Back to the 80s Machinery Factory

Chapter 485 I'm the Director, Listen to Me
Many times,
People at the provincial machinery factory had all considered sending their children to foreign guest hotels for internships.

But the provincial machinery factory is just too awesome.

If you can get a job at the provincial machinery factory right away, who would want to work at a hotel for foreign guests?
Looking at those expectant eyes,

Chen Luyang began to make up lies, half true and half false.

"Basically, I guess."

"After all, that's the environment! People coming and going are mostly foreigners, so they're bound to know a thing or two."

"But ultimately, it depends on yourself. You need to learn, listen, and accumulate knowledge regularly. The environment is important, but personal effort is the most important."

“I understand,” Sun Hongjun said, revealing the secret.

"It's mainly because our Brother Chen is amazing."

Chen Luyang nodded happily, and just as she was about to speak, she glanced around and asked, puzzled:

"Where's Zhang Nan? He's not here today?"

"Yes. He's upstairs drawing." Director Lu raised his chin.

"Calling someone down here won't make a difference if they're drawing for a little while, and they can't be working all the time!" Chen Luyang said, frowning as he ate a persimmon peel.

“We called out, but they wouldn’t come down,” Sun Hongjun interjected from the side.

"Ever since our repair shop got the project approved by the Municipal Economic Commission, Xiao Zhang has been working like crazy, practically glued to the blueprints."

“I just went upstairs to bring him a frozen persimmon so he could eat it while he drew. He didn’t even look up and wouldn’t come down no matter what I said.”

"Really?" Chen Luyang pursed her lips, tossed the persimmon peel in her hand into the trash can, and turned to grab a frozen pear from the basin.

"I'll go up and take a look."

Although he was not as old as Zhang Nan, since he was in his own repair shop, he had to be responsible for him.

I went up to the second floor and pushed open the door.

The lights in the room were off, except for a small lamp by the window.

Zhang Nan leaned half her body on the table, holding a pencil in her hand, with blue cloth sleeves on her arms, carefully drawing a picture.

There was a thick stack of draft paper under the table, covered with lines, dimensions, and annotations.

"Senior brother," Chen Luyang greeted from the doorway.

"Let's go down and chat with everyone, have some frozen pears or something, it won't make a difference if we spend a little more time drawing."

"Little Chen?!" Upon hearing Chen Luyang's voice, Zhang Nan turned her head sharply and exclaimed excitedly:

"I've drawn the diagram for the brake lever!"

"Really?!"

Chen Luyang's eyes lit up, and she strode over to the table.

Zhang Nan pulled out a blueprint from the side and pointed to the dense annotations and dimensions in the corners, explaining:

"Look here, I changed it twice, turning the original angle into an angled one. This makes the swing arm distance shorter, saving space and making room for the nozzle pipe."

"And I added a reinforcing rib here." Zhang Nan's tone carried a hint of barely suppressed pride.
"This section used to be prone to shaking, but adding it here will increase lateral stability."

……

At first, Chen Luyang listened with excitement, but the more she listened, the more uneasy she felt.

Zhang Nan doesn't seem to be in a good state!
"Brother, are you okay?"

Chen Luyang looked at Zhang Nan and saw that his eyes were fixed, his forehead was covered with a fine layer of sweat, and his face was flushed.

"It's nothing, I'm just a little dizzy."

Dizziness?

Chen Luyang frowned, put the frozen pear on the table, and reached out to touch his forehead.

day!
"That's so hot it's burning your hand, how can you not faint!"

Zhang Nan paused for a moment, then said, "I'm fine... I'm alright."

"It's okay!"

Chen Luyang snatched the pencil away and threw it on the table. Without waiting for the other person to struggle, she raised her hand and pushed him towards the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Don't eat the frozen persimmons. I'll have Hongjun make you some ginger and brown sugar water. Now go to bed and cool off."

"But this picture..."

"Put the pictures aside for now, your task is to go to bed and rest!"

Chen Luyang's tone turned somber, and his face fell.

"This is a repair shop, I'm the manager, listen to me!"

"Hurry up and get on the kang (heated brick bed) to sweat it out!"

"If you really cause any harm from the fire, Teacher Zhang will tear down this whole area! Who will design the second batch of general-purpose parts? Are you suggesting that Director Lu learn to draw?"

Although Zhang Nan wanted to persist, Chen Luyang actually took action.

The young man from Northeast China was very strong. He quickly pushed Zhang Nan into the quilt and wrapped her up tightly while muttering to himself.

When Chen Luyang came downstairs again, the room was bustling with people chatting.

"Red Army soldier, slice some ginger and make some brown sugar water. Zhang Nan has a fever," Chen Luyang said.

"You have a fever?!" Sun Hongjun, who was biting into half a frozen pear, widened his eyes upon hearing this.

