Back to the 80s Machinery Factory

Chapter 569 Could we get a smaller jack?!

The remaining repairs are minor issues; a gasket replacement or a filling will suffice.

He rushed to tell Chen Luyang the good news, but before he could even rejoice, another phone call came in.

The promised supplementary materials have arrived.

However, this message was not an official document, but rather a prior notification from Liang Zhongwei.

These young men learned their lesson the hard way and never dared to be careless again.

Li He remembered clearly that the last batch of materials was intercepted by another factory halfway through.

So this time they learned their lesson.

The goods were supposed to arrive on the 15th, but on the evening of the 14th, they were already waiting at the warehouse entrance with their bedding rolls.

No matter who tried to persuade him, he wouldn't leave. He slept on the floor all night, determined to see the materials finally come to fruition.

The night wind was biting, and the white breath exhaled drifted away under the dim streetlights.

Several people huddled inside the car, smoking and taking turns dozing off.

Around 2 a.m., the roar of a diesel engine could be heard in the distance.
Li He jumped up with a start and shouted:

"coming!"

The group immediately perked up, flashlights blazing as they ran towards the car headlights.

Before the warehouse workers could react, Li He and his team had already rushed forward with the permits.

After showing his work ID to prove his identity,
Several people worked together to load the bundles of thick steel plates, round materials, and thin plates onto their own vehicle.

By the time the last piece of material was loaded onto the truck, the sky was already beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

"Let's go! Back to the factory!"

The truck engine roared to life, belching white smoke, and drove towards the West Railway Station through the morning mist.

With this replenishment of materials, the technical school was finally able to resume production.

Following the blueprints and process cards, the students began a new round of formal processing and assembly.

The roar of lathes and milling machines echoed through the workshop once again, and sparks crackled and flashed on the control panel, making the entire technical school's training room lively again.

During the downtime of replenishment production,

Zhang Nan's risky modification of the blueprints, resulting in a one-piece splicing solution, has now proven invaluable.

Although these components are not as refined as solid materials, they are accurate in size, strong enough, and most importantly, they are usable!

Thanks to that batch of assembled parts, the repair shop's main mission never stopped.

The brake push rod assembly was installed as usual, and the coupling could continue to be broken in and put on the machine. Not a single technical school student's process training card was lost.

If production were to stop for a few days and the supply of spare parts were to be cut off, the repair shop would be in a difficult situation.

Fortunately, Zhang Nan's temporary design of the splicing parts filled the gap for half a month, allowing the repair shop to wait patiently for the replacement parts to arrive.

With new parts arriving and old parts being supplied continuously, the entire repair shop is once again well-supported and is operating smoothly.

As for the batch of steel that was intercepted, Chen Luyang also found out.

It was none other than Shi Gang, which was intercepted by Lu Yongqiang.

This year, Pian'ercheng is vigorously promoting the "energy-saving technological transformation" pilot project. As a key unit, Shijiazhuang Iron and Steel Group urgently needs to build a "waste heat recovery and boiler transformation workshop".

This batch of steel was temporarily allocated to Shijiazhuang Iron and Steel Group (Shigang) for use as the main material for the supporting frame and diversion pipe rack, nominally belonging to the "energy conservation and emission reduction, key supply guarantee" project.

Upon hearing this news, Chen Luyang, who had been harboring resentment, immediately fell silent.

Don't even mention that Lu Yongqiang is still his superior, and he benefits from Chen Jinyue's connection.
Even if it weren't, who would dare compete with Shijiazhuang Iron and Steel Group for materials...

A key national metallurgical plant, and one of the units directly under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Even the Municipal Economic Commission has to give way.

With a simple "approved by the ministry," who would dare to question it further?

When things are going well, it's a case of "big factories eating meat and small factories drinking soup," everyone benefits and can hitch a ride.

But if you encounter a tough project with tight deadlines, targets, and specific reporting deadlines, then it's no longer a matter of "eating soup" (a Chinese idiom for getting by).

Instead, it's "whoever dares to touch the bowls and chopsticks will be scolded."

In short... I support it!
Large manufacturers, supported by production capacity and policy, are the face of the country;

Once the large factories have truly completed their energy-saving renovations, met their targets, and established a positive image,

Then the spare parts, collaborative parts, and trial production orders of small factories can also flow together.

In other words, the big companies take a step forward.
The entire string of small factories below were able to keep going and survive.

While the repair shop was busy producing parts, the mechanics department's research group had finally completed the construction of a simple on-site loading framework for controllable stress.

Now, the entire workshop has been divided in two.

Half of it is the original car repair area, and the other half is a newly built experimental area.

