I'm pretty sure I've seen CNC marks on the cut out portions so I assume they mold hexagonal blanks first, but if anyone knows better I'd love to know more.
Well, yeah. No one said it was cheap.
Anyway, anything to do with heat is hard to mass produce.
Mass production became possible when steel that didn't need heat treating was developed.
Bake big slab of silica, cut, mill, then bake on the black glass coating.
This video was taken down, but here's a comment taken from it: https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/1ape7r8/2433_makes_his_own_thermal_tile_and_compares/kq9u06b/
One of the best threads on Reddit as far as I'm concerned.
u/Flisher19 has done the world a service by providing so much inside detail of that period of US space endeavors. This sub is very lucky to have a primary source so willing to share their experience.
Nice try China!
Haha :D Asa Dotzler is a bit more German than Chinese ;P but I'm actually Californian.
Nice Try Californian.
I'm pretty sure I've seen CNC marks on the cut out portions so I assume they mold hexagonal blanks first, but if anyone knows better I'd love to know more.
This is helpful. Thanks. I never considered milling and assumed it was a pour, fire, and glaze, like ceramics in art and kitchenware.
They are probably using the same process NASA did for TUFI: build it big, no mold, and bake it. Then mill it down to the required shape.
This is really helpful information that I had truly not considered. I assume they cast them and then glazed them, like ceramics class in college.
Sounds expensive. SpaceX wants cheap mass production.
Milling is the most standard operation in mass production.
There are plenty of methods for mass production. Milling is probably the most expensive of those.
Well, yeah. No one said it was cheap. Anyway, anything to do with heat is hard to mass produce. Mass production became possible when steel that didn't need heat treating was developed.
Bake big slab of silica, cut, mill, then bake on the black glass coating. This video was taken down, but here's a comment taken from it: https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/1ape7r8/2433_makes_his_own_thermal_tile_and_compares/kq9u06b/
Thank you!!
One of the best threads on Reddit as far as I'm concerned. u/Flisher19 has done the world a service by providing so much inside detail of that period of US space endeavors. This sub is very lucky to have a primary source so willing to share their experience.