Chapter 60: The Simplest Workbench (Requesting Monthly Tickets and Follow-up Reads)

Qin Jun stopped talking. He was not a fool and naturally knew that being a technician offered a much brighter future.

Unfortunately, far too few people were willing to learn and dared to try.

Looking at those envious faces, Qin Jun could only feel frustrated by their lack of ambition.

Fortunately, apart from looks of envy, they showed no other reaction, which was precisely what made it so exasperating!

Shaking his head, Qin Jun stepped forward. His salary was sixty-two.

Since everything followed the regulations, as a level-twenty-one technician and level-three clerk, his monthly salary was sixty-two yuan.

As for the money deducted daily for meals, Qin Jun found a pretext and had it all subsidized back.

Therefore, he still ate every day, and money was still deducted.

However, at the end of the month, there were other subsidies, ensuring that the workers' take-home pay would not decrease.

No matter how much profit was generated, Qin Jun could not pocket it personally, so he naturally did not care about those minor margins.

Since there were exactly thirty people in the factory now, the wage distribution went very quickly.

Once everyone received their money, they began to leave for the day.

Qin Jun walked leisurely along the path outside the village, clutching the sixty-two yuan tightly in his hand.

This money was entirely at his disposal, so the sum he currently held was truly substantial.

Earlier, his eldest sister-in-law had given him eight yuan, and later he made forty from selling kitchen knives and iron pots.

After that, he received half a month's salary in advance, which came to thirty-one yuan.

Now, with the addition of these sixty-two yuan, Qin Jun had a total of one hundred and forty-one yuan in cash.

If he currently possessed a bicycle ticket, he could add a few dozen more yuan and purchase a bicycle.

A bicycle was a major luxury item nowadays, certainly no less prestigious than a modern compact car of later generations.

It took him less than two months to acquire such a major asset.

And this was still with him holding back; if he had sold all the iron pots he made, the cash in his hands would undoubtedly exceed two hundred yuan.

Returning home, Qin Jun hid the money away, then retrieved two bearings from the windowsill.

Zhao Erwa had given these to him this morning, but he hadn't had time to use them during the noon break.

With these two bearings, Qin Jun could assemble a pedal-driven transmission mechanism similar to the pedals on a bicycle.

As long as a belt was connected, this foot-pedal transmission mechanism could drive a fixture to rotate rapidly.

Placing a drill bit into the fixture created a homemade hand drill.

Qin Jun had learned this trick from various short videos.

The videos featured a manual grinding machine primarily used for polishing jade and precious stones.

Naturally, installing a grinding wheel transformed it into a manual grinder.

Adding a drill bit naturally turned it into a drilling machine.

Having prepared the drilling machine, Qin Jun fetched a few iron boots he had recently crafted.

These boot-shaped items were beaten out from thin steel plates.

Now, simply by drilling holes and making a few screws, he could adjust the tightness of the boot shafts—a setup designed to be fixed onto a person's lower legs.

These were the prosthetic limbs Qin Jun was making to help Zhao Erwa and the others.

Naturally, these were not purely steel boots; only the upper part wrapping around the calf resembled a boot, while the lower portion consisted of a steel plate folded into a flattened S-shape.

However, this steel plate was specially designed so that it could actually be tucked inside a shoe, concealing any abnormality from others.

Now equipped with the proper tools, Qin Jun stepped on the foot pedal, causing the main spindle to spin rapidly just like riding a bicycle.

The rotational power drove the belt, which then transmitted the motion to the drill bit, rapidly cutting into the steel plate.

Soon, the first drilled hole appeared, followed by the second and the third.

He drilled three rows of small holes consecutively, totaling six, which required three screws.

Since he hadn't anticipated acquiring the bearings so easily, Qin Jun had not prepared any screws beforehand.

He retrieved some more steel reinforcing bars, which could serve as rod stock.

As for thread-cutting, it was quite simple; Qin Jun had previously made dies and taps.

Since the main spindle also required threading and nuts for fixation, these tools were essential.

A die was a cutting tool used for external threading, primarily made of heat-treated tool steel or high-speed steel.

Cutting internal threads with a tap was called tapping, while cutting external threads with a die was called threading.

These two tools were used to make threaded rods and nuts respectively.

Qin Jun had made plenty of such items in the past, so with the tools on hand, the work went extremely smoothly.

