143 Five-leaf Fan Mold (Today's Third Watch)

  "Kobayashi, you guys are getting more and more outrageous, even the idea of a 10,000-ton hydraulic press has been brought up?" Liu Xianghai said with a chuckle to Lin Zhenhua.

  Lin Zhenhua pointed at Liu Xiangdao and said: "Old Liu, this matter has something to do with you too, you're the one who started it."

  "What's the meaning of this?" Liu Xianghai asked.

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Do you remember the five-blade fan you designed for me before you left?"

  "I remember, after I came back, I recalculated it again and found that the design given to you is no problem. You produce according to that design drawing, absolutely world-class level." Liu Xianghai said confidently.

  "That's right, Old Liu. To be honest with you, I'm going to start producing five-blade fans at the beginning of spring." Lin Zhenhua said, "However, after the fan changed from three blades to five blades, the blade became narrower. To achieve the same intensity, it requires a thicker steel plate. Moreover, the shape of the blade surface you designed is more complicated than the original one. With 50 tons of pressure, it can't be molded, and it must be opened to 200 tons of pressure."

  Liu Xianghai nodded: "That's right, I remember you didn't buy a used 200-ton red punch from Yan and Yuan, did you? You used to use only 50 tons of punches in the past, now it's fully loaded."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "The problem lies here. When we produce ordinary fans, the mold of the blades is made of cast iron, and there is no big problem under 50 tons of pressure. But now that it has been opened to 200 tons of pressure, the mold can't take it, and after punching one or two hundred blades, the mold is damaged."

  "We have now decided to switch to forging molds. We made a preliminary calculation, the punching pressure is 200 tons, and the pressure of the forging mold should be at least 2000 tons, so that the mold will not deform under high pressure."

  "Oh, it seems like I'm the one who started all this." Liu Xianghai said with a smile.

  "How is it, Old Liu? You said in your letter that you have already coordinated everything for us. When can we go to open the mold?" Lin Zhenhua asked anxiously.

  Liu Xiangdao said: "Our base does have a 2000-ton hydraulic press, but recently the experimental tasks are quite a lot, it's impossible to spare machine time for you. I'll contact two shipyards for you, Jiangnan Shipyard has a 10,000-ton water pressure machine, you all know that, it was built by our country relying on its own strength in 1962. However, they are also very busy with their business now, and the fee is also relatively high, I've thought about it, and I think you don't necessarily need such a big pressure, wasting money unnecessarily."

  Lin Zhenhua smiled and said, "Old Liu, this is not right. I really want to use a 10,000-ton hydraulic press to press this mold. Not to mention anything else, in the future, it can be made into an artifact and sold for a lot of money. The 10,000-ton hydraulic press from Jiangnan Factory is indeed a self-innovated achievement that has attracted worldwide attention since the founding of New China."

  Liu Xianghai said: "This is indeed true. A powerful tool like a 10,000-ton hydraulic press is a symbol of a country's industrial foundation."

  "How about you, have you agreed?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

  Liu Xianghai shook his head: "Forget it, meaning is just meaning, there's no need to waste so much pressure and machine time when it's not necessary. I've already contacted the Hudong Shipyard for you, they have a Czech-made 5000-ton forging press that can help you open the mold."

  "That's also true," said Lin Zhenhua.

  "After mold forging and pressing, we still need to do machining. We need to rent a vertical lathe and also a planer." [Xiaomi Literature Peng Gang reminded on the side.]

  "Don't worry, Master Peng. This has already been arranged. We can just use the equipment from Hudong Factory. You only need to pay according to the standard."

  Lin Zhenhua asked: "Old Liu, is this all your face? Otherwise, with our small factory, who would be willing to lend us their equipment?"

  Liu Xianghai waved his hand and said, "We and the Hudong factory are like one family, front and back processes. We design, they manufacture, it's been a cooperative relationship for many years. Actually, sometimes we also rent their equipment to make some experimental products, and we pay for it too. However, this time making civilian products for you, indeed requires a bit of human feelings in it."

  "Haha, I didn't expect Old Liu to also learn how to talk about human relationships and go through the back door."

  Liu Xianghai glared at him and said, "This is still because of you, Lin. After all these years of friendship, it's not easy for me to open my mouth, and I don't have the face to refuse you either. Your sister Tai even came to persuade me, saying that you helped us so much back then, and we should help you out a bit this time, even if it means slightly violating some principles."

