Rumor: New X-Metal

[xmetalmaniac]

I was chatting with an O-Store manager just last week and he re-confirmed that the X-Metals were too expensive to produce. He said they would have had to do an upward price revision to support continuing to make them and they thought the market couldn't support it. He said they were experimenting with new materials like Carbon-Fiber hybrids but the X-Metal line would not continue.

+1

The scoop I got was they are going to be using a lot more carbon fiber and aluminum. Based on the conversation it appears that the Jupiter lite is kinda where they are headed towards. Again it's only info I have received and I highly doubt there will be x metals made the way we know them to be....

 

[Krank]

I've decided to be pretty much done with plastics. My wife doesn't know it yet, but I plan on buying and rehabbing one to two pairs of Xmetals a year. Should make for a good fight anyway.

 

[Coth]

I wish they would just reintroduce Juliet, Romeo and Mars... All the fakes and immitations out there shows there would be a market for them.

 

[Rustpot]

Even if a successor to X Metal goes to market it won't be what the original X Metal was. Period.
There will be some that will argue the contrary, but IMHO nothing beats hand-made.

What was "hand made" about X Metals? There was some human element to them, but they weren't made by hand. Finished, assembled, sure.

 

[CarGuy]

What was "hand made" about X Metals? There was some human element to them, but they weren't made by hand. Finished, assembled, sure.

You're a dyed-in-the-wool OF'er, surely you have watched the X Metal manufacturing video. This video (which I'm sure that you've seen) stated that to manufacture one pair took 3 weeks from cradle to grave:

While it is true that 27 different machining processes occurred, it still required 75 sets of "hands" to finish and assemble. I also read that 70 employees at the plant cranked (?) out 7000 to 10000 units per month, so call it an average of 8500 /mo. 8500 / 22 (work days /mo) = 386 XM's per day or 5.5 pair per day per person. Of course all were not in manufacturing but you get the picture of slow/ low production.

The same guys didn't mine the titanium themselves, and some computer milling was utilized as well as some other non-hand processes so I guess I casually used "handmade". In retrospect "hand assembled and finished" is more appropriate. Or maybe "handcrafted"? You would have a better idea of what industry considers the difference between "hand-made" and "hand assembled".

I'll respectfully differ to the guy who actually makes things rather than me, the guy who just sells dog bones...

 

[Rustpot]

The principal manufacturing process is casting. They're assembled from cast pieces. No different than say putting together electronics that are made from a series of injection molded parts, circuit boards pumped out by a machine, and having a person click everything together.

The "unique" aspect to every frame comes from the method of casting (lost wax) and from the tech who grinds off the casting gates and gives the frame a few grinds before coating/finishing.

Lost wax is generally repeatable, but you are working with wax, which can swell and shrink to a small degree, can trap moisture in the molds, all sorts of variations that using machined dies wouldn't see. Even lost foam is technically more repeatable for correct sizing, but generally foam-cast parts are finish machined on dimension-critical areas. Engine blocks for cars are lost foam-cast, for example.

I don't know where they get 27 machining operations. Are the holes reamed? Probably, so there's potentially a dozen or two dozen operations right there just to drill/chase and final-size ream the holes for the stem hinges, frame hinges, orbital to nose, and nosebridge holes. Add 4 more for the screw taps and I already count 28 machining operations to just the 5 frame pieces. Maybe they count all of those as 1, I don't know.

75 people? I can see that. A few each in mold making, mold coating, furnace feed, manage metal pour, furnace unload, breaking up the tree, cutting off the parts, grinding off the gates, machining, blast/finish, assembly, transport... It all depends on how their workflow is set up, if they did One Piece Flow or assembly line style, etc etc etc.

 

[Batwolf]

I think the point here is that we will never see Oakley making anything like that again...

 

[Rustpot]

I think the point here is that we will never see Oakley making anything like that again...

My point is that X Metals were being made with manufacturing principals from the last century. It was no surprise to me they were killed after I learned more about their production.

 

[Batwolf]

Oh yes that's for sure. Not to mention the costs associated with such a manufacturing process.

I won't even try to argue the manufacturing details since you know a lot more about metals and machine work than I do (or most of us for that matter).

 

[Jay82]

You're a dyed-in-the-wool OF'er, surely you have watched the X Metal manufacturing video. This video (which I'm sure that you've seen) stated that to manufacture one pair took 3 weeks from cradle to grave:

While it is true that 27 different machining processes occurred, it still required 75 sets of "hands" to finish and assemble. I also read that 70 employees at the plant cranked (?) out 7000 to 10000 units per month, so call it an average of 8500 /mo. 8500 / 22 (work days /mo) = 386 XM's per day or 5.5 pair per day per person. Of course all were not in manufacturing but you get the picture of slow/ low production.

The same guys didn't mine the titanium themselves, and some computer milling was utilized as well as some other non-hand processes so I guess I casually used "handmade". In retrospect "hand assembled and finished" is more appropriate. Or maybe "handcrafted"? You would have a better idea of what industry considers the difference between "hand-made" and "hand assembled".

I'll respectfully differ to the guy who actually makes things rather than me, the guy who just sells dog bones...

thanks for this video carguy. I pretty much strictly buy x metal and have loved them since the first time I saw a pair of romeo 1. I've never seen this video and never really looked into the process that they go through to make the frames. It's absolutely incredible.