Another World Metal Factory

Chapter 19

The Factory Manager, having returned to the factory, began drawing figures and diagrams on paper and blueprints again.

“So why didn’t you bring the pot?”

“What would I do with a cracked pot? She asked me to make a new one.”

“Hee. It’s a surprise the Factory Manager accepted a commission. So how much did you agree on?”

To Channing’s question, the Factory Manager put a pencil behind his ear, tapped on the calculator, and replied.

“2 months worth of meals.”

“What?!”

Channing was so surprised that he turned his head towards the Red Rooster.

“Oh my goodness. Did Chelline Plack actually agree to that?”

Channing was so surprised that he asked again, using Chelline’s full name, and the Factory Manager replied while writing the numbers from the calculator onto the blueprint.

“To be precise, it was Oscar who agreed. But well, since Chelline approved it, it’s fine. Hey Channing! Go get the 5T stainless steel plate. The biggest one.”

Channing nodded and brought the huge steel plate to the workbench and laid it down.

“I’m going to cut this and make a pot.”

“With this?”

“Yeah.”

The Factory Manager started marking the steel plate with a T-ruler and a permanent marker.

He placed a drill chuck on the steel plate, tapped it with a hammer to make a small dent, then tied a permanent marker to a string, connected the string to an awl, and spun it around to draw a circle on the steel plate.

“Okay. Cut it like this. Channing. Roughly cut it with the plasma cutter and grind it down to this line. I’ll go to the warehouse.”

“Okay. I guess you’re going to weld this and make a pot. Got it.”

Channing went to get the plasma cutter, and the Factory Manager headed to the warehouse.

Channing connected the plasma cutter and put on his protective mask. As he brought the cutter to the steel plate, sparks flew out with a bright light.

After cutting the square shape first, Channing started to cut the circular shape. There were two circular plates. They were different sizes. One was a little smaller.

Channing first roughly cut with the plasma cutter. Then he turned on the belt sander, placed it on the table, and carefully ground the cut surface. He had done this many times, so it wasn’t difficult at all.

Circles were a bit difficult to grind neatly. Therefore, he had to rotate it carefully and grind it well.

The Factory Manager did it so easily, but since Channing couldn’t do it that well yet, he ground it as carefully as possible.

“Are you done grinding?”

The Factory Manager approached Channing, who was carefully grinding the small circular plate, and asked, and Channing replied while looking at the plate.

“Roughly, for one.”

“I should have bought a large laser cutting machine… Hmm. The one we have is too small…”

The Factory Manager said, examining the circular plate Channing handed him, and Channing picked up the other circular plate and started grinding it again.

Meanwhile, the Factory Manager turned on the bending machine and adjusted the settings. This was to roll the plate and make a cylinder. As he pushed the steel plate into the bending machine, the steel plate slowly curled into a cylindrical shape.

“I’m going to weld this, so focus on grinding that well.”

The Factory Manager shouted and prepared for TIG welding.

After securing the cylinder firmly on the floor, the Factory Manager marked spots here and there to set the position.

Since he had to make it into a pot, he had to weld it carefully and sturdily, so he took a proper position and started welding.

With a bright light, the gap between the steel plates was welded. The Factory Manager’s skillful hand movements as he welded were flawless.

A little while later, a perfect circular pipe was completed.

“It’s definitely big.”

“The diameter is 60cm, and the height is 50cm. Roughly 100 liters. Okay. Bring the small circular plate. I need to weld that too.”

“Should I do it?”

Channing asked as he handed over the circular plate, and the Factory Manager shook his head.

“No. I have to do this. If this welding goes wrong, we’re in big trouble. It’s still too early to leave it to you.”

The Factory Manager stood the cylinder upright, carefully placed the circular plate on top, and started welding.

As before, after spot welding in a few places, the Factory Manager started to neatly weld the seam. It wasn’t an easy process as he had to weld in a circular motion, but he welded it cleanly in an instant.

“Ah. Channing! Go get a 5T 50mm stainless steel flat bar and cut it into the shape written on this paper.”

The Factory Manager took out the blueprint he had put in his pocket and handed it to Channing, and Channing checked the dimensions on the blueprint. It was to cut ㄱ-shaped grooves in a total of four places.

It wasn’t a very difficult process, so Channing placed the blueprint on the workbench, went to the corner, brought the 50mm flat bar, and laid it down.

After drawing the ㄱ-shaped groove on it using a ruler, Channing made a dent in the corner by tapping a drill chuck with a hammer.

“Factory Manager. Do I just need to make the groove like this?”

“Yeah. For now. Finish it well.”

Channing nodded and went to the drilling machine and clamped the flat bar.

Using the drilling machine, Channing drilled holes in the corners of the ㄱ-shape where he had made dents beforehand and checked the drilled holes.

Then, holding the flat bar, he turned on the bandsaw machine next to him. It was a machine that cut by rotating a circular saw blade at high speed.

With the sound of the motor running, the thin saw blade began to move at high speed. Channing carefully cut the steel along the marked lines.

Since there was a lot of frictional heat, he occasionally sprayed cutting oil with a plastic bottle and cut out four ㄱ-shaped pieces. Finally, he fixed the flat bar on the workbench and carefully smoothed the cut parts with a file.

