The explosion-proof lights overhead in the conference room cast a cold white glow, illuminating the blueprints, codes, and process documents spread across the long table with meticulous clarity.
Since the experts had taken their seats in groups at eleven in the morning, the enclosed conference room had been almost devoid of any significant sound.
The staff officer at the door had come in to refill the tea eight times and changed the ashtrays three times.
The boxed lunches delivered at noon were neatly arranged on a side table in the corner of the conference room, steaming hot at first, but now cold and hard, untouched by anyone.
Everyone's attention was riveted to the materials in front of them, like iron filings drawn to a magnet, not even willing to blink more than necessary.
Six verification groups occupied their respective areas along the length of the conference table, clearly delineated.
...
In the far left corner of the conference room was the CNC System Algorithm Group led by Lu Bingwen.
Three long tables were pushed together, covered with densely packed sheets of draft paper, each filled with formulas, verification steps, and function curves. The pencil marks were so deep they almost pierced the paper, and some areas had been rubbed through due to repeated corrections.
Lu Bingwen sat in the central position, his reading glasses slipping down to the tip of his nose, unnoticed. His upper body was nearly pressed against the table, his left hand holding the printed algorithm codes, his right hand gripping a sharply sharpened pencil, verifying line by line, word by word.
Beside him, three professors from Shuimu University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University were doing the exact same thing, each verifying a segment of the code, occasionally looking up to exchange verification results in voices so low they were almost inaudible.
The soul of the 5-axis linkage CNC system is the real-time interpolation algorithm.
Simply put, the five axes of the machine tool must complete synchronized movements at the same time according to preset trajectories. A slight deviation would render the processed parts useless.
The real-time interpolation of complex surfaces had been a deadlock for domestic teams for over a decade.
They had burned countless midnight oils in the lab, testing hundreds of algorithm models, only to find the computational speed lagging, causing inevitable stutters in real-time linkage; or the precision was insufficient, with errors exceeding industrial application thresholds; or the stability was too poor, with errors occurring after a few hours of continuous operation.
After ten years, they hadn't even touched the threshold for industrial-grade applications.
But now, the set of codes before them had resolved all these issues with effortless ease.
"Professor Lu, the first segment of the interpolation algorithm has been verified," Professor Chen from Xi'an Jiaotong University raised his head, his voice trembling uncontrollably, the draft paper in his hand crumpled into a ball.
"The computation cycle is 8 milliseconds, three times faster than the fastest model in our lab, with contour errors controlled within 0.001 millimeters, meeting industrial standards, absolutely!"
Lu Bingwen's pencil tip suddenly paused, the lead snapping on the paper with a crisp sound.
He looked up, his gaunt face expressionless, but the bloodshot eyes seemed to burn.
Lu Bingwen said nothing, merely reaching out to take the verification draft from Professor Chen's hand, reading line by line.
The more he read, the heavier his breathing became.
The "multi-axis synchronization error compensation" problem they had racked their brains over was completely smoothed out by a nested loop function in this set of codes.
The "computational speed bottleneck" they couldn't break through with countless materials was directly compressed to an unimaginable level with an extremely streamlined instruction set.
It was as if they had been groping in a dark room for ten years, hitting their heads bloody, unable to find the door.
And this information had directly opened a window in the wall, even handing them the key to the door.
"Tool radius compensation algorithm, verification complete," Professor Wang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University also raised his head, "Full working condition adaptation, even dynamic compensation for tool wear is included. We had only theoretically deduced such a model before, never imagining it could be implemented into industrial code." Get faster updates on g.com.
"Thermal deformation error compensation algorithm is also correct!" The young professor at the edge stopped his pen, his eyes red, "The deformation prediction of spindle temperature rise fits over 99% with the data we measured on the test bench for three years! Even the deformation patterns we couldn't fully grasp, they've calculated it all!"
Lu Bingwen put down his pencil and leaned back in his chair.
He closed his eyes, took a long deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
The emotions surging in his chest seemed ready to burst through his throat, but he held them back, though his hand under the table trembled uncontrollably.
It was pierced.
The paper-thin barrier that had blinded them for over a decade was effortlessly pierced by this information!
...
On the right side of the conference room was the Complete Machine Mechanical Design Group led by Wang Hongbin from the Shenyang Machine Tool Institute.
Unlike the algorithm group, whose tables were covered with draft paper, their tables were spread with large blueprints.
Complete machine assembly drawings, bed casting drawings, spindle box structure drawings, guide rail assembly drawings... one after another, covering four long tables, with several laid out on the floor.
Wang Hongbin, a tall man from the northeast standing at 1.8 meters, was crouched on the floor, holding a steel ruler, meticulously checking the tolerance annotations on the blueprints.
His jacket had long been discarded onto a chair, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the muscles on his forearms taut, sweat dripping down his forehead, onto the blueprints, which he quickly wiped clean with his sleeve, afraid of dirtying them even a bit.
Domestic machine tool design had taken detours for over a decade, with the core issue being "knowing the what but not the why."
They could reverse-engineer the dimensions of parts by dismantling obsolete second-hand three-axis machine tools from abroad, but why were they designed this way?
Why was the tolerance marked at 0.002 millimeters instead of 0.005 millimeters? Why were the bed's reinforcing ribs arranged this way? Why was the spindle box's center of gravity placed here?
