61: Chapter 61 The machine won't bite less.

The Engineering Training Center was located near the north gate of Jiangcheng University, not a quiet building like the School of Physics.

It was low and wide, looking more like a factory workshop.

With red brick walls and a gray rolling shutter door, a blue sign with white lettering stood at the entrance.

[Jiangcheng University Engineering Training Center]

Below the sign was another line of small text.

[No entry into the production training area without permission]

When Jiang Lin arrived, it was eight-forty in the morning.

Professor Lu Zhixing had arrived earlier than him and was standing at the entrance talking to a middle-aged man wearing deep blue work clothes.

The man was around fifty years old, not very tall, with broad shoulders, very short-cropped hair, and a few faint old scars on the back of his hands.

The cuffs of his work clothes were buttoned tightly, and a work badge hung on his chest.

The badge read: [Teacher Guo Jianye]

[Training Instructor at the Engineering Training Center]

Seeing Jiang Lin, Professor Lu Zhixing waved.

"You're here."

Jiang Lin walked over.

"Teacher Lu, Teacher Guo."

Teacher Guo Jianye glanced at him.

This glance was different from Professor Lu Zhixing's.

When Professor Lu Zhixing looked at people, he first looked at problem awareness, logical chains, and error boundaries.

When Teacher Guo Jianye looked at people, it was like looking at a novice who had just entered the workshop.

He first looked at the shoes, then the cuffs, and finally the hands and posture.

Jiang Lin was wearing old sneakers, a dark gray jacket, and a black hoodie underneath today.

Teacher Guo Jianye frowned slightly.

"Shoes won't do."

Jiang Lin looked down.

"Sneakers won't do?"

"Auditing the safety class is fine, but entering the workshop operation area is not," Teacher Guo Jianye said. "If you really want to enter the workshop in the future, you need anti-smash shoes. Long sleeves must be buttoned up, no leaving them open. Hoodie drawstrings, headphone cords, scarves, bracelets, and rings are strictly prohibited. Tie up long hair, don't put hard things in your pockets, and don't keep your phone in a place where it easily falls out."

After finishing, he looked at Professor Lu Zhixing.

"Teacher Lu, let me make this clear. Without completing the center's safety training and without formal approval, no one is allowed to touch the machine tools. It's not that I'm not giving you face, but those are the rules."

Professor Lu Zhixing nodded. "That's also the purpose of me bringing him here today."

"Alright, go inside and register first." Teacher Guo Jianye turned around.

The lobby of the Engineering Training Center was much noisier than the Physics building.

The sound of compressed air being released came from inside, a low humming of motors could be vaguely heard from a distant workshop, and the walls were plastered with safety slogans.

[Loose cuffs bring approaching danger]

[Chuck key never leaves the hand; leave the chuck before letting go of the key]

[Stop the machine to clear chips; hand-grabbing is prohibited]

[It is forbidden to measure, clean, or touch workpieces before the machine tool has completely stopped]

[Drill press workpieces must be clamped tightly; hand-holding is strictly prohibited]

[Stop the machine first upon abnormality and report to the instructor]

...

The fonts of these slogans were very large, with white characters on a red background, pasted on the walls, looking somewhat crude.

Jiang Lin wrote his name, affiliation, and purpose of visit in the visitor registration log.

Name: Jiang Lin.

Affiliation: Jiangcheng No. 7 High School.

Purpose: Auditing the safety class at the Engineering Training Center.

An undergraduate student happened to come over to register as well. Seeing the four words "Jiangcheng No. 7 High School," he couldn't help taking an extra look at him.

He probably felt that a high school student running to a university Engineering Training Center on the weekend to listen to a safety class looked a bit absurd no matter how you looked at it.

Teacher Guo Jianye took out a pair of goggles from the counter and handed them to Jiang Lin.

"You must wear them before entering the workshop area. Even if you aren't operating a machine today, you need to get used to it. Safety doesn't wait until you feel it's dangerous to begin."

