sinovels Chapter 22 Tsinghua Professor Takes on Apprentices
Chapter 22 Tsinghua Professor Takes on Apprentices
Work officially started in the afternoon, and the workshop was filled with a rumbling sound.
Chen Weiguo took the calibrated micrometer and dial indicator and followed the steps systematically.
Rough turning of the outer diameter, drilling, reaming, finish turning, grinding—every step's parameters are exactly the same as the system design.
As Master He passed by him, he suddenly stopped, his brow furrowing: "What speed did you set the reamer to?"
"Two hundred and eighty."
Master He was taken aback: "The usual price is four hundred. How dare you lower it so much?"
Chen Weiguo explained, "If the rotation speed is too high, the hole wall is prone to overheating and deformation. Lowering it a bit will result in a smoother surface finish for the reamed hole."
Master He didn't say anything and turned to look at the next one.
But when I look at other people, I always turn around and glance at him a few more times.
……
three days later.
A row of machined shafts and holes were lined up on the inspection table.
Some of them did a really good job; the gap fit allowed for a smooth insertion.
Several shafts got stuck, and Master He had to gently tap them with a small hammer, but they wouldn't budge, drawing laughter from those around him.
It was Chen Weiguo's turn to submit the documents.
Master He picked up a micrometer and began to measure one thing at a time: inner diameter, outer diameter, cylindricity, and roughness.
A crowd of people gathered around him.
"Try putting your shaft in."
Chen Weiguo picked it up and pushed it.
With a click, the shaft slid in smoothly.
Master He looked down at the mating surfaces: "How much clearance was left?"
"0.8 microns. A shaft fitted with a hole as the reference."
Master He nodded in satisfaction, then turned to the crowd and said, "You all saw that, right? He independently completed the entire set of components with a precision of N6, exceeding my assessment standard. Come and see for yourselves what a qualified product looks like."
The crowd immediately started talking about it.
Liu Changsheng held Chen Weiguo's workpiece, gently pushing and pulling it back and forth several times, being very careful as if afraid of breaking it: "Brother Chen, you're amazing! This is so well done!"
Zhou Guoqiang studied it for a long time, and was filled with surprise.
The senior technicians from Liaoning also gathered around, taking turns examining the items.
Everyone was thinking to themselves... This skill can't be mastered in less than ten years.
How old is this person?
Several masters came specifically to ask for his advice, and Chen Weiguo didn't hold back at all, teaching whatever they asked in a very generous manner.
This behavior earned him both gratitude and admiration from many people.
Master He announced on the spot: "From now on, Comrade Chen Weiguo will be the class representative for the practical training course. If you have any questions, go ask him."
Chen Weiguo knew that this meant Master He recognized his skill level, so he nodded in agreement.
Anyway, with the system's database of technical information, dealing with students' questions is a piece of cake.
……
Chen Weiguo would attend classes in the classroom during the day and then return to his dormitory at night to write his thesis.
The title is "Geometric Optimization Design and Experimental Verification of Wave-shaped Edges in Carbide Cutting Tools".
After several days of hard work, the first draft was completed. He then took a day off and went to the Ministry of Industry to seek guidance from Zhou Wenyuan.
Mr. Zhou was very satisfied after reading it, and only offered a few minor suggestions, mainly regarding formatting. Chen Weiguo revised it and immediately submitted the manuscript.
A week later, the first issue of the Journal of Mechanical Engineering in 1960 was officially published.
This is the top academic journal in the field of mechanical engineering in China, and it only publishes four issues a year.
Those who get published are either university professors or senior engineers at research institutes; I've never seen a worker as an author.
But this issue prominently features a paper... titled "The Waveform Blade," authored by Chen Weiguo, with the mailing address at Yanjing Machinery Factory.
The day the journal arrived at the factory, the mailroom staff delivered it directly to the factory director's office.
Zhao Dehai was reviewing documents. He opened the academic journal, saw the name on the paper, and slammed his hand on the table: "Good lad! It's actually published!"
