In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

Chapter 116 Hand-crafted Iron Rod, A Skill That Amazed Everyone

"This C6132 is purely manual; I put it here so you can practice driving it."

Fang Qiming took an alloy lathe tool from the tool rack and handed it to Zhang Yong.

"Of course, you can start by making a simple one. Here are the blueprints, take a look. Get used to the feel of it."

Zhang Yong took the drawing and saw that it was a stepped shaft, marked with an outer diameter of 35 mm to 32 mm and a step width of 15 mm.

He nodded, took off his coat and hung it on the back of the chair, then picked up a gray-blue work uniform from beside the control panel and put it on.

Qian Zhiyuan leaned against the EDM machine, his arms crossed over his chest.

The girl next to him, wearing glasses, asked quietly, "Has he ever been on a lathe?"

Qian Zhiyuan shook his head; he had no idea what this instructor Cheng used to do.

Zhang Yong walked up to the lathe but didn't start it right away.

He stretched out his right hand, placed his palm on the horizontal handwheel of the slide box, and slowly turned it half a circle.

I touched the longitudinal handwheel again; the damping was slightly heavier than the lateral one, and the bearing was a bit dry. It needs some lubrication.

Fang Qiming saw it all but remained silent.

Zhang Yong loaded the silver-gray bar into the chuck and tightened it.

The material already had an 8mm inner hole drilled in advance, making it a semi-finished product. His next task was to machine an outer conical surface onto this hollow tube.

"Teacher Fang, I'd like to set the RPM to 800, is that alright?"

"OK."

The spindle motor started with a hum, and the chuck carrying the bar stock began to rotate at high speed, filling the workshop with the smell of machine oil.

Zhang Yong gripped the horizontal handwheel, took a breath, and closed his eyes briefly.

The system panel silently appeared in my mind.

[Automotive Repair Lv.5 Effective: Mechanical Touch, Tolerance Perception, Equipment Clearance Prediction]

[Driving Lv.6 Enabled: Constant Speed ​​Control, Load Resistance Feedback, Steady-State Fine-Tuning]

He opened his eyes, his wrist slightly lowered, and the cutting tool touched the rotating steel blade.

The piercing sound of metal cutting rang out.

Pale blue ribbons of steel shavings flew out from the tip of the knife, carrying heat and billowing white mist.

Several graduate students took a step back to avoid the dust.

Zhang Yong placed both hands on the two handwheels, rotating the blade evenly and moving it smoothly. The sound of the blade tip slicing through the steel billet gradually became softer.

The white mist of the cutting fluid clung to the front of his work clothes, but he didn't even blink.

Qian Zhiyuan stared at Zhang Yong's hand, his brows furrowing.

"I'm a little confused. Why didn't he stop the machine to measure it? Is he planning to drive the whole way?" he asked his classmate next to him in a low voice.

The classmate was also stunned, and shook his head. "It's your first time, you must be brave, let's take a look first."

After the cutting tool completed one stroke, Zhang Yong released the handwheel, but the spindle was still turning.

He listened for a second, and thought, "Very good, the bearing is in good condition."

The second cut.

The steel shavings became finer and thinner, and the sound of the blade cutting through them turned into a soft rustling sound.

Finished cutting.

Zhang Yong turned off the main shaft, and the bar stock slowly came to a stop rotating.

He removed the first step shaft from the chuck, placed it on the workbench, and clamped it with the vernier caliper next to him.

Outside diameter: 31.97.

It's off by 3 millimeters.

Zhang Yong glanced at the numbers and handed the finished car parts to Fang Qiming.

"Teacher, this one isn't working right. Let me try the next one."

Fang Qiming saw the reading on the calipers and nodded.

A deviation of 3 microns is already quite good for someone using this machine tool for the first time.

But it's still a little short of passing.

"That's normal." Qian Zhiyuan whispered to the person next to him, "It's normal for the feel to be off by a few millimeters the first time you handle a machine tool."

"We practiced this for a whole day back then."

Zhang Yong's team worked quickly and had already loaded the second bar.

Tighten, and the spindle restarts.

This time his movements were noticeably faster.

The movements—advancing, moving, and withdrawing the blade—are almost seamless.

