78: Bringing his wife and children to Harbin Institute of Technology

"What do you mean?"

"I just removed the belt and let the motor idle. When the motor is running, my hand feels a little numb."

"Leaking electricity?"

"It's not an electrical leak, it's vibration. The motor's vibration is transmitted to the machine tool."

"At low speeds, the vibrations are combined with those of the machine tool itself, but at high speeds, they are actually offset."

Ye Bingwen placed his hand on the motor casing.

Mr. Li switched on the power switch, and the motor started running.

There was indeed a vibration.

It was very slight, but I could feel it.

"Let the people from the motor factory come and see tomorrow."

Ye Bingwen said.

Mr. Li turned off the power.

"This shipment has truly been plagued by misfortune."

"We can get through."

Ye Bingwen said.

The next morning, a technician named Huang, who was in his early thirties and wore glasses, came to the motor factory.

Ye Bingwen explained the situation to him.

Technician Huang disassembled the motor and spent a long time testing it with instruments.

"The rotor of this motor has a dynamic imbalance problem."

"Is there a problem with the new motor?"

Master Li chimed in from the side.

"It should have passed inspection when it left the factory, but it may have been bumped or damaged during transportation, or the quality of the motor itself may not be very stable."

Technician Huang pointed to the data on the testing instrument.

"Look, the eccentricity is too high. The vibration caused by the eccentricity is very obvious at low speeds."

"At high speeds, centrifugal force actually straightens the rotor, thus reducing vibration."

Master Li cursed.

"I knew it! There couldn't be anything wrong with a new bed."

"That's what Technician Huang said."

"I'll go back and replace the motor for you, and I'll deliver it tomorrow."

"tomorrow?"

Ye Bingwen frowned.

"Not today?"

"The warehouse needs to issue an invoice and complete the paperwork, so the earliest it can be done is tomorrow."

Ye Bingwen thought for a moment.

"Okay. Deliver it first thing tomorrow morning. This shipment is urgent, so please urge them to expedite it."

I will try my best.

Technician Huang loaded the faulty motor onto the truck and drove off.

Mr. Li stood at the factory gate, hands on his hips.

"A whole day was wasted."

"fine,"

Ye Bingwen said.

"Let's finish other things first today. The mold issue isn't finished yet; I'll go to the school-run factory and urge them to hurry up."

He took two steps, then turned around.

"Master Li, the motor will arrive tomorrow. You'll personally oversee the installation. After it's installed, run it idle for two hours to make sure there are no problems before starting work."

"understood."

Ye Bingwen left the factory and headed towards the school-run factory.

The mold factory worker's surname is Sun. He is over forty years old and has excellent skills, but he works slowly.

"Master Sun, when will my batch of molds be ready?"

"Wait three more days."

"Three days? Last time you said a week, it's been ten days already."

"The precision requirements are too high; it's difficult to do."

Master Sun put down the file in his hand.

"The tolerance requirement for your mold is one millimeter. I've worked with molds my whole life and I've never made one this precise."

"Can't it be done?"

"It can be done, but it's slow. If you're in a hurry, try finding someone else."

Ye Bingwen remained silent.

He stood in front of Master Sun's workbench, picked up the semi-finished mold and looked at it.

They really put in a lot of effort; the surface treatment is very meticulous.

"Three days it is. But I must get it after three days."

"OK."

Ye Bingwen stood by the roadside for a while.

The motor malfunctioned, the mold wasn't ready yet, Liu Yongqiang's fifty machines had just started working, and Master Li's work was delayed for another day.

This batch of goods is just going awry in every way.

He lit a cigarette and walked towards the bus stop.

After getting on the bus, I found a window seat and sat down, my mind racing.

Liu Xiaojun will arrive the day after tomorrow; we need to arrange for him to learn the skills from Master Li.

Master Li can't train too many people by himself. Once Liu Xiaojun has learned the skills, he can become the second master.

Also, the factory is too small; we need to find a way to expand it next spring.

When the bus arrived at the station, he got off and walked towards his rented room.

He went upstairs and opened the door. An'an was drawing in the living room. When she saw him come in, she ran over with her drawing in hand.

"Dad, look! I drew a big rooster!"

Ye Bingwen squatted down and took a look.

It doesn't look like a rooster; it looks more like a round ball with legs.

"It's really well drawn."

An'an was happy and ran back to continue drawing.

Zheng Shuyun peeked out from the kitchen.

"Why are you back so early today?"

"Something happened at the factory; the motor broke down, so we can't work."

Is it serious?

"It's not serious, we can just get a new one tomorrow."

Zheng Shuyun brought a plate of food from the kitchen and placed it on the table.

"An'an, stop drawing and eat."

An'an reluctantly put down her pen.

Ye Bingwen sat down and picked up his bowl.

An'an chattered on about kindergarten, saying that Teacher Wang praised her today for her good drawing skills.

Ye Bingwen and Zheng Shuyun exchanged a glance and both smiled.

After dinner, An'an went to watch cartoons.

Ye Bingwen sat at the table and spread out the blueprints.

The mold hasn't arrived yet, so the outer shell can't be made, but other processes can be prepared first.

He rearranged the production plan, moving forward all the processes that could be completed earlier.

Zheng Shuyun walked over, carrying two cups of tea.

"Is that new bed alright?"

"It's a minor problem; just replace the motor."

"That's good."

Zheng Shuyun picked up the schedule he had prepared and looked at it.

"You need to practice your handwriting."

"As long as you can understand it, that's fine."

"An'an's teacher said that if parents have good handwriting, their children will also be influenced."

Ye Bingwen smiled.

"Then I'll start practicing tomorrow."

"You always say that."

The new motor arrived early the next morning.

Technician Huang drove over personally, unloaded the motor at the factory gate, and helped disassemble the casing.

"Director Ye, we conducted a dynamic balancing test on this unit before it left the factory, so there's absolutely no problem."

"Thank you for your help."

Master Li led his two apprentices to disassemble the old motor and install the new one.

After it was installed, he didn't rush to work. As Ye Bingwen had suggested, he first ran around empty for two hours.

The motor runs very smoothly, the casing doesn't feel numb to the touch, and the vibration is almost imperceptible.

"Alright."

Mr. Li said.

"Give it a try."

Xiao Zhang took a blank part, installed it, turned on the machine, and started the feed.

The sound of the cutting tool contacting the workpiece was crisp and even, without the low-frequency buzzing sound of yesterday.

After the first finished product was completed, Master Li measured it three times.

The outer diameter tolerance is 1.2 mm, the inner hole tolerance is 1 mm, and the flatness meets the standard.

"alright."

Master Li placed the workpiece on the table.

"This is the kind of work the C618 should be doing."

Ye Bingwen watched the whole thing from the sidelines, and a weight was lifted from his heart.

The other half is still hanging in the balance—the mold isn't ready yet, and the progress has already been delayed by two days.

Just as he was thinking about how to catch up on the construction schedule, Old Liu from the gatehouse came running over.

"Director Ye, someone's here at the gate. They say they're from the Provincial Military Region and they're looking for you."

Ye Bingwen's heart tightened.

Didn't Director Zhou say he wouldn't be coming until the end of the month? Today is only the 22nd.

He wiped his hands and walked quickly toward the door.

A green Jeep was parked at the factory gate; it wasn't Director Zhou's car.

Two people got off the car. The one in front was a man in his forties, wearing a military uniform with two bars and two stars on his shoulders.

A young staff member followed behind, carrying a folder.