  Everyone had lunch at Liu Xianghai's home, Qin Mo was a considerate person, seeing old colleagues come, the lunch was made very rich, and everyone was very moved. Now she is also the wife of a teacher-level cadre, personally going to the kitchen to help a group of workers cook, it's really not simple. After resting in the reception room for one night, the next morning, Liu Xianghai took Lin Zhenhua and his party to the Hudong Shipyard by minibus. The forging process was long, Lin Zhenhua assigned the specific communication task to Peng Gang and Sun Changyuan, letting them wait in the forging workshop for the result of the forging mold. Yang Wenyong naturally stayed with Peng Gang and others, the young man had never seen a forging machine before, now he saw a 5000-ton level one, which was also an eye-opener.

  People often say that steel is as strong as iron, but under a 5,000-ton forging press, steel is like dough and can be easily forged into various shapes.

  The drawings of the forgings required by Hanhua Company had been handed over to Hudong Factory by Liu Xianghai before, and now it was just a matter of forging them. Everyone stood outside the safety line, watching as the huge tongs sent the steel billet heated to 1200 degrees Celsius under the hammer, and then the hammer began to pound away at the steel billet, shaping it into the specified shape.

  After the forging and shaping process is completed, the forgings are sent back to the heat treatment furnace for slow cooling to eliminate internal residual stresses, reduce surface hardness, and facilitate future machining. These specific heat treatment processes are very routine in Hudong Factory and do not require Hanhua Company's people to worry about it.

  Liu Xianghai and Lin Zhenhua did not stay on the scene to watch the die-casting process, but walked out of the workshop and strolled around the factory area, chatting about what had happened in the past few months. Lin Zhenhua first introduced the development situation of Hanhua Company, making Liu Xianghai click his tongue repeatedly. Next, it was Liu Xianghai's turn to tell Lin Zhenhua about his own affairs.

  "How's it going" Old Liu, has your large-scale propeller processing started?" Lin Zhenhua asked excitedly, and after asking, he felt a bit inappropriate and hurriedly added: "Oh, right, is this involving military secrets that can't be spoken of?"

  Liu Xianghai said: "These things are a secret to others, but it doesn't matter if you know, Xiao Lin. If I can't even trust you, who else can I trust?"

  "Really?" Lin Zhenhua was quite excited, he was also a military enthusiast and blind in his previous life, with great interest in military affairs. "By the way, Old Liu, I've always dared not ask you, what model is that propeller you're working on, is it Song-class or Yuan-class, or could it be a nuclear submarine?"

  Liu Xianghai shook his head: "This can't be told to you. However, this matter has not been put on the agenda yet, and when it really starts production... well, even I don't dare say a specific time."

  Lin Zhenhua asked in surprise, "Won't you? Old Liu, you've been back for more than three months now. Nowadays, it's all about time is life, and with the awesome five-axis machining skills at your disposal, how come you still haven't put it into action?"

  Liu Xianghai sighed: "Little Lin, you won't believe it if I tell you. In these three months, the actual time I could sit down and do research did not exceed 10 days..."

  "Lao Liu, have you started to degenerate?..." Lin Zhenhua said. "Is it because you've arrived in this Shanghai, a world of flowers, and every day is just eating and drinking? Have you started to play by unspoken rules?"

  Liu Xianghai was annoyed by Lin Zhenhua: "What are you talking about? What unwritten rules. After I came back, I was appointed as the director of the Propulsion System Engineering Department, and as a result, I got bogged down in a lot of administrative tasks. Many people in the department were persecuted during the chaotic times, some of whom, like me, had been protected by being sent to small factories under assumed names. Now these people have all returned one after another, and they all need to have their policies implemented."

  "I think your policy is being implemented quite well?" Lin Zhenhua whispered.

  Liu Xiangdao said: "That's right, my policy was personally overseen by Minister Zhang Zhi Fang, and the head of the Military Commission also made a statement, so it went straight to the point. Some other comrades were not so lucky, they had some political problems themselves, and some had completely abandoned their profession in the past decade or so. They came back, but couldn't be used, could only eat, but not work. However, these people had worked hard in the past, and suffered some grievances during those ten years. The organization can't just ignore them. I'm busy dealing with these things every day, it's exhausting..."