He was incredibly excited.
It's not that no one in the factory publishes papers, but those are all engineers and technicians.
This is the first time ever that an ordinary worker has published a paper.
He immediately notified the factory office to make multiple copies of the paper, post one copy on the factory bulletin board, one copy on the workshop bulletin board, and archive several copies.
At the workshop's morning meeting, Guo Dajiang held the academic journal, his face beaming with joy.
The masters around him congratulated him, envying him for taking on such a good apprentice.
In the technical department office, Sun Zhiguo received the academic journal and read it over and over again, his brows furrowed: "The level is so high... could he really have only completed junior high school?"
The technician next to him also widened his eyes: "Section Chief Sun, I don't think anyone in China has ever done this design before."
Sun Zhiguo exclaimed, "No one had ever done this before. He solved the problem of tool geometry using an original mathematical optimization approach. Amazing."
……
At the school, Professor Zheng called Chen Weiguo to his office.
When Chen Weiguo went in, Professor Zheng was sitting under the desk lamp writing something.
Only when you get closer can you see that there is a copy of the "Journal of Mechanical Engineering" on the table.
"Professor, you wanted to see me?"
Professor Zheng took off his reading glasses, asked him to sit down, and then looked at him seriously: "Weiguo, tell me the truth... have you received a systematic higher education?"
Chen Weiguo remained calm.
It's normal for the other party to have doubts when you perform so well.
But he was quite at ease... The technical skills the system gave him were his own, and no one could see any flaws in them.
"I joined the army after graduating from junior high school and didn't receive any systematic education. But I worked in the army's maintenance workshop for six years and learned a lot. There wasn't much entertainment in the army, so I spent all my free time reading. Later, when I returned to the factory, I apprenticed under Guo Dajiang, an eighth-level fitter, and my practical skills improved rapidly. In addition, I also read a lot of materials when I was doing coating and wave-shaped blade experiments. So I think my skill level is pretty good."
Professor Zheng looked at him with some skepticism for a while, then picked up the "Journal of Mechanical Engineering" from the table and exclaimed, "This is your paper. It's really well written."
Chen Weiguo smiled modestly.
Professor Zheng got down to business: "I'm writing a paper on the optimization of tool geometry. I've consulted a lot of foreign materials, but I always feel that some parts don't quite get to the heart of the matter. Since you can design wave-shaped cutting edges, you must have your own understanding of tool geometry. I'd like to ask you to take a look at this manuscript for me. Please feel free to share your thoughts."
Chen Weiguo was surprised.
How could a university professor, an expert in mechanical design, come to ask for my opinion?
Seeing Professor Zheng's serious expression, Chen Weiguo decided to do his best to help.
He took the manuscript and carefully read through it.
Professor Zheng's paper studies a problem that has plagued the industry for a long time: how to balance cutting efficiency and cutting edge strength in tool design.
The entry point is excellent, and the thought process is very clear.
However, the construction of optimization models is clearly limited by the mathematical tools available in this era.
Professor Zheng used the classic empirical formula fitting method, which works well for interpreting known data, but the deviation is relatively large when predicting new working conditions.
The subsequent optimization algorithms in their own system's knowledge base can fill this gap.
Chen Weiguo accessed the system and began searching for solutions.
A few minutes later, he picked up a pen and wrote down his thoughts on the manuscript.
After finishing writing, Professor Zheng's eyes suddenly lit up: "You mean, introduce an analytical model to replace empirical formulas?"
Chen Weiguo nodded: "When I was designing wave blades in the factory, I tried many times and found that trying each factor one by one didn't yield the optimal solution. So I figured out that I should consider several factors together and use mathematical tools to optimize it."
Professor Zheng put down his manuscript and looked him over with admiration: "Chen Weiguo, would you like to be my student? I'm not talking about a student in the classroom, but a formal student who will do research with me. Whether you pursue technology or academia in the future, you shouldn't waste your brain on repetitive work."