If Sun Hongjun hadn't risked his life, even the small kitchen area would have been reclassified as part of the production area.

"It's too crowded..."

When Chen Luyang returned to the repair shop over the weekend, his eyebrows were almost knitted together.

You really can't set goals blindly!

When we didn't set any specific goals, the factory was quite spacious.
Ever since the expansion plan was set, the place has become increasingly crowded, with more and more people arriving every day.

Initially, only a few students from the mechanics department, including Lin Qiming, came to the factory to conduct experiments.

Now, even Zhang Diancai has come.

Because the controllable stress loading frame is in a critical commissioning phase, the data is extremely sensitive and cannot tolerate even the slightest error.
Therefore, Zhang Diancai simply turned "off-campus experiment" into "on-site experiment".

Whenever there were no classes, meetings, or discussions at school, he would ride his bicycle and rush over to conduct experiments.

He wasn't much younger than Zhang Guoqiang and the others, and with his work clothes always on and his hands covered in grease and grime, he looked exactly like a...
Many people who didn't know the situation actually thought he was a new, experienced mechanic at the repair shop.

Zhang Diancai didn't argue. When others asked, he would just smile and say that he was a half-baked driver.

Moreover, his current research on fatigue-prone components requires a great deal of loading data under real-world working conditions.
The repair shop doesn't have many other things, but it has all kinds of real cars, real parts, and real working conditions.

In this way,
The factory became his ideal "natural testing ground".

However, while the "natural testing ground" was set up, the repair shop became inconvenient.

Because half of the space was occupied by the frame and experimental equipment, the row of repair bays that were originally by the window had to be moved to the corner.

To repair a car, you have to first put the back of the car against the wall, and then bend around the corner to reach in the tools.

There wasn't enough room for the crane in the workshop; even the jacks used to lift the engine were squeezed into a corner.

This TQ20 hydraulic cylinder jack at the repair shop weighs over ten kilograms and can reach half a meter in height when extended. It's incredibly practical!
Under normal circumstances, lifting a small car is not difficult.

The problem is, this thing has to be placed upright, and there has to be half a meter of space on the side for the controller.

The legs of the experimental frame are now so wide that even if you manage to squeeze it in, it will immediately hit the iron beam and you can't move it at all.

To repair the car, several workers need to work together to lift the bottom of the car.

After just one trip, my back, waist, and arms were so sore they were trembling.

If they happen to be dismantling the chassis, then it's even worse.

Not only do you have to crawl under the car, but if you even lift your head slightly, you're likely to bump your head on the frame's legs.
Every time they finish work, the workers have to lean against the wall and rest for half a day.

"This can't go on forever..."

Chen Luyang frowned as she looked at the crowded workshop.

I don't know when the expansion application will be approved.

It's fine to make do once or twice, but if everyone has to work like this, jostling and jostling, for a year or two...
Let alone repairing cars, even a person's body would be worn out from the exertion.

At the repair shop right now, on one side, the sensors in the experimental area are flashing and counting.

On one side, workers were lifting carts, laying wooden blocks, and removing screws, their bodies covered in oil from their busy work.

The absurd scene of "science and strength mixed together" is really awkward to look at.

After dinner, Zhang Guoqiang and the others, exhausted from a long day, went to bed early to listen to the tape recorder.

Chen Luyang squatted in a corner against the wall, observing the jack.

"Xiao Chen, what are you looking at?"

After washing her face, Zhang Nan came over carrying a basin.

“I was thinking, could we make a small, lightweight jack?” Chen Luyang said.

"A small, lightweight jack?"

Zhang Nan became interested and curiously put down the basin, squatting down with Chen Luyang.

“Yes.” Chen Luyang gestured with her hand to indicate the size.

“Our TQ20 is too big. To use it properly, it not only has to be placed vertically, but also requires more than half a meter of space for the dry-firing handle.”

"I was thinking, could we make something that's easy to hold, easy to put in, and easy to use, without being too big, and as lightweight and small as possible?"

Zhang Nan frowned slightly.

"This is not easy to do."

"You see, the stability of a jack lies in 'lifting it upright'; the force must go upward along the axis to support it."

"If you want it to be smaller and lighter, the point of force application has to be moved downwards."

"If the top rod is shortened and the travel is changed, it may slip or tilt before it has even lifted a few centimeters."

Chen Luyang countered, "What if we first let it 'rise at an angle' and then 'support it upright'?"

"For example, by using your foot or lever to lift the bike a little, and then letting the main pole stabilize it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Nan was momentarily stunned.