  "This is nonsense! Letting a research staff member like you get involved in administration and policy..."

  Liu Xiangdao said: "Fortunately, I'm in charge of administration. No matter what, when it comes to professional level, no one dares to challenge me. So, when I say something, others don't dare to refute it either. If it were a pure political cadre, I reckon intellectuals wouldn't listen to them either..."

  "But can't you personally conduct research and guide your subordinates? It's always possible, right? Those two from Hanhua Factory last time, Chang Qingbo and Yu Wenzheng, I think their technical skills are not bad either. Give them some hints, can't they do it?" Lin Zhenhua suggested.

  Liu Xianghai's face showed a hint of joy, and he said: "It's not that bad. The most successful thing I've done in this period is to teach the relevant researchers the complex surface processing principles I came up with when I was at Hanhua Factory. Those English books you gave me are very useful here. So far, the theoretical design for the new spiral propeller machine has almost come to an end, and the electronic engineering department has also helped complete the four-axis linkage design. To say something you don't want to hear, the control system they came up with is much better than what you and Old Chang did."

  "That's a good thing, I don't have anything against it..." Lin Zhenhua said, "Since the design is already complete, why not start manufacturing as soon as possible?"

  Liu Xiang: "The reason is simple: no money."

  Lin Zhenhua's eyes widened in surprise at the words "no money".

  "No, it's not that simple. The theoretical design of the machine processing is complete, but that doesn't mean we can start manufacturing yet. For example, research on materials hasn't been completed yet, so what are you going to process? The material lab has sent me over a dozen reports, and the core issue is just one word: money. What kind of steel should be used for the new spiral propeller, what kind of forging process, what kind of heat treatment process - all these need to be verified through experimentation. Do you know that just to verify the effectiveness of one set of heat treatment processes, we need to do several hundred experiments? Each time they need to use a sample the size of a tile, and the cost of preparing this sample is 200 yuan. Several hundred experiments would be almost 100,000 yuan."

  "Only 100,000 yuan?" Lin Zhenhua was somewhat puzzled. "Old Liu, you can't be telling me that a big country like this doesn't even have 100,000 yuan?"

  At that time, he was so angry that he wanted to burst out with a loud shout: "How much money is lacking? I'll pay it!" With Lin Zhenhua's current wealth, taking out 100,000 yuan is not impossible.

  This is a matter of national defense and security, what's 100,000 yuan worth?

  Liu Xiangdao said, "What, you don't believe me? The money allocated by the country each year seems like a lot, tens of billions. But every department needs to use money, engines, radar, artillery, missiles, which one doesn't need to spend money on? Even if it's divided into our propulsion department, it's only one or two million per year, and heat treatment process is just a small part of it. Can I take out 100,000 yuan for them to use?"

  Lin Zhenhua was stunned, he really had not expected this. In his mind, military industry was the top priority, and any technical difficulties must be solved at all costs. In his previous life, when discussing some of China's technological shortcomings with classmates, he would often complain. Problems that could have been solved with an investment of just a few million yuan were left unsolved. How could such a large country not come up with a few million yuan?

  After listening to Liu Xianghai's introduction, he finally understood a truth: one does not know the value of firewood and rice until they are in charge. It is indeed not difficult for a country to squeeze out tens or hundreds of millions, but how many technical difficulties need to be solved by a country? If everyone thinks about squeezing out money to do it, in the end, there will inevitably be no more money to squeeze out.

  He Lin Zhenhua can certainly take out 100,000 yuan to help solve a heat treatment process problem, but what about afterwards? This process is just one link in the entire propeller manufacturing process. And the propeller is just one part of the shipbuilding process. Does every problem have to rely on him taking out his own property to support it?

  In 1981, China's GDP was 480 billion yuan. Calculated at the ratio of about 4% of developed countries' science and technology investment in GDP, the funds available for scientific research in China were less than 200 billion yuan. This 200 billion yuan also needs to be allocated among dozens of disciplines, and the shortage of scientific research funds can be imagined.

  Today, people talk about it and say that back then they didn't develop engines, advanced machine tools, or microelectronics... All these things in developed countries require investing trillions of dollars in research and development, while our country can only allocate a meager 20 billion to cover the entire scientific research system.

  Do you think you can create an engine with just a few hundred million? That's going to take a thick golden finger.

  A penny can be the downfall of a hero; this saying is really not false at all.