The faint success signal from the inductor probe was like a shot of adrenaline, reigniting the fighting spirit in the bloodshot eyes of the three team members. The next step was to turn those parts from the blueprints into a working machine.
Liu Li took the final revised drawings to Ma, the foreman of the machine repair team. The drawings showed a series of parts that needed to be machined, including the balancing cavity, the electromagnet mounting base, and the mass block slider, all of which required high precision.
Squad Leader Ma, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, squinted at the blueprints for a long time before exhaling a puff of smoke: "Deputy Team Leader Liu, this thing of yours... its structure is quite ingenious. These mating surfaces have such high requirements for smoothness, and this slider guide rail also has strict requirements for straightness. It's not easy to work on."
Liu Li was prepared. She spread the blueprints out on the toolbox, pointed to the key parts, and said sincerely, "Foreman Ma, I know it's difficult. How about this: we use ordinary 45# steel for the main structure to ensure strength. You can help us with the rough machining of these most critical mating surfaces, leaving some margin. I'll do the final finishing and scraping myself! I've done this in the factory before, so I'm not unfamiliar with it."
Squad Leader Ma sized up Liu Li, seemingly recalling the enthusiasm she had shown when making the jigs herself, and clicked his tongue: "Alright. We'll use scraps from the warehouse; I'll pick out a few decent pieces for you. We'll handle the rough processing, and you can do the fine scraping yourself. But let's make it clear, if you ruin it, there's only so much material left."
"Hey! Thank you, Squad Leader Ma! It's on me if it gets damaged!" Liu Li quickly assured him.
In the days that followed, Liu Li practically lived in the machine repair workshop. When Foreman Ma's apprentices handed her the roughly machined parts, she would sit at the fitter's bench and begin the precision machining, which was extremely demanding on patience and skill.
The scraper moved steadily and evenly in her hands, producing a rhythmic swishing sound. She meticulously worked on the standard flat surface, watching the contact spots gradually change from sparse to even and dense. When her back ached, she would straighten up and massage it; when her hands became stiff, she would breathe warm air onto them and rub them. The experienced mechanics occasionally passed by, and seeing her focused concentration and undeniably skillful technique, they would cast approving glances at her.
Zhou Wei and Sun Mei were also busy. Based on the measured characteristics of the inductance probe, Zhou Wei further optimized the control algorithm, "tuning" it to adapt to the signal characteristics of this crude sensor. Sun Mei was responsible for solidifying the circuit board of the makeshift vibration probe, soldering it into shape using a perforated board to minimize interference.
One by one, the parts were machined. When the last slider guide rail, bearing the fine marks of scraping, was assembled by Liu Li herself, the first-generation prototype of the "online dynamic balancing device for the main spindle," which embodied countless efforts of the three, was finally presented to them in its entirety.
It did look rather rudimentary, even bulky. The balancing chamber was made of dull, gray steel, the electromagnet was salvaged from old equipment, the wires were exposed, and the homemade inductor probe was barely held in place by a bracket, looking rather out of place.
"Finally... it's starting to look decent." Liu Li wiped the sweat from her forehead, looked at the "pieced-together" device, and let out a long sigh of relief.
Zhou Wei walked around the prototype, touched the metal surfaces that still carried the residual heat of processing, and said with a complicated expression: "I never thought that we would actually 'conjure' it from the blueprints."
Sun Mei carefully checked the circuit connections and said softly, "Next, we'll see if it can 'come alive'."
The three men stood around the rough prototype, their hearts filled with excitement and trepidation. It was far from perfect, and might even be riddled with flaws, but it was the first hope they had created with their own hands, overcoming numerous obstacles. Next, they would install it on the test bench and subject it to the relentless test of reality.
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