Returning wealthy individuals develop their hometowns and become rich in the 1980s

Inside the Nanshan Precision Machinery Research Institute, located near the mountain, Mr. Lu, who was leading the technical backbone in the final debugging of the equipment, was holding his glasses with a slight tremor in his hand.

He stared at the five-axis CNC machine tool that he had led the young technicians to assemble step by step according to the manual. The silver-gray casing of the machine gleamed warmly under the incandescent light, just like Lu Lao's mood at that moment, which was intense and burning.

Qi Wangzhi, a committee member specially dispatched by the Central Committee, walked up to Old Lu and asked in a low voice, "Old Lu, do you think this thing can really produce those eight curves as described in the manual?"

"Whether it's possible or not, we'll find out by trying!"

Old Lu walked to the equipment's control screen. Although the screen was entirely in German, it didn't stop him from quickly pointing at the screen.

I vividly remember when I was young, I went to study under the Russians, the big brother. At the Moscow machine repair factory, the Russian experts treated us Chinese engineers who had come to study there like we were thieves. In front of them, I rolled up the blueprints, afraid that they would see them and learn them.

At that time, Lu Zhenjiang was only twenty-five years old. He secretly clenched his fists and vowed to create China's own machine tool!

"power ups!"

Upon hearing Mr. Lu's words, the operator pressed the start button. There was no roar as expected; the spindle was almost silent when it began to rotate, with only a faint hissing sound as the airflow was cut.

Lu Zhenhua approached the observation window and saw the blade tip draw the first arc on the workpiece surface. It was not a simple straight line, nor an arc, but a trajectory he had never seen on any domestic machine tool before. The blade cut in at an incredible angle under the linkage of five axes, like an ice skate cutting through a newly frozen lake.

Professor Qiu had somehow gotten so engrossed in watching the equipment moving smoothly through the glass observation window, as if he were gazing at a beautiful young woman he had admired for a long time. His breath condensed into frost before quickly dissipating.

"How's it going, Lao Shen?" Qi Wangzhi also came over, squeezing next to Professor Qiu, and lightly bumped the old man with his elbow.

"Seventh feed," Professor Qiu said without turning his head, his eyes fixed on the observation window. "Look at the seventh feed! Tsk tsk! So smooth!"

Qi Wangzhi saw that it was the root groove of the turbine blade tenon. How did they do it in the past? Eight processes, four machine tools, from rough milling to polishing, it took three rounds of manual work, and the pass rate was less than 40%.

Now, the blade tip is cutting out that extremely complex spatial curve in one go at a speed that is almost impossible for the naked eye to follow. The shavings are silver-blue, as fine as snowflakes, and fall into the transparent protective shield.

Three elderly men, all over fifty, watched the entire cutting process like children who had just received a new toy. Only after the equipment had completely stopped running and the indicator light came on did they eagerly reach out and take out the machined parts.

"Quickly, quickly, test it!" Old Lu shouted to a young man beside him, holding the part tightly in his hand, afraid that the part, which was covered with cutting fluid, would slip and fall to the ground.

"Mr. Lu... radial runout, two micrometers!"

As soon as the young tester spoke, the entire workshop fell silent, with only the faint hum of the five-axis machine tool remaining.

Two micrometers, one-fortieth the thickness of a human hair!

After listening, Qiu Zhenjiang pressed his hand on the casing of the five-axis machine tool and grinned, "Great! We no longer have to be stuck at the last minute because of an error of one or two micrometers!"

Professor Qiu, holding a flashlight, squatted down like an old farmer, sticking his rear end out to look into the equipment, and said to the young man not far away, "Put one in, let me check how the equipment is working!"

The equipment continued to run smoothly. Professor Qiu held a flashlight and watched the knife continue to move, following the curve they had drawn countless times, tried countless times, and failed countless times, as if walking a road they had never walked before.

As Professor Qiu watched, a smile appeared on his face, a smile of joy mixed with excitement. When Wang Huaimin strode into the workshop, he saw Lu Zhenjiang repeatedly measuring the parts and Qi Wangzhi peering through the observation window, looking just like a child longing for a toy in a shop window.

Then Wang Huaimin saw Professor Qiu, who was hunched over, constantly peering into the five-axis equipment with a flashlight. He walked over and asked in a low voice, "The three of you, I heard the equipment is working properly. How is it? Is everything going smoothly?"

"Smooth sailing, too smoothly," Lu Zhenjiang handed the repeatedly measured component to Wang Huaimin. "Two micrometers—that's a generational leap of over a decade, young Wang!"

Although Wang Huaimin didn't know much about machine tools, he understood what a two-micrometer error meant. He could only say that China was far behind the international advanced level!

According to Chen Dong, the two pieces of equipment he acquired were at an internationally advanced level. Although the nameplates and other markings had been deliberately worn away, making it impossible to discern the model, manufacturing date, or manufacturer, Wang Huaimin believed Chen Dong's words based on the smooth operation of the equipment.

In fact, Chen Dong was not telling the truth. The two five-axis CNC machine tools he obtained from the system were actually products of the late 1990s. Even if they were placed in America and Europa in 1982, they would be considered top-of-the-line equipment.

The reason Chen Dong produced these two pieces of equipment from the late 1990s was because Wang Huaimin and the others said that if they wanted to imitate them, they couldn't use equipment that was about to be phased out in the 1980s.

The two machines Chen Dong provided would take China at least six or seven years to perfectly replicate. Once China is fully proficient in replicating them, it will be able to catch up with international advanced levels.

Even if we can't perfectly replicate it, being 80% successful would be enough to be self-sufficient and avoid the embarrassing situation of being held hostage by others.

As the ancients said: "Aim high and you will get somewhere in the middle; aim for the middle and you will get somewhere in the lower; aim low and you will get nothing!"

Chen Dong also wanted to recreate the machine tools of the 20th century, but just the CNC machine tool industrial control chips inside would drive Lu Zhenjiang and his team crazy.

Chen Dong told Wang Huaimin that if they could replicate 80% of the technology, they would be able to catch up with the international advanced level. Wang Huaimin told Lu Zhenjiang and the other two that these two five-axis CNC machine tools were not the most advanced machine tools in Europe.

Comrades, we still need to work harder!

Years later, when the Nanshan Institute, led by Lu Zhenjiang, Qi Wangzhi, and Qiu Huaiyan, thoroughly mastered the two five-axis CNC machine tools that Chen Dong had acquired, and even reverse-engineered and optimized them, they were stunned when they saw the high-precision five-axis CNC machine tools imported from Germany in the late 1980s.

If machine tools of your caliber represent the pinnacle of European technology, then what is this thing I made through reverse engineering?