

Apple shows us the amazing process of making the Mac Pro - mboses
http://guru8.net/2013/10/apple-shows-us-the-amazing-process-of-making-the-mac-pro/

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mjanke
The manufacturing processes shown in the video have been commonplace for 25 or
more years. Amazing, no. Interesting to those who are not familiar with
manufacturing automation, perhaps.

If the general public thinks that video is amazing, then perhaps the general
public has no idea how advanced the manufacturing sector really is.

~~~
Osmium
Eh. This product designer thinks otherwise:
[http://atomicdelights.com/blog/how-apple-makes-the-mac-
pro](http://atomicdelights.com/blog/how-apple-makes-the-mac-pro)

~~~
mjanke
From 1979-1984, I programmed and operated NC & CNC lathes and milling machines
that made parts far more complex and precise that what they are showing. One
of our customers was the beer bottling industry.

In the period from 1984-89 I watched pick & place circuit board assembly, pick
& place robotics, robotic polishers, robotic bead blasters and spray painters
operate in local machine shops, automotive plants and electronics
manufactures.

I've never worked in a shop that punched out cylinders, but I'm sure that the
process they are using for punching out the cylinder from a block of aluminum
is how beer cans get made.

It's not amazing.

~~~
Osmium
You may well be right, but I think the key claim is this:

"Most metal stampings go through one or two die tools to produce the final
shape. With the Mac Pro though, the challenge is to produce a massive amount
of plastic deformation without tearing, rippling or deforming the perfect
cylindrical surface."

and, below the figure:

"The results of the first (of between 4 and 5) deep draw stamping operations.
Notice how the Mac Pro part is nowhere near the final length."

As I'm sure you know, there's a big difference between a single-use aluminium
can, which is both small and thin, and a large part like this, which has to
have both structural stability, very high dimensional tolerances, and a good
surface finish. That said, you obviously know more about this than I do, so
maybe you can comment on the quotes from the article?

~~~
farinasa
I'm not an expert, but if they are simply swaging the tubes out until correct
length is met, it's not amazing.

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sz4kerto
The making of the fancy, hip Mac Pro is really-really simple compared to a
much less fashionable Korean car. Except Hyundai users usually don't spend
their time watching videos on car manufacturing. :)

Sometimes, however, simple things can require a lot of expertise: during the
'90s, many jet builders went to Shimano and Campagnolo and sought help in
manufacturing small, but reliable metal parts for airplanes as the bicycle
part industry was quite ahead in this field.

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neya
Video here:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbWOQWw1wkM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbWOQWw1wkM)

The site is just a container for ads.

~~~
glomph
The video is an advert.

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noir_lord
Still looks like a small dustbin.

That and the dust bunny acquisition system...sorry bottom drawing fan inlet.

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glomph
Not pictured: The factories in china that make most of the parts.

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smackfu
It's mainly amazing because in the US it's cheaper to have a $75k robot do a
job than a human.

~~~
threeseed
It's more that robots can do tasks with unrivalled precision at
temperature/pressure extremes that would kill a human.

~~~
smackfu
OTOH, in the US, you use a robot arm to load a piece into an automated
machine. In China, you use a person.

~~~
bpicolo
[http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043026/foxconn-to-speed-
up-r...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043026/foxconn-to-speed-up-robot-
army-deployment-20000-robots-already-in-its-factories.html)

Or, you know, you use a robot.