Jiang Lin naturally understood, took the goggles, and put them on.

Only then did Teacher Guo Jianye walk forward.

The safety class classroom was on the east side of the first floor.

Inside sat more than twenty students, mostly undergraduates from the School of Mechanical, Electrical, Materials, and School of Physics who were taking the elective engineering training course.

They looked more like college students than Jiang Lin did; some held milk tea in their hands, some lowered their heads to browse their phones, and others yawned at their safety manuals.

Teacher Guo Jianye stood in front of the podium and placed a transparent plastic box on the desk.

There were three things in the box: a deformed piece of aluminum, half a broken drill bit, and a cracked pair of goggles.

Teacher Guo Jianye tapped on the box, and the classroom instantly became much quieter.

"Today, we won't talk about the machine tool structure first; let's look at this first."

He picked up that piece of aluminum.

The edges of the aluminum piece were twisted, the hole walls were rough, and there were obvious scratch marks on the surface.

"A student's work. It wasn't clamped tightly during drilling, and they held the workpiece with their hand, thinking they could hold it down. After the drill bit bit into it, the workpiece spun along with it, flinging out like a knife. Their fingers required eight stitches."

A few undergraduates subconsciously shrank their hands back.

Teacher Guo Jianye picked up the broken drill bit again.

"This one—the feed was too aggressive, the rotational speed was inappropriate, chip removal was poor, and they still thought it was too slow. When it broke, fragments flew out."

Finally, he picked up the cracked goggles.

There was an obvious radial crack on the right lens of the goggles, with a white impact point at the center of the crack.

"This pair of goggles blocked one time for someone; the lenses cracked, but the eyes didn't."

Finally, no one in the classroom was laughing anymore.

Teacher Guo Jianye put the goggles back into the box.

"In the future, you will learn turning, milling, shaping, grinding, drilling, welding, and CNC machining. Some people think they are smart and can do it just by watching a video once. Some people think the machine is slow and want to give it a helping hand. Still others think the teacher is too wordy and there are too many rules."

Speaking to this point, his gaze swept across the classroom.

"Let me put it this way: machine tools aren't afraid that you don't know how to use them; they are afraid that you think you know how."

He turned on the projector.

What appeared on the screen was not a complex structural diagram, but a photo of an ordinary lathe.

Teacher Guo Jianye didn't rush to talk about the headstock, feed box, or apron.

He first drew a few red circles on the photo.

Chuck, tool post, leadscrew, tailstock...

"The first thing when entering the workshop is not to ask how precise this machine tool is, nor is it to ask whether it can process what you want to make. The first thing is to know what can be touched and what cannot be touched. Know where the emergency stop is, know who the instructor is, and know who to shout for when an abnormality occurs."

He picked up a pair of ordinary cotton string gloves.

"When processing on a lathe, can you wear these?"

A student whispered: "No."

"Why not?"

"They will get pulled in."

Teacher Guo Jianye nodded.

"It's not that they might get pulled in; once they are pulled in, you won't have time to react at all. Rotating parts won't give you a second opportunity. Once the gloves are caught, your fingers go in with them, and after that, it's no longer a question of whether you want to let go or not."

He threw the gloves back onto the podium.

He continued to explain that long hair must be tied up, cuffs must be tied tightly, and wearing scarves, headphone cords, necklaces, and rings is prohibited.

When talking about the chuck key, he took out an old key.

The surface of the key was worn to a shine, and there were several bump marks on the end.

"If this thing is left on the chuck, what happens after the machine is turned on?"

Someone said: "It will fly out."

Teacher Guo Jianye nodded. "Right. After it flies out, its speed is no slower than you throwing a stone, and wherever it hits is where it lands."

He inserted the key into a teaching chuck model on the podium and loosened his hand.

"You think you'll remember to take it off, but people get interrupted, called over, look at their phones, and get distracted. Rules aren't there because people are stupid, but because people forget."

