Source
RegularRandomZOP•

Prufrock-3 testing has kicked off in Bastrop! Targeting full continuous mining (ie machine never stops) and sub-24-hour surface launch.

Note that the Mining Director is calling out main drive motor rpm, and there is an approx 500:1 gear ratio between motor and cutterhead rpm.

3200 rpm for the motors (6.4 rpm for the cutterhead)

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Zealousideal-Lie7255•

I just assumed that rpm in this case was revolution per hour but instead of saying “rph” they were still using rpm.

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Cunninghams_right•

I hope these machines work well. they have a lot of route-miles approved for Las Vegas. if this machine works well, they could put them into production and drop many TBMs at once in LV. it would be amazing if they could complete the LV Loop with 5-10 TBMs working in parallel.

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talltim007•

At a minimum they need 4-6. At the speed their backlog is growing, they may need more than that.

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aBetterAlmore•

Does that backlog have a time constraint?

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talltim007•

Proving this system can function at scale is incredibly important and time is impossible to get back.

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aBetterAlmore•

I guess we’ll see if you’re right and it was indeed “incredibly important”

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RedditismyBFF•

Typically aiming high, but if they can mine the majority of the day and get launched within a week that would be great.

Of course, a reasonable build cost for Prufrock 3 would enable multiple machines to be operating to get the same effective progress as one super machine

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bremidon•

Of course, a reasonable build cost for Prufrock 3

This is such a critical point, and it tends to be ignored. Boring has access to two world class companies (SpaceX and Tesla) who are pushing the boundaries of how to build big complicated things fast and cheap.

Did anyone doubt that we can build something like an SLS if we are willing to throw billions at it per rocket? The real trick is to create a factory that can produce something of similar size but at a fraction of the cost. Making it reuseable just increases its value-to-cost ratio.

If Boring can quickly and cheaply build Prufrocks, then this changes the entire calculation. Being able to bore faster and run 24 hours just improves on that.

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AlFrankensrevenge•

Does anyone know if they've changed the size of the bore to make the tunnel larger or smaller?

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rocwurst•

It wouldn’t be sensible to change size now.

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Cunninghams_right•

a small change wouldn't be that hard to integrate into existing systems. but I don't think they have any plans to change the bore size.

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nila247•

I love how they ran out of names for machine versions (Goddot?) and just use numbers now. Probably as it should be - there will be MANY more versions to come.

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rocwurst•

I think the main reason for this particular nomenclature is that Godot was pretty much an off-the-shelf TBM.

Their next TBM was a hybrid with some off-the-shelf and some custom parts and was called LineStorm.

And then there was Prufrock, their first completely custom-designed TBM.

As they have just been copying/iterating the Prufrock design since then, each successive iteration/model is simply delineated by a number at the end.

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nila247•

There was no reason for "Linestorm" name to exist in the first place other than Elon belief that they will nail Prufrock pretty much on the first try so he come only with 3 names.

Reality is more complex and improvement is slow. I do not think Prufrock is the final name at all. After we get to Prufrock-8 or so new name will be introduced - likely a complete redesign from ground up.

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rocwurst•

If you look at Tesla and SpaceX (and all other Musk companies) you’ll see that Elon never believes they will nail anything “on the first try”.

Instead, every one of his companies works on the Agile Methodology where they get something quick and simple out there and then rapidly iterate with subsequent versions gradually improving it over time but never really “finish” it. Just look at Tesla where they are continually modifying the production line and improving the cars every week, or SpaceX’s Starship where the designs are continually evolving with each subsequent serial numbered starship.

So yes, you’re right there will indeed be many more versions of Prufrock (or whatever names they use in the future) to come.

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nila247•

If you look at Tesla and SpaceX (and all other Musk companies) you’ll see that Elon never believes they will nail anything “on the first try”.

I guess it is you who does not look or listen what the man says. Elon had said MANY times that "he/they were so dumb" - and it is true. They were, they learned now they are less dumb. There is no end to learning (and being less dumb) - that is why understanding and accepting that leads to the progress they do have.

That's exactly what I say - Elon "was dumb" to come with only 3 names and expecting the third to be final. That's interesting trivia - not an insult. Everybody (me as well) are dumb and that is ok as long as you accept it, are improving or at least are willing to.

Now the extreme form of being dumb is the insistence that you are not. Cue in all the politicians and most activists. Oh, and quite a few Reddit users too...

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aBetterAlmore•

other than Elon belief that they will nail Prufrock pretty much on the first try so he come only with 3 names.

This statement displays such a poor understanding of the very core of how tech companies operate (and by extension how Elon owned companies operate but with hardware), that makes anything else you say lose any real credibility, sorry.

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nila247•

With your ability to determine credibility from single statement you might consider employment asking for blank check from HR department at any major world company of your choice. A great skill to have for sure :-)

Announcing 3 names for your product before you made even first prototype while fully expecting first two (Goddot, Linestorm) to not matter at all and the third one (Prufrock) to be only starting point for a numbering sequence does sounds quite a bit odd development or marketing strategy.

A good analogy would be Tesla announcing Roadster, ModelX and then numbering all the rest of their models from ModelS-1 to ModelS-9999.

The only reason I created this account was to post suggestion to TBC, because of blank look at Elon face at one of earliest TBC presentations when someone asked how they expect to continuously transport out the dirt they dug with TBM. That look said he had absolutely not the faintest idea at that time! You can still check my ideas and its successors out - still there.

That is not to say Elon or any of his many employees could not come up with same (or much better) ideas than me - given time. I just wanted to save them some of that time.

I am sure you had much better advices to them than me [looking post history] - hmmm - probably they asked you to delete them from your posts history so that pesky Herrenknech would not find out all the good stuff... Understandable... :-)

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nila247•

Yes, I watched all there is to watch about it all - I know. The single reason my account exist is to help them with a couple ideas of mine. It does not matter how good or bad they were - hopefully they saw, discussed, took some piece that might work or is worth trying. If they spent 10 minutes to read and saved 20 minutes of their time then it is all good as far as i am concerned.

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