I know most here hate BMW but here is a cool vid of one of their assembly plants for motors. Thought it was cool enough to share.
It's real cool but I could not help but notice how quiet is is on the production floor. Whats up with that ? Being a rail roader for long as I have been, I'm used to a VERY lively shop floor !
they were also showing a cool looking sport type bike based on that motor but dont think they ever built it for production.
No BMW hatred here, I think they build really great engines. Video kind of reminds me of the ZipTy shop with multiple stations.
Yeah I don't get the hate part either BTW I for one would like to see some pictures of your shop and crew.
Must be a German/Austrian thing-I saw a lot of those "star" bolts like on my KTM. I like their mechanics gloves though!
Pretty innovative design and casting methods have improved a lot to allow the cylinders to be so close together. Only 5mm between them.
After watching the entire video it dawns on me if theyve not torqued a bolt on the engine they didnt put one in there as every process had twin doeruppers and electric screwdrivers. Wonder howlong those guys stick to their jobs, just doing one process would bore to tears.
Not that I am complaining but when you look at all that tooling, the jigs and everything -- makes me grateful bikes aren't any more expensive than they are.
Same here, I wonder how much of assembly line has to be changed to switch to another motor in a couple years when its time to make something bigger and badder. I like leading edge,new technology but at what cost? How much money is spent to buy molds, forms and all associated tooling, fixtures, jigs just for BNG or something that doesn't have anything to do with performance. Everything that changes shape needs all the requires all of the above. I know CNC helps cut down on cost but they aint cheap either.
