
How to knit a sports car with carbon fibre - bookofjoe
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2019/04/13/how-to-knit-a-sports-car-with-carbon-fibre
======
saidajigumi
Braid, not knit. The first sentence gets it right:

 _Bertha (pictured above) is an automated braiding machine._

But the title and later in the article, the author uses "knit", which is an
entirely different structure with different manufacturing approaches and
engineering properties.

Sadly, one of the most spectacular videos of a high-end modern carbon fibre
braiding machine I've ever seen ... was an incorrectly posted internal video
(iirc, from Toyota), and was taken down. The big modern machines like the ones
cited here inherit from, but significantly evolve, braiding machines as
developed early in the Industrial Revolution. Better tension control, braid
formation management, and the ability to perfectly handle ribbon-like
materials are among the improvements.

------
syntaxing
Fiber layup machines are really cool [1]. Hard to tell from the picture but
I'm assuming they machine is one of the circular fiber layup machines rather
then the newer multi-axis ones. Carbon Fiber layup is a huge market that's
still relatively untouched. There are many companies racing to be the winner
but not have prevailed so far. If you can manage to make one that affordable
for industrial usage, you will be able to make a lot of money.

Found an "old" video demonstrating the technology that is mentioned in the
article [2].

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK4gMDduHgA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK4gMDduHgA)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j19na8LMBnE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j19na8LMBnE)

~~~
robin_reala
This was the video I remembered too: the machine was built for the Lexus LFA,
which was rumoured to cost twice to build what it eventually sold for.
Hopefully they managed to recoup some of their costs through technology R&D
like this one.

~~~
syntaxing
I can imagine, that specific technology is obsoleted mainly because of the
cost to get it running and if a single feeder breaks, the whole machine will
be down. Most of the industry is heading towards automated fiber layup and
placement like this one [1].

[1][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZt5PrXbr6k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZt5PrXbr6k)

------
glaurung_
Guerilla Gravity recently started using a similar process to build carbon
fiber mountain bike frames. It's allowed them to build frames in the US that
sell for less than comparable bikes made in Asia.

[https://m.pinkbike.com/news/guerilla-gravity-us-made-
carbon-...](https://m.pinkbike.com/news/guerilla-gravity-us-made-carbon-frame-
smash-trailpistol.html)

~~~
Lio
Time Sport in France have been doing this for road bikes for years (at least
10 years I think).

There's a video of them weaving forks somewhere but all I could find was this
video a them weaving a tube.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJcrRpa_JWE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJcrRpa_JWE)

Edit: Here you go. From 2008.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66ffKebNPbs#action=share](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66ffKebNPbs#action=share)

~~~
bookofjoe
How is it that this technology is so unevenly distributed?

------
jnty
The article doesn't touch on this but the machine's name, Bertha, is almost
certainly a reference to the 80s UK TV show about a factory machine that could
seemingly make anything. Quite apt!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_(TV_series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_\(TV_series\))

~~~
dsfyu404ed
Or it's just the biggest/heaviest machine in the immediate vicinity. Machines
get named Bertha all the time though some play on "thicc" seems to be gaining
a bit of market share as the younger generations enter the workforce.

------
olivermarks
Another interesting link that may be of interest:
[https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/champion-racing-
driver-b...](https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/champion-racing-driver-brad-
keselowski-founds-new-hybrid-3d-printing-manufacturing-company-148067/) The
combination of sophisticated space, aeronautical and mil spec 3D printing with
these modern braiding techniques are transforming high performance equipment
manufacture

