46: Chapter 46 Industrial Behemoth! Seven-Axis Machining Center

Seven days later.

The open space of the Xingchen Machinery Factory was packed with trucks.

Chen Xu stood at the warehouse entrance, watching the workers unload cargo. Ultra-precision angular contact ball bearings, roller linear guides, synchronous servo motors... Every crate was printed with the names of top international brands.

Over two million yuan had been turned into a pile of parts just like that.

But Chen Xu felt very steady.

Chen Shiyi walked to his side. "Boss, we can begin."

"Then let’s begin."

Chen Xu turned around and looked toward the High-Precision High-Tech Department.

Chen Yi, Chen Er, Chen San, and Chen Si were already waiting at the workshop entrance.

Chen Shiyi walked up to them and issued a command immediately: "From now on, the four of you are under my command."

"Chen San, Chen Si, go to the final assembly workshop and dismantle the number three and number five robotic arms from those two production lines."

Chen Si was stunned. "Dismantle them from the production lines? But those are currently—"

"Now," Chen Shiyi interrupted him.

Chen Si looked at Chen Xu.

Chen Xu nodded.

"Yes." Chen Si and Chen San immediately turned and left.

Chen Shiyi continued to issue orders: "Chen Yi, bring all the high-power laser cutting heads in the factory. Chen Er, move the cryogenic treatment boxes and vacuum heat treatment furnaces from the tool library to the workshop."

Chen Yi and Chen Er responded simultaneously.

The core equipment of the entire Xingchen Machinery Factory was being concentrated in this workshop.

Old Zhang passed by with a few workers. Seeing this display, he was completely dumbfounded.

"Mr. Chen, are you... dismantling the factory?"

Chen Xu smiled. "Old Zhang, take your people and stay back. Don't block the way."

Old Zhang swallowed hard and quickly backed away.

Chen Shiyi walked to a corner of the factory grounds where a massive object was covered by a tarpaulin.

He yanked the tarpaulin off.

Dust rose everywhere.

A rust-covered Gantry Milling Machine was exposed.

"This is the one." Chen Shiyi patted the heavy cast-iron bed.

Chen Xu walked over. "Using this?"

"The soul of a machine tool is stability." Chen Shiyi stroked the rough cast-iron surface. "Nothing is more reliable than old-fashioned cast iron."

He turned to look at Chen Yi and Chen Er. "Move it into the workshop."

Chen Yi found a ten-ton forklift and slowly moved the milling machine into the nearby high-precision workshop.

Inside the High-Precision High-Tech Department workshop.

The scrapped Gantry Milling Machine was placed right in the center.

Chen Shiyi stood before it and continued to issue instructions.

"Chen Yi, use that three-axis machine tool to process the hydrostatic guides and ball screws. Precision requirement: one micron."

One micron.

One-hundredth the diameter of a human hair.

"Understood."

"Chen Er, all key structural components are to undergo cryogenic treatment and vacuum heat treatment three times."

Chen Er nodded. "Understood."

"Chen San, Chen Si, build the machine tool frame and handle all electrical wiring."

"Yes."

The entire workshop began operating at high speed.

Chen Xu stood at the door, suddenly realizing he couldn't help at all.

Chen Shiyi's command was already beyond his scope of knowledge.

Is this the gap between Artisan-grade and Apprentice-grade?

Chen Xu opened the system interface and looked at Chen Shiyi's attributes.

[Lv2 Bionic Human (Artisan-grade): Proficient in various conventional mechanical equipment, capable of independently completing complex processes, work efficiency +30%, precision +30%]

A thirty percent increase resulted in a qualitative leap.

Chen Xu closed the interface and continued to observe.

Chen Shiyi walked to a corner of the workshop where an old Soviet-style lathe from an unknown era was kept.

The green paint was peeling off in large patches, and the guides were covered in rust.

Chen Shiyi found a rag and machine oil and began cleaning this antique.

Wiping, oiling, and debugging.

He turned every handwheel, listening to the sounds coming from the gearbox.

