Chapter 14: You talk about machining artillery shells, and you've come up with a pressure cooker?

Lu Yongping wasn't afraid of being talked back to by the big shots; the people in the Mechanical Engineering Department all had fiery tempers, often refusing to settle the director's bills, and if provoked they'd throw a tantrum—at worst they'd just go for drinks later to apologize.

Lu Yongping was afraid of Qin Miao.

You guys, do you know how much effort it took me to get Qin Miao here? You drove him away with just a few words—just wait, I'll curse you out bloody!

Qin Miao, don't stoop to their level; they're just anxious because they've been unable to produce a qualified product for so long.

Qin Miao nodded: "Yeah, I understand; capable people always have a bit of temper. In our Qingshan Machinery Factory there's a Master Zhao, an eighth-grade worker, who usually walks looking at the sky; if an apprentice makes a mistake, he goes up and kicks them, and even the factory director has to carefully placate him."

While speaking, Qin Miao had already walked up to the machine tool.

The C620 milling machine produced by Ha Cheng No. 2 Machine Tool Factory, paired with a motor system and a computer, refitted as a CNC machine tool, is a good choice, except the linear motor they modified is a bit too big. Qin Miao began to critique: "This Z80 microcomputer—what interface are you using to control those linear motors? Don't use a parallel port; that's only good for printers, better to use a serial port… As for the program, the CAD software from the mainframe can't be ported over, so we can only hand-write G-code."

Professor Yuan's eyes widened, and Tian Chun Guang's mouth fell open.

An expert, absolutely an expert—just one glance and he saw the machine tool's origin, showing he knows machine tools; constantly talking about G-code shows he knows CNC!

Lu Yongping's face was full of pride.

You old fogies, you have eyes but don't recognize Mount Tai… cough cough, poor choice of words—anyway, the person I've found is absolutely a master hidden among the populace!

"Old Yuan, move over and let Qin Miao sit in front of the computer!"

"Come, Qin Miao, sit! We've studied G-code for a long time but still can't use it with ease—you……"

"Qin Miao? Today during the day, freshmen enrollment, there turned out to be an impersonator… could it be someone named Qin Miao?" Tian Chun Guang's eyes lit up.

This is a big deal today, but they're busy in the experimental workshop and have no time to look. So they also don't know that this young man is Qin Miao; even if they did, they'd just marvel at his luck in not being successfully impersonated, and wouldn't realize how high his skill level is.

"Sigh… I'm the one who was impersonated; the impersonator is Niu Qiang. Actually… I've already gotten back what's mine, and I didn't want to do anything to them, but unfortunately they had bad luck—the New China News Agency reporters found out, so… sigh… I also bear some responsibility for this matter…"

"What responsibility do you have, Qin Miao? You're just too kind—in this world, the kind are taken advantage of!" Professor Yuan looked serious: "Don't worry, you're now a student of Ha Gong Da, and you've come to help in the Mechanical Engineering Department; if anything comes up, just call out…"

Qin Miao felt delighted inside—good, another helper!

"Thanks, Professor Yuan, thanks everyone, teachers, senior fellows! Now let's get to work! Director Lu, based on that problem, what we need to machine should be a date-pit shell that can greatly increase range, right?"

"You know that?"

"Yeah, our factory also makes artillery shells, only we make mortar shells; the factory has plenty of data, and I've learned a bit about them. This thing is pointed at both ends, so it doesn't get stuck in the barrel, requiring a plastic band and copper centering rings, and the eccentricity of the outer shape must be extremely precise—any deviation greatly reduces accuracy."

"You know that too?"

This is absolutely picking up a treasure; no, we must keep him in the Mechanical Engineering Department!

"Yeah, so that day I immediately followed the data and used the CNC machine tool to machine it—though… CNC machining is also done by people, so there's a big human factor, especially the initial calibration, which is crucial. So I'll first write a test program for milling the exterior to see if there's any error."

"Alright, you go ahead!"

Qin Miao's fingers began to fly across the keyboard, the clacking sound echoing in the experimental workshop, and everyone looked on with admiration.

Awesome, awesome, this is truly professional! Much better than our two-finger Zen! Some even suggested adding a paper-tape input device… Once practiced, it'll definitely be faster than paper tape!

Five minutes later.

"Alright, everyone, put a twenty-six-centimeter blank on it!"

"Okay!"

The machine tool started up, the cutting tool moved back and forth, curls of iron filings flew, looking very impressive—but… everyone stared at the blank being cut, full of doubt.

We're supposed to machine something pointed at both ends, but you've turned out a cylinder! One end is tapered, the other has a round edge—what is this?

"Good, it's done!" The machine stopped, Qin Miao picked up the calipers and measured.

"Hmm, concentricity is fine, feed rate normal, just the tool quality is a bit poor… for now let's leave it like this; when we do formal milling later, we'll switch to imported tools."

"Qin Miao, can you mill the date-pit shell next?"

"Not yet; we still need to try milling the inner diameter. Everyone, put another blank on, outer diameter about twenty-eight centimeters."

Qin Miao clacked away at the keyboard again, others helped load the blank; this time he wrote the program in just three minutes and started the equipment.

A lump of iron, milling out the whole interior would take much longer!

One hour, two hours… by the time it reached ten o'clock, Qin Miao said: "Why don't you all go rest first?"

"No, no, we have to wait and see!"

Finally, at midnight, Qin Miao couldn't hold back: "Everyone, I'm going to lie down for a bit; wake me when the milling is done."

Having said that, Qin Miao walked over to the long table nearby, lay down, and after a few seconds, snoring sounded.

Everyone continued waiting; finally, at two o'clock, the finished product appeared!

"The milled interior shape looks just like the exterior shape from the first milling!" Tian Chun Guang grabbed the calipers, measured, and suddenly noticed something.

A protrusion, a depression—this… is a mold!

"How do I put it… it looks like…"

"A pressure cooker!" Professor Yuan's eyes turned red as he looked at Lu Yongping.

"Old Lu, is this the expert you brought in? You said he'd help us solve the date-pit shell machining problem, but… he ended up machining a pressure-cooker mold?"

Lu Yongping was also baffled, but… looking at Qin Miao snoring loudly, he could only take off his own four-pocket jacket and cover Qin Miao with it: "How about we stay here tonight, and tomorrow when Qin Miao wakes up we ask him?"