He looked at Chen Luyang, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Chen Luyang continued, "Senior brother, look, I studied literature. I don't understand any of your concepts like stress, torque, or points of force, but I do know how to 'hollow out the space'."

“I was thinking, why don’t we do it the other way around? Instead of letting the car adapt to the jack, let the jack adapt to the terrain.”

“When repairing a car, the only gap that can be squeezed in is about a hand's width around the tire. If we could make a shorter, more horizontal gap that can be squeezed in, even if it’s a little lower each time, it would be much easier than lifting the car now.”

The more Chen Luyang talked, the more her thoughts flowed.

"It should be able to be held in one hand and used in the other, and ideally it should be able to lie flat, with the handle retractable. That way, it can be used whether you're on or off a vehicle."

As Zhang Nan listened, her brows furrowed even more deeply.

"...You mean, make it hit a shorter distance so it can still deliver force horizontally, and add a handle that can be folded back?"

Zhang Nan frowned as she spoke, clearly not quite understanding yet.

Chen Luyang: "That's roughly the idea. It's about not hitting it vertically, but letting it 'work lying down'."

Zhang Nan turned around abruptly, grabbed a pencil and paper from the table, and scribbled a few lines on the workbench.

"do you mean this?"

He pointed to a sketch on the paper, which depicted a low hydraulic jack with a handle extending from the side.

Chen Luyang leaned closer to take a look, hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head.

"Not good enough, it needs to be shorter."

"Even a cat has a hard time squeezing into that corner where the car repair shop is now. If it were this high, it probably wouldn't fit either."

Zhang Nan looked down at the blueprints and frowned: "If it's any shorter, I'm afraid the car won't be able to be lifted."

As he spoke, he erased a section of the line with an eraser and then redrawn it.

"How about this? I'll thin the base a bit and tilt the cylinder slightly to save some height."

Chen Luyang looked at the lines and her eyes lit up: "Yes, that's pretty much the idea!"

"However, it would be even better if the bottom could move a little."

"Move?" Zhang Nan looked up.

“Yes,” Chen Luyang gestured, “the factory floor is uneven, and there are pits in some places. If this thing is crooked underneath, the force won’t be applied correctly.”

"If we could install a small pad underneath that can 'level itself,' it wouldn't be tilted even if it rotated a few degrees."

"Like this?" Zhang Nan tentatively added another stroke to the drawing, creating a semi-circular base, resembling a slightly rotating ball.

"Make it a little more slanted." Chen Luyang took the pen and made a crooked stroke on the paper.

As soon as she finished drawing, Chen Luyang's eyes turned serious.

Do these drawing sheets... also have walls?

Normally, when Zhang Nan picks up a pen, she can quickly draw lines and circles;

How come my drawings look like cockroaches crawling?

However, despite the poor quality of the drawing, Zhang Nan immediately recognized what he was trying to express.

"That's quite a bold idea!"

The voice sounded like a compliment, but also a bit like a wry smile.

Chen Luyang was taken aback for a moment, then asked tentatively in a low voice, "Can you do that?"

Zhang Nan said, "Unless Newton were to be resurrected and use a ruler to measure the force line, he might be able to barely manage to measure it. Otherwise, it would be a real challenge for an ordinary person!"

He picked up his pen and gestured a couple of times on the drawing.

"Think about it, if the bottom can move, then the force coming down from above will no longer be linear."

"If the angle is too large, the hydraulic cylinder may become misaligned, the stress point will be off, and it will be more likely to break."

"If you really want it to 'level itself,' then you have to make sure that no matter how it rotates, the force is always transmitted upwards in the correct direction."

"It sounds simple, but you have to calculate the angle, the friction, and the fulcrum. If you're even a degree off, the whole car can tilt."

Zhang Nan kept talking, but she didn't stop writing.

He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly drew an arc at the bottom of the drawing.

"However, if you really want it to move without using any force, there is a way."

As she spoke, Zhang Nan tapped the small section of the arc with her pencil.

"Add a hemispherical pad underneath, with an angle that allows it only three to five degrees of room to move. This range is enough for it to level itself, but it won't be crooked."

"Then leave a limiting ring in the middle to ensure that the force always moves towards the center."

As he spoke, he added lines to the diagram.

"The force applied by this method will automatically straighten the ground, even if it is slightly tilted."

"It can be turned, but it can't be turned out of bounds."

As Zhang Nan's pen flew across the paper, a simple yet clear sketch gradually took shape.

After finishing the drawing, Zhang Nan subconsciously looked up, as was his habit when explaining designs in the lab, wanting to ask for their opinions.

When she looked up, she met Chen Luyang's innocent, clear, and simple eyes.

Did you understand everything I just said?

(End of this chapter)