"He was perfectly fine when I went upstairs to bring him persimmons, and he seemed to be in good spirits."

"He's just putting on a brave face!" Chen Luyang said, frowning.

"His forehead was burning hot, and he didn't say a word. Luckily, I went up and took a look."

"Okay, I'll go right now!" Sun Hongjun quickly put the frozen pears on the table, rolled up his sleeves, and ran to the kitchen.

Director Lu said, "There are a lot of viruses lately, so tomorrow I'll lead everyone in a big clean-up and burn some vinegar to sprinkle on the ground."

Chen Luyang nodded: "Thank you for the big cleaning."

"Zhang Nan has drawn up the blueprints for the brake push rod. Tomorrow, I plan to strike while the iron is hot and go to the school in person to finalize the processing arrangements and speed things up."

"Okay!" Director Lu readily agreed.

……

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Chen Luyang got up.

It's terribly cold outside.

After having breakfast with everyone, Chen Luyang put on her cotton coat and was just about to go out.

Before I could even put on my hat, I saw Zhang Nan come downstairs, wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, with a scarf around her neck and a flushed face.

"Why did you come down?" Chen Luyang asked, surprised.

“I’ll go with you.” Zhang Nan tugged at her sleeve, her tone insistent.

"Your fever hasn't completely subsided yet!" Chen Luyang frowned. "Just rest at the factory, we'll take care of the blueprints."

“If I don’t go, you won’t understand.” Zhang Nan insisted on walking out.

"I drew the diagram for the putter; I know exactly where to cut and where not to move."

"If you can't explain it clearly later, and the vocational school says 'it's hard to process,' then all my drawings will have been for nothing?"

"Besides," Zhang Nan paused, looking at Chen Luyang with a serious expression,
"I'm just going out for some fresh air, don't worry about me. Even if it burns, it won't kill me." Chen Luyang stared at him for two seconds: "You think you can stop me no matter what, huh?"

Zhang Nan stood still, looking at him calmly.

Chen Luyang sighed, reached out and took the roll of blueprints from Zhang Nan's arms, and then tightened his scarf around Zhang Nan's neck.

"Then go!"

……

When they arrived at Fengnan Technical School, the gatekeeper remembered them and let them through without saying much.

He Zhengshu was watching the students adjust the knives in the workshop.

Knowing that Chen Luyang was coming, He Zhengshu wiped his hands and came out of the workshop, only to see Chen Luyang and a young man who didn't seem to be in good spirits standing outside the door.

"Teacher He, I've bothered you again today!"

Chen Luyang warmly shook hands with He Zhenghua, then smiled and turned to put her arm around Zhang Nan, formally introducing them:

"This is Zhang Nan, a student from the Department of Mechanics at Peking University, a top student of Professor Zhang, and also the person in charge of drawing the parts for the project."

"Hello." He Zhenghua extended his hand and shook hands with Zhang Nan, then looked at Zhang Nan with a puzzled expression.

Zhang Nan's eyes were moist and bright, and her cheeks were flushed.

Anyone who didn't know better would think she'd just had a good cry; actually, she looks quite pretty.

"Zhang, you don't seem to be doing well. Why don't you go to our school hospital for a check-up later?"

"It's nothing, I've taken my medicine," Zhang Nan said in a hoarse voice.

"Alright then." He Zhenghua didn't waste any time and smiled at Chen Luyang.
“Last time you came, you just sat in the office and didn’t come to visit our workshop. Today I’ll show you around.”

"Okay!"

Chen Luyang really wanted to see the other party's production situation this time.

He Zhenghua then led Chen Luyang and Zhang Nan into the workshop for a tour.

The entire workshop was divided into three rows of operating areas.

Along the wall were ordinary lathes, and closest to the window were two horizontal milling machines and an old vertical milling machine. In the middle were several workbenches covered with iron plates for students to practice assembly and fitting.

At the back, there was a pile of sharpening machines, bench vises, and a radial drilling machine. Several students were gathered around changing drill bits, seemingly practicing step hole positioning and reaming operations.

Although the workshop looked a bit dilapidated, it was quite orderly in terms of everything from the cleanliness of the floor and the arrangement of tools to the students' proper wearing of hats and clothes.

"Can this lathe use cutting tools?" Chen Luyang asked, pointing to a piece of equipment against the wall.

“The old CA6140 can still run,” He Zhenghua said. “It’s just that the tailstock isn’t very accurate, so you have to leave some leeway when working.”

"Can it be used on a milling machine too?" Chen Luyang asked.

“Sure.” He Zhengshu nodded. “That X62W is a treasure of our department. It has a lateral travel limit switch, so it can run on small tracks, but it’s very unstable when hit by a blade.”

Chen Luyang and Zhang Nan exchanged a glance, and they understood what was going on.

The vocational school has all the necessary tools, but they are all at the teaching level.