...

Teacher Guo Jianye explained that workpieces must not be measured before the machine tool has completely stopped.

After starting the grinder, stand sideways to avoid the front, and approach only after confirming there are no abnormal noises.

Drill press workpieces must be clamped tightly and must not be held by hand.

For any abnormal noise, vibration, smoke, or tool breakage, stop the machine first, then call the teacher.

This content sounded like slogans, but Teacher Guo Jianye wasn't just reciting slogans.

Behind every single item, he followed up with an accident component, an on-site action, or a real machine shutdown record.

When talking about how measurements must not be made before the machine tool has completely stopped, he played a video lasting over a dozen seconds.

In the video, a person who looked like a student waited for the lathe spindle speed to just drop down, then reached out wanting to use a vernier caliper to measure the outer diameter.

Teacher Guo Jianye tapped the podium where the video was paused.

"You think it's slow, but actually it's still spinning. You think your hands are fast, but actually the cutting tools and chuck are much faster than you."

Someone in the classroom straightened up a bit, but Jiang Lin never lowered his head.

The safety class lasted for nearly an hour.

Afterward, everyone returned to the classroom to take the safety test.

Twenty multiple-choice questions, five true-or-false questions, and one final short-answer question.

Most of the multiple-choice questions were straightforward.

Can ordinary gloves be worn during lathe processing?

Can workpieces be held by hand when drilling on a drill press?

Can workpieces be measured before the machine tool has completely stopped?

Where should one stand when starting a grinder?

Under what circumstances should the emergency stop button be used?

Jiang Lin finished very quickly.

He reached the final short-answer question.

The question was: [Please briefly describe what you think are the three most important safety verifications before entering ordinary machine tool practical training.]

Pen tips rustled in the classroom.

Someone wrote, "Wear goggles, tie cuffs tightly, and listen to the teacher's commands."

Someone wrote, "Check the machine tool, check the tools, check the materials."

Jiang Lin looked at the question, thought for a moment, and then began to write.

[1. Confirmation of human state: clothing, cuffs, goggles, attention, and standing position, confirming that one will not be pulled in by rotating parts, flying chips, or the fling path of the workpiece.]

[2. Confirmation of machine state: equipment number, permitted items, emergency stop position, safety guards, fixtures, cutting tools, chuck key, and whether the spindle has completely stopped, confirming that the machine is in a permissible operating state.]

[3. Workpiece-tool-path confirmation: whether workpiece clamping is reliable, whether tool extension is reasonable, whether rotational speed and feed match, how chips are discharged, and who stops the machine, who calls for help, and who records when an abnormality occurs.]

[4. Safety verification is not to prove operational ability, but to confirm that parts that should not be operated under current conditions have been eliminated.]

When collecting the papers, Teacher Guo Jianye glanced at the last question and didn't speak.

Ten minutes later, the test results came out.

Everyone passed.

Teacher Guo Jianye returned the papers to everyone, but he didn't return Jiang Lin's right away.

Holding the paper, he stood on the podium.

"For the final short-answer question, someone wrote a term called 'path confirmation'."

He didn't name who it was.

"This term is good. Machine tool accidents are rarely caused by a single action; they are often a string of conditions linked together. The cuffs are a bit loose, the standing position is a bit wrong, the workpiece is clamped a bit too shallowly, the tool extends a bit too far, and people are a bit too hurried—that's when an accident happens."

Teacher Guo Jianye put the paper down.

"Therefore, safety is not about memorizing clauses; it's about breaking the chain—breaking the accident chain beforehand."

The classroom was even quieter than before.

A few undergraduates subconsciously lowered their heads to look at their own cuffs.

Jiang Lin sat in the back row without any change in expression.

But Professor Lu Zhixing glanced at him.

He knew that Jiang Lin didn't write that sentence just to look good.

This student was accustomed to breaking a matter down into chains.

Error chains, accident chains, assembly chains, documentary evidence chains.

