Stainless Steel Repair

[RL20II]

I ordered the dual motor and can’t wait. My only concern is if you are involved in a fender bender with the exoskeleton design. I know it’s sledgehammer proof. But, a good smack on the side with a F150 will do harm.

How is one going to repair bent stainless steel? With no fenders or quarter panels to swap out, I see this as a big challenge.

Will Tesla have to train blacksmiths in the art of SS repair? I can see these CT’s having no feasible way to repair certain damages. There may be a lot of hull losses. I hope the other drivers have good insurance.

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[Smileyone]

I think it will be very expensive to repair the exoskeleton body and panels. It will be hard for body shops to straighten the metal and hide repairs since there is no paint. We may have to live with the equivalent of a stretch mark on skin if a body panel needs to have a section welded in.

 

[Snuups]

Well that's quite easy. As long as the inner structure is not damaged you swap out those panels.

 

[Morristhecat]

Cut out dent, weld a new same size piece of stainless steel in place, grind the edges. Possible spray can of protective film. Done. A handyman can do it. Battle scar for the armored personnel carrier looks good.

 

[Delusional]

This is not going to be like anything that came before.

When they say "exoskeleton" it sounds like the body is very, very structural. Even a small deformation in one panel will pull other panels out of alignment. Then add the folded origami construction, and we're starting to get weird. It's possible that more than half the structure is cut and folded from one giant sheet.
And then the sheet itself, They mentioned 3mm thick, 12 gauge stainless steel is 2.78mm, or 7/64th of an inch thick . Kitchen sinks are between 18 gauge ( 1.27mm) and 22 gauge (0.79mm). 3mm is over twice as thick as the thickest kitchen sink you'll commonly see. This will be nearly impossible to dent in anything other than a high speed collision. And even then, 12 gauge stainless steel will simply barrel through other vehicles in most cases.
So far I have not found data on the thickness of a DeLorean's panels, but those were bolted-on panels, not structural, i'm sure they did not approach 3mm thick.

This is not going to be like anything that came before.

 

[azjohn]

This is not going to be like anything that came before.

When they say "exoskeleton" it sounds like the body is very, very structural. Even a small deformation in one panel will pull other panels out of alignment. Then add the folded origami construction, and we're starting to get weird. It's possible that more than half the structure is cut and folded from one giant sheet.
And then the sheet itself, They mentioned 3mm thick, 12 gauge stainless steel is 2.78mm, or 7/64th of an inch thick . Kitchen sinks are between 18 gauge ( 1.27mm) and 22 gauge (0.79mm). 3mm is over twice as thick as the thickest kitchen sink you'll commonly see. This will be nearly impossible to dent in anything other than a high speed collision. And even then, 12 gauge stainless steel will simply barrel through other vehicles in most cases.
So far I have not found data on the thickness of a DeLorean's panels, but those were bolted-on panels, not structural, i'm sure they did not approach 3mm thick.

This is not going to be like anything that came before.

thanks for the visual, that does look impressive

 

[Delusional]

The two square tubes are 2-1/4 and 2-1/2 inches. Regular steel, not stainless.
The smaller tube is said to be 30 percent stronger at the same weight.
I looked up DOT-111, and railroad tank cars are a minimum thickness of 7/16'th inch or 11.1mm.
And I found an interesting stainless steel fact. It gets stronger when it gets colder.

 

[Vaulted]

The other side that makes me a tad nervous is what this beast will cost to insure. Hope it doesn’t make me feel like I’m 16 again paying through the nose ?

 

[Delusional]

I'll say it again. This is not going to be like anything that came before.
You are comparing aluminum at 0.032 inch and work hardened stainless that is 0.11 inch. It looks like a piece of of angle iron flew right through that aluminum. The same piece of angle iron flying at the same speed might put a pretty big scratch in 12 gauge stainless ...maybe visible as a bump on the other side.
Kitchen sinks are annealed stainless, you can drill though that relatively easily, but have you ever tried to drill through 12 gauge cold rolled stainless steel? You need to go as slow as possible so that you don't heat it up and further work harden it, and you need to press so hard that any bit less than 1/4" will break. Use cutting oil. And it still doesn't work.

I gotta say that that aviation repair is an apples-to-watermelons comparison.

 

[ReddykwRun]

I'll say it again. This is not going to be like anything that came before.
You are comparing aluminum at 0.032 inch and work hardened stainless that is 0.11 inch. It looks like a piece of of angle iron flew right through that aluminum. The same piece of angle iron flying at the same speed might put a pretty big scratch in 12 gauge stainless ...maybe visible as a bump on the other side.
Kitchen sinks are annealed stainless, you can drill though that relatively easily, but have you ever tried to drill through 12 gauge cold rolled stainless steel? You need to go as slow as possible so that you don't heat it up and further work harden it, and you need to press so hard that any bit less than 1/4" will break. Use cutting oil. And it still doesn't work.

I gotta say that that aviation repair is an apples-to-watermelons comparison.

This is a new chapter in body work I will agree. Some of our repairs were on titanium surfaces and that's the hardest material we worked with and survived.

 

[Delusional]

If you need something like a ladder rack, the easiest way to do it is going to be..... weld it directly to the body.
There's no paint.
I do believe that a lot of mods are going to be done that way. Just stick it on and weld the gap.

 

[ReddykwRun]

I'll say it again. This is not going to be like anything that came before.
You are comparing aluminum at 0.032 inch and work hardened stainless that is 0.11 inch. It looks like a piece of of angle iron flew right through that aluminum. The same piece of angle iron flying at the same speed might put a pretty big scratch in 12 gauge stainless ...maybe visible as a bump on the other side.
Kitchen sinks are annealed stainless, you can drill though that relatively easily, but have you ever tried to drill through 12 gauge cold rolled stainless steel? You need to go as slow as possible so that you don't heat it up and further work harden it, and you need to press so hard that any bit less than 1/4" will break. Use cutting oil. And it still doesn't work.

I gotta say that that aviation repair is an apples-to-watermelons comparison.

Damm, good point. I tried to drill through a cold-rolled door kick plate one time to install a doorstop and it kicked my butt even with cobalt bits.

 

[Delusional]

Titanium, in most of it's alloys, is about the same hardness as carbon steel. It gets it's name and reputation from a lot of other things. Chemical resistance, almost as light as aluminum, biological compatibility, temperature resistance (hot and cold), can be bent repeatedly...
The best steels are about 5 percent harder than the hardest titanium alloy, but titanium has some other properties that make it extremely hard to work with... let's not get into that.

 

[outdoors_jp]

I live in a northern mountain climate. Anyone have ideas about corrosion issues with deicing chemicals? I know there are a lot more options used now other than NaCl.

 

[XB12R]

I've dealt with a local steel fabrication shop over the years for some of my projects and they'll get my repair business before a body shop will.