The moment Nana finished speaking, Chen Hao's hand froze in mid-air.
The terminal of the red cable was still between his fingertips, just two centimeters away from the terminal block. He didn't pull his hand back or push it forward, but instead looked down at the humidity meter at his feet, where the number on the screen was dropping from 68%.
"Is your mouth blessed?" he muttered. "As soon as I said 'don't turn on the electricity,' my hand was already raised."
Nana's optical lens flickered slightly: "I'm just making a judgment based on the laws of physics."
"Come on, that's not a judgment, it's a curse." Chen Hao released the cable, turned around and went to the corner to pull the switch. The dehumidifier started up with a hum, panting like a lazy pig that had been woken up. "If you ask me, we should just put a memorial tablet for this machine and write 'Do not touch high voltage, it will explode if touched'."
A thin mist gradually rose on the surface of the metal pipes in the corner of the equipment area, only to be slowly drawn away. Chen Hao squatted next to the control box, scanning the grounding wires and insulation layers one by one with a portable probe, muttering, "Don't let it leak electricity, we don't have any extra lives to risk."
Once the humidity dropped to 52%, he slowly got up and patted his pants. This time, instead of directly connecting the wires, he gestured with his chin at Nana: "Is the surveillance camera ready? If it explodes, at least we should record it as a funeral portrait."
"The data channel is open, recording voltage, current, temperature rise and vibration frequency in real time."
"Alright, then you're in charge of collecting my body." He picked up the cable again and steadily inserted it into the main terminal.
With a click, the interface snapped shut.
He took a half step back and pressed the start button.
At first, nothing happened. Three seconds later, the indicator lights on the control panel lit up one by one, alternating between blue and green, as if they had finally remembered that they should go to work. A low hum came from inside the heating furnace, gradually rising into a stable low-frequency vibration.
"Voltage is normal, current is stable, and temperature rise curve is as expected," Nana's voice rang out simultaneously.
Chen Hao stared at the dashboard, his finger hovering over the emergency stop button, like a firefighter ready to rush to the rescue. For a full five minutes, the equipment didn't smoke, spark, or emit any suspicious beeps.
"It...it actually turned?" He narrowed his eyes. "Or is it preparing a big surprise?"
"The system is currently operating well, and no abnormal fluctuations have been detected."
"Wow, this junk pieced together from a bunch of antique parts has actually turned out pretty decent." He walked around the device, reached out and touched the newly added heat sink; the temperature was rising evenly, with no localized overheating. "Looks like that singing circuit board is actually quite reliable."
"It only beeps when it starts up and does not affect its functionality."
“For me, anything that works is a god.” He grinned and casually drew a smiley face on the control panel. “From now on, I’ll call you Old Turtle. May you live long and endure.”
The equipment continues to heat up, entering the preheating stage. The first batch processed are six alloy beams for the main support of spinning wheels, neatly arranged on the conveyor tray. According to the process requirements, they need to go through three stages: three-stage heating, alternating magnetic field strengthening, and surface carburizing, taking a total of four hours.
The first two hours were uneventful. Just as the third phase began, Nana's notification arrived: "The heating zone temperature response is lagging by 1.7 seconds; the current heating curve deviates from the model by 3.2%."
Chen Hao was leaning back in his chair, munching on an energy bar, when he heard this he immediately sat up straight: "Seriously? You let me down right after I praised you?"
He rushed to the monitor screen and saw that the temperature curve was significantly lagging behind the standard line, like a student who had run too hard.
“The cause has been identified.” Nana pulled up the signal flow diagram. “The new control module has a sampling period of 200 milliseconds, and the sensor feedback is delayed to 230 milliseconds, causing power regulation to lag.”
In layman's terms, it means that your brain is slower than your hands.
"That's one way to understand it."
"What should we do then? Wait for it to chase after us? By then, it'll be too late."
"There are two options: one is to optimize the control algorithm and shorten the feedback cycle; the other is to improve the heat transfer efficiency by using a high thermal conductivity medium to fill the heating cavity interlayer."
Chen Hao chewed on the energy bar wrapper and thought for a moment: "You change the program, I'll change the materials."
The two split up. Nana quickly wrote a compensation algorithm on the terminal and added a dynamic prediction module; Chen Hao, on the other hand, found some ceramic thermal conductive powder he had found earlier, disassembled the side cover of the heating chamber, and poured it little by little into the gap between the layers.
"This stuff is as fine as flour," he muttered as he filled it. "When I clean up later, I'm afraid I'll have to inhale a lung full of dust."