Different fields, different objects, but the underlying logic was shockingly consistent.

After passing the safety test, according to the center's regulations, one could apply to audit the basic demonstration of ordinary machine tools.

Teacher Guo Jianye did not immediately take them into the actual operating area, but instead stood at the classroom entrance first and checked everyone's goggles and cuffs.

When it was Jiang Lin's turn, he glanced at his shoes again.

"Today, you can only stand outside the yellow line."

Jiang Lin said, "Understood."

"Don't lean against the machine tools, don't reach out, don't pick up things for others, and don't direct anyone who is currently operating."

"Understood."

Teacher Guo Jianye looked at him, his tone a bit softer than before.

"Don't think it's too slow."

"I don't mind."

"Don't say you don't mind while thinking in your heart that the teacher is blocking your way."

"I wouldn't."

Teacher Guo Jianye snorted.

"A lot of people who come for the first time feel that they can handle it themselves, especially someone like you who looks quick-witted."

Jiang Lin did not refute.

Teacher Guo Jianye said, "The machine won't bite you any less just because you understand the principles. When people who understand the principles get into accidents, it's sometimes even worse, because they dare to reach into places others wouldn't dare."

These words carried a heavy weight.

Jiang Lin said in a low voice, "I've remembered it."

"Remembering is useless," Teacher Guo Jianye said. "We'll see your positioning later."

The ordinary machine tool practical training area was on the west side of the hall.

The floor was painted with green epoxy paint, and yellow safety lines were drawn around each machine tool.

Against the wall was a row of ordinary lathes, followed by several vertical drilling machines and bench grinders, and further inside were the milling machine area and CNC machine tool area.

Today was the weekend, so there weren't many people in the training area. Only four or five undergraduates were standing beside a lathe.

The machine tool was not started, and the chuck was stopped.

The guide rails were wiped very clean, an external turning tool was clamped in the tool rest, and an already clamped aluminum rod was placed next to it.

Teacher Guo Jianye stood beside the lathe. Without touching the buttons first, he pointed at the machine tool and asked the students.

"Where is the emergency stop?"

An undergraduate pointed at the red mushroom head button.

"The main power switch?"

Another student pointed to the side of the machine tool.

"What about the chuck key?"

The undergraduate, who had been very confident just a moment ago, was stunned for a moment, lowered his head to look at the floor, and then looked at the tool rest.

With a cold face, Teacher Guo Jianye reached his hand out of his pocket.

In his hand was holding precisely that chuck key.

"If you can't find the chuck key, you are not allowed to turn on the machine. The first thing before starting the machine is not looking at the rotational speed, nor looking at the feed rate, but confirming that the chuck key is not on the chuck."

He hung the key back in its fixed position.

Next, he checked the workpiece extension length.

"The clamping length of this aluminum rod is sufficient, and the extension length is short enough. Today we are doing low-speed trial cutting; we are not chasing dimensions, only looking at the process."

He pointed at the cutting tool again.

"The tool tip height has already been adjusted, and the cutting tool should not extend too far from the tool rest. Extending it too long will make the tool bar shake like a spring. In the future, if you hear screaming sounds or periodic chatter marks, don't blame the material first—look at the clamping and the cutting tool first."

Standing outside the yellow line, Jiang Lin's gaze lingered between the cutting tool, the workpiece, and the chuck.

Teacher Guo Jianye started the power and ran it at a low speed without load.

The lathe emitted a uniform motor sound.

He let the spindle idle for more than ten seconds, and after confirming there was no abnormal vibration, he engaged the low-speed feed.

The tool tip gently cut into the outer diameter of the aluminum rod, and a layer of silver-white chips rolled out like a thin, delicate spring.

The sound was very light, and the first few seconds were very steady.

But when cutting to the third pass, Jiang Lin's eyelashes twitched slightly.

A hint of an extremely fine rhythm was added to the sound.

Amidst the continuous rustling cutting sound, there was an almost inaudible periodic slight quiver.

