now being employed by SpaceX, but maybe not by enough in either case to justify the expense.
“The fixed die for a 9-meter diameter tank dome would be massive and would be difficult and/or expensive to fabricate in one piece.”
Such a thing MIGHT make sense when the design is finalized and mass production begins. At this point in development that would be considered only by SLS, on the theory that it provides jobs, regardless of actual output.
Fusion-fill arc welding is pretty rough, and I’m glad they’ve gone to TIP TIG, as well as robotic on the single-seam barrel sections. I’d interpret 2 to 3 months as meaning some time between March 1 and April 30. I’d be surprised by any date in Feb, though maybe it’s in one piece by the 28th. This is going to be a year to remember!
They must be working in the new building, we drove down Friday and nothing going on outside except assembling a new sprung structure (tent).
I wonder if spinning or explosive forming would be better ways to make his domes? However, there would still be the problem of getting sheets of stainless in the sizes that would be required.
I recall that the first description I ever read of explosive metal forming decades ago described the “swimming pool” variant of the process and its use for exactly this application – propellant tank domes for liquid-propellant rockets. The metal “blanks” were described as weldments to approximate net shape, not uniform sheets – quite reasonable as the finished domes would have been welded to the cylindrical sections of the tanks in question. In looking at Wikipedia’s page on explosive forming, it seems the rockets in question might well have been Soviet ICBMs.
The fixed die for a 9-meter diameter tank dome would be massive and would be difficult and/or expensive to fabricate in one piece. Using the process might result in more dimensionally accurate and/or better quality parts than the current cheaper and – one presumes – faster method of weld-ups now being employed by SpaceX, but maybe not by enough in either case to justify the expense.
“The fixed die for a 9-meter diameter tank dome would be massive and would be difficult and/or expensive to fabricate in one piece.”
Such a thing MIGHT make sense when the design is finalized and mass production begins. At this point in development that would be considered only by SLS, on the theory that it provides jobs, regardless of actual output.
Fusion-fill arc welding is pretty rough, and I’m glad they’ve gone to TIP TIG, as well as robotic on the single-seam barrel sections. I’d interpret 2 to 3 months as meaning some time between March 1 and April 30. I’d be surprised by any date in Feb, though maybe it’s in one piece by the 28th. This is going to be a year to remember!