It's fine for simple rough machining, but when it comes to high precision and tolerance control, it's a real challenge.

After touring the workshop, the group stood by a workbench in the corner.

Chen Luyang took out the blueprints from his canvas bag and handed them to He Zhenghua, saying:
"Teacher He, these are the blueprints, please take a look."

"You've finished the drawings?" He Zhenghua asked in surprise as he took the drawings, unfolded them, and looked at them.
"...Is this a one-piece putter?"

Upon hearing the other party ask about the blueprints, Zhang Nan, who had been standing listlessly to the side, perked up and spoke:

"Yes. This is a type of brake push rod we designed,"

"The front end connects to the brake, and the rear end connects to the coupling. This ring in the middle is a limit ring, used to prevent backward movement."

He Zhenghua asked, "How do you plan to work on this ring? Grooving or cutting?"

Zhang Nan replied: "The design considered an external cutting approach, using a 3mm blade for the cut. The blade holder has a retraction bevel after cutting in, which also forms a stop."

He Zhengshu frowned. "Was this ring manufactured together with the pushrod body? Or were they machined in sections and then pressed together?"

“It was produced as a whole.” Zhang Nan pointed to the sectional view, her voice a little hoarse.

“This section is not load-bearing, so the requirements are not high. As long as the material bar is long enough, it can be directly removed.”

After speaking, Zhang Nan coughed lightly.

He had a high fever, and his voice was somewhat unsteady as he spoke.

But standing in front of the blueprints
Zhang Nan continued to concentrate intently, answering He Zhenghua's questions one by one.

After He Zhengshu had gone through the entire drawing from beginning to end, he turned back to the first page.

He closed the blueprints and said to Chen Luyang:
"I've reviewed your blueprints."

"To be honest, if you leave this whole thing to us,"

"We can't afford it with our current conditions."

As he spoke, he pointed into the workshop:
"Our lathes here can only be adjusted to a tolerance of ±0.1 by dial indicator at most, and the reaming is only average. Forget about H7. Moreover, we don't have internal taper cutters, so we rely entirely on hand grinding, which makes it impossible to control the error."

"Besides, we students aren't exactly professional technical workers who work on projects; most of us have just gotten familiar with machine tools."

“Your machine is highly precise and has a complex structure. If it were to damage the cutting tool or smash the chuck, no one could bear the responsibility.”

"Most importantly, we are using teaching equipment."

"Poor rigidity, low load capacity, cannot handle large materials, especially if your push rod is four or five hundred millimeters long, the lathe chuck may not be able to hold it firmly."

"Which part do you think you can do?" Chen Luyang asked.

He Zhenghua pondered for a moment, then pointed to several key points on the drawing and said:

"We can first rough machine the outer contour of the push rod for you, that is, the cylindrical positioning section, the limit ring contour, and the guide post blank."

"But things like the precision-fitted holes, keyways, and the mating section at the back require high precision and strict requirements. We dare not touch them, nor can we touch them."

He pushed the blueprints back, his tone frank:

“Our technical school is geared towards teaching, focusing on basic skills, not on making precision parts. Unlike your repair shops, where experienced mechanics practice on jobs every day.”

“We students have no problem with roughing out contours, grooving, and drilling.”

"But when it comes to holes and slots with high precision, and mating sections with tolerances, you have to rely on the experienced workers in the factory. Students really don't dare to touch them."

"clear."

Chen Luyang hummed in agreement, her tone more formal than before:
"And one more thing."

“Our project has been officially approved by the Municipal Economic Commission and has been designated as a municipal-level pilot project. It is currently a ‘Industry-Education Collaboration Demonstration Project’ jointly applied for by Peking University and the repair shop and jointly registered by the Municipal Economic Commission and the Municipal Science and Technology Commission.”

As he spoke, Chen Luyang pulled a photocopy of an official document from his bag and handed it over.

He Zhenghua glanced at the document number in the upper right corner, then looked at the seal, and his eyebrows shot up.

It really is the seal of the Municipal Economic Commission!
Chen Luyang seized the opportunity to continue: "Therefore, I hope to formally include our technical school as a project collaboration unit through 'joint practical training'."

"Our repair shop is responsible for providing the drawings, materials, and arranging for a process instructor to be on-site."

“Your school provides the venue, teaching equipment, and students to operate the equipment, while the training teachers participate in and supervise the production process throughout.”

"Both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Cooperation, and each round of trial production was documented, results were archived, and samples were recovered and tested, with all data being recorded and filed."

"When the city and school organize project evaluations at the end of the year, the application materials will specifically list the collaborating units. As long as the output is solid and the process is documented, your name and your school's name will be included in the recommended list when it comes to the evaluation and commendation."

Hey!
He Zhenghua couldn't help but look up at Chen Luyang, his eyes filled with shock!
(End of this chapter)