Like a very thin string being blown by the wind.

Teacher Guo Jianye did not stop the machine immediately.

He finished this extremely shallow trial cut, retracted the tool, and stopped the machine.

After the spindle came to a complete stop, he used a brush to clean up the chips, and then used a vernier caliper to demonstrate measuring the outer diameter.

The entire process was very standard, and the students watched attentively.

Teacher Guo Jianye suddenly turned his head and looked at Jiang Lin.

"You were staring at the tool rest the whole time just now. Did you notice anything?"

Several undergraduates also turned their heads to look.

Professor Lu Zhixing stood to the side without interrupting.

Jiang Lin did not walk toward the machine tool and still stood outside the yellow line.

"The third trial cut had a slight chattering sound."

Teacher Guo Jianye's gaze changed slightly.

"And the reason?"

"Judging from the sound, it doesn't look like a spindle problem, nor does it look like a hard spot in the material. It looks more like minor vibration caused by the tool tip extension amount or the local rigidity of the tool rest."

Teacher Guo Jianye did not speak.

Jiang Lin continued, "It might also be related to the combination of feed rate and rotational speed. The chips rolled relatively fine just now, and there was periodicity in the sound, not random noise. If it were formal processing, I would first stop the machine to check the tool extension amount, blade clamping, and workpiece clamping, and then adjust the cutting parameters."

An undergraduate couldn't help blurting out, "You can even hear that out?"

Jiang Lin did not answer.

Teacher Guo Jianye stared at him for two seconds, turned around and walked to the tool rest, and reached out to check the tool clamping plate.

He didn't turn on the machine.

He just gently tested the fastening screws with a wrench.

One of the screws was barely loose, but it could indeed be tightened by a tiny angle more.

Teacher Guo Jianye put down the wrench.

"The blade clamping is slightly loose, and the tool bar extension amount is also a bit too long."

Several undergraduates immediately looked at Jiang Lin.

Jiang Lin was still standing outside the yellow line with a calm expression.

Teacher Guo Jianye did not praise him; he merely turned around and said to those undergraduates, "Did you see that? A demonstration class is not about watching the teacher turn a part round. A demonstration class is about seeing how processing conditions are confirmed and how anomalies are discovered in advance."

As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Lin again.

"But what you said earlier was right."

"Which sentence?"

"You said you weren't sure."

Teacher Guo Jianye picked up a piece of chalk and wrote four words on the small blackboard beside him.

Stop the machine first, then judge.

"The most terrifying thing in the workshop is not ignorance; it's pretending to know when you don't. When you hear something abnormal, stop the machine first, then judge. Don't guess while working."

Jiang Lin nodded.

Teacher Guo Jianye readjusted the tool extension amount, retightened the clamping plate, and started the spindle again.

This time, the cutting sound was much steadier.

There was no such subtle chattering sound.

The tool marks left on the surface of the aluminum rod were also more uniform.

After finishing the demonstration, Teacher Guo Jianye stopped the machine, retracted the tool, cleaned the chips, measured, and recorded—not omitting a single step.

The entire process wasn't exciting.

There were no flying sparks, nor any thrilling moments.

But Jiang Lin watched very attentively instead.

Because this was also where the true value of the modern Engineering Training Center lay.

Using regulations to decompose every step of danger in advance, and using identification, inspection, shutdown, and recording to turn human unreliable attention into repeatable processes.

Allowing a person not to have to rely on tactile feel and sheer courage to push through blindly.

He in the Wasteland did not have such a luxury.

There, he could only carve every process into his muscles.

But here, civilization posted the processes on the walls, wrote them into forms, and handed them over to teachers to lecture on repeatedly.

After the demonstration ended, it was already 11:20.

The undergraduates left one after another.

Teacher Guo Jianye had the on-duty teaching assistant clean up around the machine tool before leading Professor Lu Zhixing and Jiang Lin out of the training area.

