Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

The factory building was clean and tidy, without the messy appearance of old factories or the oil stains that could never be cleaned. Even the windows were spotless. Since the unexpected visitors hadn't given prior notice, there was no way they could have cleaned up in advance. Therefore, the factory must always be kept this way.

Fu Ansheng looked at all of this and said with great emotion, "The 960 Factory has moved to a new factory area, and everything has been renewed."

"Of course, we have entered a new era, and we must have a new look and a new atmosphere," Qin Baoguo said.

Just then, a technician from Factory 447 shouted, "What's going on with that machine? Why isn't anyone watching it at all times? Isn't this a violation of the machine operating regulations?"

In front of them was a machine tool.

The machine tool was very long, estimated to be seven or eight meters. A rapidly rotating steel column was clamped on the workbench. The outside of the column had already been cut, revealing the luster of the metal, which was so spectacular in its rotation.

Looking at the outside alone, it didn't seem special, but one end of the rotating steel column was like a spider, spitting out something like steel silk. The steel silk kept shooting outwards and then fell down. Below that position, there were already many strands of steel silk.

The entire machine was surrounded by railings to prevent workers from unconsciously approaching it, so as to avoid accidents.

At the other end of the machine, a worker was standing. That person was just standing there, staring at something like a television screen, completely unconcerned about the processing site.

The visiting guests all widened their eyes.

Something flying out of the inside of the steel column indicated that the steel column was hollow and had become a steel pipe. Looking at the state of the steel silk flying out, it wasn't reaming, but more like rifling. But how was this possible?

The processing of rifled cannons is very complicated, from the initial precision machining of steel ingots to the subsequent cutting, deep-hole drilling, reaming, rifling, etc. Each step requires experienced veteran workers to operate the machine tool. A slight carelessness could turn it into scrap.

Now, there was no one supervising and watching the front of the entire machine tool at all times. There was only one person standing on the edge. What was the use of that? He wasn't watching the processing site, and problems could occur at any time!

"Factory Director Qin, what processing procedure is this?" Fu Ansheng asked.

"Processing rifling," Qin Baoguo said. "Welcome colleagues to give us suggestions."

Although he said it politely, Qin Baoguo's expression was clearly one of proud boasting.

"Without the manual control of an experienced master, how do you ensure the quality of the rifling?" Rong Shijie, a sixth-grade boring worker from Factory 447, asked in surprise. "A slight deviation could turn it into scrap."

Machining with a machine tool depends on what kind of parts are required. If it's just turning the outside of the cannon barrel blank into a circle, it's very simple. Just clamp the cannon barrel blank and then run the cutting tool around the outside once.

However, if you want to process the inside of the cannon barrel, it is very difficult, because you can't see it with the naked eye, you can only rely on experience!

Just opening a hole inside is impossible without experience. The subsequent reaming is also complicated. Of course, the most complicated is the rifling, because the rifling rotates inside and must be guaranteed to be accurate, otherwise the shells will have problems when rotating in the barrel. In severe cases, if a rifling is not pulled well and the shell gets stuck, it is possible to explode the barrel.

Now, without an experienced master watching at all times, ready to stop and check, just starting the machine tool to cut the rifling like this will definitely produce scrap!

"Our factory doesn't have experienced masters, so we can only use machines to replace them. This machine is the latest CNC milling machine developed by our factory specifically for processing the rifling of artillery barrels."

A professional machining center has multiple tools and can freely switch tools. The machine in front of us doesn't do anything else, it just mills the rifling, so it can only be called a CNC milling machine.

"Replace with a machine? How is this possible?" Rong Shijie was surprised. "Can a machine compare to an experienced master?"

"We debugged it for three whole months, wasted a lot of scrap cannon barrels, and finally determined various parameters," Qin Baoguo said. "Since last week, it has been able to process stably, and can probably cut the rifling of one cannon barrel a day."

No need for experienced masters, just a machine, and someone to watch the display screen! One processed a day, more than three hundred processed a year!

The workers of Factory 447 were stunned.

The old factory director wanted to bring them to help Factory 960, and they were actually dissatisfied in their hearts. Others took their jobs, and they still had to work as long-term workers for others? Many people had made plans that even if they came here to help, they would have to show the airs of a master.

Cigarettes and alcohol were enough, eating and drinking was free, and they were served comfortably. They would rely on their skills to help. These days, skilled masters are so arrogant.

But now?

People don't need it at all, people use machines to replace the masters!

Their mood was complicated.

"The old leader said that science and technology are the primary productive forces. Although we have been publicizing it, our understanding is not deep enough. In our Factory 447, there are still several old machines from the Hanyang Arsenal running, which are older than me," Fu Ansheng said with emotion. "Coming to Factory 960 is finally letting us see what science and technology are the primary productive forces!"

At this moment, the machine stopped rotating, and the rifling of a cannon barrel had been completed.

When the cannon barrel was removed from the machine, the workers of Factory 447 gathered around and picked up the calipers next to them to measure it.

The width of the lands, the width of the grooves, the driving side, the trailing side, the twist rate... These data were exactly the same as the L7 tank gun they had mastered!

A worker reached out to touch it, but was immediately stopped: "Hey, don't touch it! Wait until we have internal chrome plating before you touch it!"

Touching it at this time without wearing gloves, what if it gets stained and causes early damage to the inside of the cannon barrel? This is a cannon barrel, with strict process requirements!

Rong Shijie smiled embarrassedly: "Sorry, we were negligent." He squatted down and carefully looked at the rotating rifling inside, still in disbelief: "How is this done? This is impossible!"

"Factory Director Qin, tell us about the principle of this machine," Fu Ansheng said. "We originally planned to come and help, but now, we are here to learn."

"Well, it's very simple, you come and look at this machine tool. The bed is equipped with roller linear guides, which are connected to the Z-axis feed mechanism. The C-axis rotary feed mechanism is connected to the milling cutter system. The machine tool spindle bed is connected to the operating table and the fixed guide frame. The specific principle is not complicated. It is to control the feed mechanism to generate rifling trajectory and torque, and control the milling cutter system to output cutting force and torque, so that the milling process of artillery barrel rifling can be completed. The difficulty is program debugging."

Qin Baoguo debugged this machine, so he knew these things like the back of his hand, even those dense codes, he could explain clearly.

"This machine is really good, can our Factory 447 buy one?" Fu Ansheng asked.

The lively atmosphere suddenly cooled down.

The actual picture was not found, only the design drawing, which belongs to the horizontal structure.