Half an hour later, he started the lathe.

The old motor hummed and roared as the main spindle began to rotate.

He picked up a piece of titanium alloy square stock from the material pile and clamped it onto the chuck.

Then he picked up a lathe tool.

Old Zhang and a few brave workers peered in from the doorway from a distance.

"Isn't that the piece of junk President Wang scavenged back then?"

"What can you do with that thing? It'd be a struggle just to turn a screw."

"What exactly is this expert trying to do?"

Chen Xu ignored their chatter.

He just watched Chen Shiyi.

Chen Shiyi gripped the two handwheels of the lathe with both hands.

His body leaned forward slightly.

The lathe tool made contact with the high-speed rotating titanium alloy.

A piercing grinding sound rang out.

A second later, the sound became steady.

Coils of silver-white chips sprayed out evenly from under the tool tip.

Chen Shiyi didn't look at any blueprints, nor did he use any measuring tools.

His hands turned the two handwheels slowly and steadily.

Transverse feed, longitudinal cutting.

Every movement was precise to the extreme.

Time passed minute by minute.

That square block of titanium alloy began to develop complex curves under his tool.

One hour.

Two hours.

Chen Shiyi stood before the roaring old lathe, motionless.

The cigarette in Old Zhang's mouth, who was peeking from the door, burned to the end, but he didn't even notice when it burned his hand.

He was an old technician who had worked in machining for twenty years.

He understood what he was seeing.

Using the most primitive tools to create a miracle of modern industry.

That wasn't technology; that was art.

He had seen many technicians in his life, and quite a few experts as well.

But he had never seen anyone at this level.

"Divine skill..." Old Zhang muttered to himself.

Seven days passed in a flash.

The workshop doors of the High-Precision High-Tech Department remained tightly closed.

During these seven days, Chen Xu hadn't entered once.

He was waiting.

On the evening of the seventh day.

The workshop door opened.

Chen Shiyi walked out, his gray jacket covered in oil stains and his eyes bloodshot.

"Boss, come in and take a look."

Chen Xu walked into the workshop.

In the center of the workshop stood a machine he had never seen before.

Its base was the heavy, rugged bed of the Soviet-style Gantry Milling Machine.

Grafted onto it were brand-new guides, servo motors, and robotic arms gleaming with metallic luster.

Countless pipelines and circuits connected these old and new parts, forming a fierce-looking 'Frankenstein's monster.'

Chen Yi, Chen Er, Chen San, and Chen Si stood beside the machine, their faces weary but filled with the excitement of having completed a masterpiece.

"This is the... Seven-Axis Machining Center?" Chen Xu walked up to the machine.

"All core components—the rotary table, the swivel head, the grating scales, the CNC system—are all self-made." Chen Shiyi walked to the control console.

It was a transparent touch screen suspended in the air.

"The overall machine performance is 34% higher than the current top international standards."

Chen Xu's heart rate accelerated.

Thirty-four percent.

What did that mean?

It meant that if this machine were taken out, it would drive machine tool manufacturers all over the world insane.

"Now, I will inject its soul."

Chen Shiyi placed his hands on the virtual keyboard.

Clatter, clatter!

Code scrolled across the screen.

That was the low-level control program for this Industrial Mother Machine.

Chen Shiyi didn't rely on any existing software libraries; he was writing an operating system belonging to this machine from scratch, by hand.

Chen Xu watched the rapidly jumping code.

He suddenly realized that the million yuan he spent was worth it.

Twenty minutes later.

Chen Shiyi typed the final character.

Enter.

Hum—

A low electrical hum came from deep within the machine.

The lights in the entire workshop dimmed for a split second.

All the blue pipelines on the machine tool lit up simultaneously.

The dual-axis swivel head slowly lifted, and the direct-drive rotary worktable began to turn silently.

Every movement was precise and fluid.

Chen Xu stared at the machine.

He knew.

Xingchen Machinery truly possessed the qualification to challenge the industry's ceiling.