The blade tip glided along the surface of the steel, the cutting sound was more consistent than the first time, and the steel chips were more even.

This time he chopped it very finely, taking a full twelve minutes.

Remove the part and measure it with calipers.

32.01.

±1 mil.

Zhang Yong put the first bar aside, picked up the third bar, and his expression still showed dissatisfaction.

The third one.

The spindle speed was increased from 800 to 1000.

As soon as the engine started to spin, Qian Zhiyuan became nervous.

Zhang Yong's knife-wielding speed noticeably increased, completing one round in a row.

Unload parts. Quantity.

32.00.

Zero deviation.

The girl next to him, wearing glasses, peeked at the reading in his hand, opened her mouth but couldn't say anything.

"Teacher Fang, I've got the feel for it." Zhang Yong put the calipers back on the table and glanced at Fang Qiming. "I'd like to try the nozzle."

Fang Qiming took the last piece he made and checked its dimensions.

"Let's go."

Zhang Yong had already memorized the key parameters of the nozzle: external taper 1:5, cone length 42 mm, outlet inner diameter 8 mm, wall thickness 2.5 mm, and surface roughness Ra1.6.

Machining such tapered parts on CNC lathes is a routine operation.

But the difficulty was no less than that of working on this old machine, which was manufactured in 1958.

Qian Zhiyuan was well aware of this. The biggest problem with taper machining is tool vibration.

Manual lathes are difficult to use; if your hand shakes even slightly, it will create a groove, ruining the entire piece of material.

He used this lathe to machine no fewer than thirty tapered parts.

The scrap rate is 30%.

Zhang Yong has already loaded the new bar stock.

He placed his fingers on the edge of the knife rack and gently flicked it by feel.

"Click".

The small tool holder deflects and locks at the calculated angle.

The spindle starts at 1000 RPM.

The cutting tool was attached to the outer diameter of the bar stock, and a roughing cut was made to reduce the outer diameter from 35 to 23.

Steel shavings fell with a whooshing sound, landing in the shavings trough of the machine tool chassis, piling up into a small heap of blue metal coils.

After the roughing process was completed, Zhang Yong did not stop the machine.

He placed his right hand on the handwheel of the knife holder and began to turn it very lightly and evenly.

The tip of the knife slides slowly from the larger end to the smaller end along the diagonal line.

The cutting sound changed; it became light and soft, and this sound only occurs when the depth of cut is extremely small and the tool path is extremely steady.

Qian Zhiyuan held his breath.

The cone traveled 42 millimeters from the large end to the small end in less than six minutes.

Zhang Yong withdrew the knife and closed the main shaft.

The cone reflects a uniform arc of light under the fluorescent lamp, its surface so smooth that it can reflect a person's image.

Qian Zhiyuan paused for a moment before taking the vernier calipers and stepping forward.

He checked the drawings and first measured the outer diameter of the larger end.

Caliper reading: 21.41.

Measure the smaller end again.

12.99.

Qian Zhiyuan quickly calculated in his mind: the large end is 21.41, the small end is 12.99, and the difference is 8.42. Dividing by the length of 42, the taper ratio is exactly 0.2005.

"The difference from the standard value is 0.0005."

Qian Zhiyuan gave a dry, curt number.

The girl next to me, who was wearing glasses, leaned over and took a look.

"So low?" Her voice was a little high-pitched.

"Mm." Qian Zhiyuan nodded.

Fang Qiming picked up the still-warm tapered nozzle and weighed it in his palm.

He turned around to face the four graduate students.

"Have you seen everything clearly?"

No one answered.

Fang Qiming placed the workpiece on the operating table without making a sound.

"You calibrated it four times in the lab using a dial indicator, and the scrap rate was still 30%. He did it on his first try, relying entirely on his feel."

"Who among you can do that?"

Qian Zhiyuan lowered his head.

"What's the use of someone who's an engineer and can only write papers if they don't have any practical work to do? No matter how beautiful the blueprints are, if they can't be manufactured on-site, they're just a piece of waste paper."

Fang Qiming looked at the four people.

"If anyone tells me again that adult education students are no good, let them compare their own parts with those of others first."

"Maybe they'll be giving you rocket car parts later, and you'll be chasing after them like dirt!"