Outside the yellow line at the entrance, he handed Jiang Lin's safety test paper back to him.

"Keep your test paper safe."

Jiang Lin took it.

There was an extra red seal in the upper right corner of the test paper.

[Safety Test Passed]

Below it was also Teacher Guo Jianye's signature.

"Next time you come, don't touch the lathe first," Teacher Guo Jianye said.

Jiang Lin looked up.

Teacher Guo Jianye looked at him. "I'll arrange manual basics for you: layout, center punch, hand saw, filing, and clamping confirmation before drilling. Use waste aluminum or low-carbon steel for the material, and go through the beginner's process first."

Professor Lu Zhixing glanced at Teacher Guo Jianye.

Teacher Guo Jianye knew what he wanted to say and waved his hand.

"Teacher Lu, it's not that I'm intentionally holding him back. The more capable someone like this is, the more they need to start from the process. I can tell that he is not someone who has never touched tools at all. But where he practiced before, how he practiced, and whether he has formed any unorthodox habits unsuited for the center—I don't know any of that."

Jiang Lin felt no dissatisfaction.

On the contrary, he felt Teacher Guo Jianye was right.

Many actions in the Wasteland were formed under duress when there were no bystanders, no systems, and no alternative solutions.

They were effective, but not necessarily suitable for a modern workshop.

For example, he was accustomed to squeezing tools to their limits under extremely poor conditions.

He was accustomed to using bodily memory to make up for the lack of measuring tools, and accustomed to judging risks by himself when there was no teacher to call out to.

These abilities had saved his life in the Wasteland.

But in the Jiangcheng University Engineering Training Center, they could also become hidden hazards.

Teacher Guo Jianye looked at Jiang Lin.

"Don't think that just because you know how to file, you can skip layout. Don't think that just because you can hear chattering sounds, you can touch the lathe ahead of time. Next time, I will look at your positioning, look at your chip cleaning, look at the direction you hold the file, and look at where you put your hands."

Jiang Lin said earnestly, "Okay."

"Your attitude is not bad," Teacher Guo Jianye nodded.

When leaving the Engineering Training Center, it was already 11:40.

The sunlight outside the workshop was very bright.

Near the north gate, some students rode past on electric bicycles with packed lunches placed in their basket bins.

Professor Lu Zhixing did not take Jiang Lin away immediately, but instead stood on the steps outside the workshop and handed him a bottle of water.

Jiang Lin took it.

"Thank you."

Professor Lu Zhixing asked, "How was today?"

Jiang Lin unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip.

"More basic than I imagined."

"Disappointed?"

Jiang Lin shook his head.

"No. The more basic it is, the easier it is to become careless and make mistakes."

"If Teacher Guo hears this sentence, he will be very happy."

Jiang Lin looked toward the rolling shutter door of the Engineering Training Center.

Faint motor sounds drifted out from inside.

He knew that he was not far from actually being able to handle machining himself.

Professor Lu Zhixing took a sip of water and said, "You should understand now why I didn't take you directly to the workshop to get materials."

"Understood."

"Your problem is that you are too good at getting things done under incomplete conditions," Professor Lu Zhixing said. "Yet modern laboratories and the Engineering Training Center do not encourage this capability to run stark naked directly; we must first encase it within rules."

Jiang Lin was silent for a moment and said, "Rules are armor."

Professor Lu Zhixing glanced at him. "Who told you that?"

"My head teacher meant pretty much the same thing."

Professor Lu Zhixing smiled. "Your head teacher is not bad."

Jiang Lin nodded. "I will follow the rules."

"Tomorrow Teacher Guo will arrange manual basics for you; you should go through this set of processes at the center first," Professor Lu Zhixing said.

"Understood."

"And the Gaokao."

Jiang Lin looked at him.

Professor Lu Zhixing said in a calm tone, "Although with your knowledge reserve, you could completely follow me to pursue a PhD, your head teacher was also right: your primary identity right now is still a high school senior."