"The cleaning plan can be postponed until after the production cycle is over."
“I knew you’d say that.” He brushed the powder off his hands and resealed the shell. “Old bastard, one more time.”
After the second start-up, the temperature curve quickly matched the standard model, with the error controlled within 0.5%. The entire batch of alloy beams underwent heat treatment under precise temperature control, and after cooling, Nana conducted strength tests.
"The yield strength increased by 37.4%, the crystal structure is uniform, and there are no internal cracks or stress concentration points." She read out the result, "It fully meets the long-term load requirements of the spinning wheel."
Chen Hao picked up a piece of the processed metal beam, weighed it in his hand, and tapped it. The sound was crisp, like the sound of clappers. "This thing used to be so bad that it would break if you bent it even once. Now it can probably be used as a crowbar."
"Not recommended for use outside of design purposes."
"I'm going to use this to pry open the next extra meal." He moved the materials into the processing area and turned on the lathe. "Since the iron is hard enough, let's get started."
The first thing to do is to prepare the core load-bearing shaft of the spinning wheel. The blueprints were already prepared in Nana's system. It is 80 centimeters long, 5 centimeters in diameter, with threaded interfaces at both ends and a precision groove in the middle for fixing the bearing.
Chen Hao clamped the blank, set the feed rate, and pressed start. The moment the tool touched the metal, the machine tool jerked violently, emitting a piercing friction sound.
"Hmm?" He frowned and immediately stopped.
Upon removing the blade, two small chips were found on the cutting edge.
"What's going on? Even the new blades aren't working?"
Nana scanned the tool wear surface: "The material hardness exceeds expectations, and ordinary carbide inserts cannot cut effectively. It is recommended to replace it with a diamond-coated tool."
"They have this in the warehouse?"
"There is a set of unused knives, numbered t-739, stored in the third layer of the tool cabinet in a moisture-proof box."
Chen Hao took it out and saw a label on the box: "For superhard materials only, cutting speed limited to ≤150m/min". He blew off the dust, installed the tool post, and reset the lathe parameters.
"Reduce the feed rate by 30% and increase the coolant flow rate to the maximum," Nana instructed simultaneously. "This will help prevent localized overheating and the tool coating from peeling off."
After this start-up, the cutting sound became smooth and even, and silvery-white metal shavings fell off continuously like ribbons. Chen Hao stared at the machined surface, a smile slowly spreading across his face.
"Now that's what you call working," he clicked his tongue. "That sound just now was like digging cement with a spoon."
Forty minutes later, the first load-bearing shaft was completed. Its surface was as smooth as a mirror, with dimensional errors within 0.02 millimeters. Nana scanned it with a laser measuring instrument, confirming it had passed the assembly simulation test.
“Pass,” she said.
"Of course." Chen Hao placed the shaft into the tray and patted the lathe housing lightly twice. "Bro, it's a pleasure doing business with you."
He turned to get the second blank, and just as he unfastened the retaining clip, Nana suddenly spoke up: "Pay attention to the lubrication status of the right guide rail, the oil level is too low."
He looked down and, sure enough, the slider was moving somewhat stiffly. He casually unscrewed the oil filler, only to find the lubricant reservoir empty.
"Again?" He rummaged through the tool cabinet. "Didn't we just fix it last time?"
"The consumption rate is higher than expected, which may be related to the increased frictional load caused by the increase in material hardness."
"So now even the engine oil is working overtime?" He picked up the spare oil bottle, squeezed a few drops onto the guide rail, his movements as practiced as if he were applying hand cream.
The machine tool restarted, and the sound of its operation resumed. Three preliminarily completed components were already arranged on the tray: a load-bearing shaft and two reinforcing ribs. On the material rack by the wall, the remaining high-strength alloy beams lay quietly, waiting to be awakened one by one.
Chen Hao stood in front of the control panel, his apron stained with metallic powder and oil, sweat beading on his forehead, but his eyes shone brightly.
"Would you say we've gone from collecting scraps to manufacturing spare parts?"
Nana's terminal screen scrolled through the latest production logs, with line after line of data constantly being refreshed.
"Current progress: Spinning wheel component manufacturing, first phase started."
"Not too slow." He stretched his wrists, picked up a new knife to check the blade, and said, "Next, it's time for the bigger pieces."
He walked toward the lathe and placed his finger on the start button.
The machine hums softly, the lights are bright, and metal and tools are about to collide again.
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