These fundamental design logics were never taught, and they had guessed for over a decade, making countless trial and error attempts, to no avail!
But now, this information detailed everything from the raw material ratios for bed casting, sand mold design, aging treatment processes, to the tolerance chain distribution for spindle assembly, static and dynamic stiffness verification for the whole machine, even the installation specifications for the anchor bolts, with no gaps in the entire chain.
Every design detail came with complete mechanical calculation justifications, every tolerance annotation had corresponding precision control logic, even the vibration suppression schemes for the machine tool under different working conditions were designed for all scenarios.
"Chief Wang, the spindle box structure diagram has been verified," an engineer beside him raised his head, his voice filled with incredulous shock.
"The spindle box wall thickness of the German machine tool we reverse-engineered, we never understood why it was made 12 millimeters. We changed it to 15 millimeters, and the rigidity was worse. Here, the calculation book clearly states it's for harmonic frequency avoidance to prevent resonance! We never even thought in this direction!"
Wang Hongbin stood up abruptly, striding over to grab the calculation book.
With just one glance, he slapped his thigh hard, producing a crisp sound.
"Damn it! So that's how it is!" His loud voice burst out uncontrollably, and he quickly covered his mouth, lowering his voice, but the light in his eyes was blinding, "We guessed for eight whole years! Guessed countless possibilities, and they slapped the standard answer right in our faces!"
The cigarette between his fingers had burned down to the filter, scorching his fingers, yet he seemed unaware until the engineer beside him reminded him, and he hurriedly extinguished the butt in the ashtray.
"The precision retention design for the guide rail is also all clear!" another engineer exclaimed softly, "The machine tools we made before, the guide rails wore out of tolerance after a year. Here, the wear-resistant layer design, preloading force distribution scheme, directly extended the lifespan to over ten years!" Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
"The stress relief process for the bed, even the temperature, time, and vibration frequency for the aging treatment are all marked!"
Wang Hongbin stood amidst the spread-out blueprints, looking around at the dense lines, annotations, and calculation books, suddenly laughing, and as he laughed, his eyes reddened.
They had spent a lifetime on machine tools, always saying they wanted to make high-end machine tools for the people of the Dragon Nation, but they couldn't even grasp the most basic design logic, being choked by others, unable to stand tall.
Now, they finally understood.
Finally knew how to design a top-notch 5-axis machine tool!
...
The shock experienced by the algorithm group and the complete machine group was repeatedly played out with the same intensity in the other four groups.
The Servo Drive Technology Group's table was covered with densely drawn control block diagrams and transfer functions.
Group leader Zhang Jingshan, along with the team from Beijing University of Technology, repeatedly calculated the closed-loop parameters against the servo motor control logic in the information.
The biggest pain point for domestic servo systems was "inaccurate movement, unstable holding."
When given a command, the motor either responded slowly, unable to keep up; or it overshot, exceeding precision; or it vibrated during low-speed operation, making it impossible to process precision parts.
They had tried countless closed-loop schemes, unable to solve this core problem, with their best results only equivalent to Japan's level in the late 1970s.
But the dual closed-loop scheme for position and speed rings in the information, combined with feedforward control and disturbance observer design, directly elevated response speed, control precision, and anti-interference capability to unimaginable heights.
"Professor Zhang, the bandwidth has been verified," the young doctoral student he led raised his head, his voice trembling, "Speed ring bandwidth 300 Hz, position ring bandwidth 100 Hz, twice as high as the top model from Japan's Yaskawa we can currently access!"
The slide rule in Zhang Jingshan's hand fell onto the table.
The head of the Core Component Processing Technology Group was the veteran technician Zhou Guisheng from the Jingshi Machine Tool Institute, already sixty-two years old, having spent a lifetime on precision parts processing and heat treatment, recognized domestically as the "craftsmanship pinnacle."
At this moment, this old technician who had never conceded was wearing reading glasses, holding the spindle heat treatment process document, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
The biggest predicament domestically was that even with blueprints, they couldn't produce.
Even with perfect part blueprints, without mature processes, they still couldn't produce qualified parts.
Take the high-speed electric spindle, for instance. Their quenching either lacked hardness, making it non-wear-resistant; or the quenching deformed, rendering the precision useless; or the internal stress wasn't fully eliminated, leading to cracks during use.
For this spindle, Zhou Guisheng had spent five years in the heat treatment workshop with his apprentices, trying over a hundred processes, all failing to meet design requirements.
But this information detailed every step from the steel grade, preheating temperature curve, quenching medium, cooling speed, to tempering time, frequency, and temperature, even including process adjustment parameters for different seasons and environmental temperatures.
"Master Zhou, the assembly process for the tilting milling head is also complete," his senior apprentice leaned over, his voice choked, "Assembly sequence, tightening torque for each bolt, bearing preload adjustment method, all included. We used to take half a month to assemble a tilting milling head, but following these steps, a qualified product can be assembled in three days."
Zhou Guisheng looked up, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, and sighed deeply, "The things we've guessed for over a decade, they've given us the recipe for cooking, even specifying how much salt, how much water, and how high the flame should be."
What was filled was the weakest, most critical shortcoming in domestic industrial manufacturing!