Thus, in just about ten minutes, the appropriate screws were completed.

Next came testing them by mounting them onto a prosthetic leg made from a short section of a wooden log.

This involved questions of comfort, but in order to stand up and walk freely, Zhao Erwa and the others would surely endure any discomfort of having these strapped to their legs, right?

After testing it with a few firm impacts, it felt extremely sturdy and should not fall off while walking.

If worn on a person's leg wrapped in cotton trousers over the flesh, it shouldn't feel too unbearable either.

Having finished one, Qin Jun began making the next.

By the time all three prosthetics were completed, the sky was pitch black.

"Are these prosthetics finished?" At that exact moment, Qin Feng walked through the door.

"All done!" Looking at the items in his hands, Qin Jun felt a twinge of emotion.

If he had suitable tools and proper materials, he wouldn't have made these prosthetics look so crude.

Unfortunately, plastics and similar materials were currently extremely hard to come by, let alone molding them himself—unless he could build an injection molding machine!

Qin Feng certainly had no idea what Qin Jun was thinking; seeing the objects in Qin Jun's hands, he was genuinely stirred.

Having served as a soldier for five years, he naturally understood how vital such items were for disabled veterans.

Before, when Qin Jun's work was incomplete, he hadn't paid much attention, but seeing the finished product now, Qin Feng grew excited.

With gadgets like these, could every person missing a leg stand up again?

Although walking with crutches was possible, it was certainly nowhere near as convenient as freeing both hands and walking like a normal person!

"Actually, these things are quite simple to make, though they require custom tailoring."

Qin Jun naturally knew that many disabled individuals with crippled legs in the countryside at this time could only sit on their beds every day, unable to do anything.

After all, they couldn't even afford a wheelchair.

As for prosthetic limbs, for some reason, it seemed no one had ever thought of them.

Such devices didn't seem to appear in rural areas until after the year 2000.

"Truly wonderful inventions. If these had existed sooner, there wouldn't have been so many disabled men left behind."

Looking at the prosthetics in his hands, Qin Shi wore a complicated expression.

Qin Jun could only feel helpless; this invention was merely a creative idea, and certainly not one he had originated first.

Such devices surely must have existed in cities or within the military long ago.

Qin Jun remembered watching an old movie once about a spy who wore an artificial leg that allowed him to move around normally every day.

An era with spies had to be the 1950s or 1960s.

Prosthetics existed back then, but who cared about disabled people in the countryside?

Ordinary peasants aside, even disabled veterans like Zhao Erwa had never had anyone consider fitting them with prosthetics.

Simple as these prosthetics might look, once fitted and practiced with slightly, they allowed one to walk like a normal person.

For able-bodied men in their thirties, the significance was absolute and profound!

Qin Jun felt only a brief wave of emotion before putting the thought aside.

After all, this was a niche item with limited broader utility.

After making a few minor adjustments, Qin Jun set the three prosthetic limbs aside and left them alone.

Picking up two previously trimmed steel tubes, he quickly nested them together.

The larger tube slid over the smaller one with a flawless, tight fit.

Next, Qin Jun removed the drill bit from the fixture, replacing it this time with a steel pipe.

Treading the foot pedal briskly, the steel pipe began to spin at high speed.

After a brief test, the fixture held it quite securely.

Then Qin Jun installed another fixture onto the workbench, this time securing a cutting blade.

Stepping on the foot pedal once more, he set the steel pipe spinning rapidly.

He then adjusted the cutting blade, bringing it slowly into contact with the high-speed rotating steel pipe.

As the steel pipe spun against the blade, a harsh scraping sound rang out.

Sparks flew wherever the steel pipe met the blade, and the pipe was quickly severed.

"Ha, success! Since it can cut steel pipe, can it also be used to make springs?"

Replacing the steel pipe, he mounted a strip of steel in its place.

With the steel strip spinning, he adjusted the angle of the cutting blade; a slight touch shaved off a twisted strand of steel wire.

He readjusted the angle and position of the blade, then tapped the steel wire lightly, causing it to bend into a small hook.

Adjusting the angle once again, he quickly shaved the steel strip anew.

The steel wire just cut from the steel strip began to spin rapidly.

In no time, it formed a spring seven or eight centimeters long.

He adjusted the blade angle once more to form another small hook.

Then, severing the steel wire from the steel strip, a complete spring was finished.