After smoothing out all the sharp parts, Channing went to the Factory Manager with a bright smile, holding the flat bar. The Factory Manager had finished the external welding and was welding the inside of the cylinder.

Even though it was a large size, it was quite difficult to weld the inside of a 60cm diameter, 50cm deep cylinder, so the Factory Manager carefully rotated the cylinder and welded little by little.

After that, he marked here and there using a tape measure and welded pieces of angle iron cut to size in a total of four places. Four protrusions stuck out from the cylinder.

“I’m done.”

“Let me see.”

Putting down the welding machine and opening his protective mask, the Factory Manager carefully examined the flat bar that Channing handed him.

“It’s clean. Good. Then roll this with the bending machine.”

“Okay.”

Channing took the flat bar with a bright smile, and the Factory Manager finished the welding.

He stood the cylinder upright and waited for a while, and Channing came over with the rolled flat bar.

“Should I weld this?”

The Factory Manager shook his head and took the part and clamped it in a vise.

“If it was just a simple pot, I would have left it to you, but I have to do this. It’ll be a big problem if there’s a welding defect.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to make. And what do you mean by a defect?”

The Factory Manager put on his protective mask, welded the rolled flat bar, and opened his mouth.

“There are many things. I explained that welding is melting and joining metal, right?”

“Yes.”

“Incomplete penetration where parts aren’t properly joined, overlap where the weld metal is just layered on the base metal without proper fusion, undercut where it penetrates too deeply and the base metal is gouged out, blowholes where air bubbles form inside the weld metal… There are many if you list them all. And if any of those happen with this, boom!”

Channing was startled and stepped back because the Factory Manager suddenly shouted loudly. Seeing that, the Factory Manager laughed loudly and smiled.

“It could explode. So you have to be careful. Okay! Give me the circular plate!”

Channing frowned slightly and handed over the circular plate. He knew his skills were inferior to the Factory Manager’s, but he felt a little offended when he spoke like that.

However, seeing the Factory Manager’s hand welding with such excellent skill, he understood what the Factory Manager meant.

The Factory Manager finished welding neatly and welded the inside as well to finish it sturdily. Then, when he put the lid on the pre-welded lower cylinder, it fit perfectly.

The pre-attached protrusions fit neatly into the grooves on the lid.

“Oh!”

“The calculations weren’t wrong. My head is still working.”

Channing was amazed to see it fit perfectly, and the Factory Manager smiled.

“Oh dear! I forgot! Channing! Bring me the calculator and paper!”

Suddenly, the Factory Manager shouted, and Channing hurriedly brought the calculator and paper from the workbench.

The Factory Manager took a pencil out of his pocket, wrote on the paper, tapped on the calculator, and then hit his head.

“How stupid! I forgot one thing. Channing! Go get a 5T 30mm flat bar, cut it to this size, bend it, and weld it.”

Channing nodded and took the paper. It was a simple process of cutting, bending, and welding the flat bar, so he made the item in no time.

When he brought the circular ring he made to the Factory Manager, the Factory Manager turned the lid upside down and put the circular ring inside.

He inserted pieces of 5T flat bar around it to align it and beckoned to Channing.

“Channing. Try welding this inside carefully. Can you do it?”

“Yes! Of course! I can do TIG welding too after practicing!”

Channing answered quickly, and the Factory Manager patted him on the shoulder and handed him the welding machine.

“Good. Do that, and weld the D-shaped handle where I marked with a pen.”

“Okay!”

At Channing’s clear answer, the Factory Manager nodded and walked to the corner of the factory and started rummaging through the parts bin, and Channing carefully started welding.

He put in as much effort as possible, hoping to be praised for doing it right. It was the same method as the Factory Manager, spot welding in a few places and then continuing the weld.

Although it wasn’t as clean a ripple pattern as the Factory Manager’s, a somewhat decent ripple pattern appeared, making Channing feel a little better.

TIG welding was quite difficult compared to regular welding, so Channing had been scolded a lot by the Factory Manager while practicing. Channing hummed, feeling like his efforts had finally paid off.

After welding another circular ring in the center of the lid, Channing removed all the flat bars he had inserted to align it and looked around.

The appearance of the welding surface, which was neat considering he had done it, was revealed.

“You did a good job.”

The Factory Manager, who had been making something with a flat bar, praised the welding surface, and Channing smiled brightly and nodded.

“I’m pretty good too.”

“Yes. It’s a relief that you at least pretend to do it when I teach you. Weld the handle. Use the electric welder for that.”

Channing took the handle and the cylinder that were on the workbench and headed to where the electric welder was.

After placing the cylinder and holding the handle, Channing brought the welding rod to it and started welding, and the Factory Manager marked the circular lid with a ruler, placed the pre-cut flat bar on it, and welded it.

A U-shaped groove was carved into the square-shaped flat bar. Two of these flat bars protruded from the side of the lid.

The Factory Manager drilled a hole on one side of the lid and connected a valve that could be turned to open and close and a pipe that protruded.

He inserted a pre-prepared circular rubber ring into the groove that Channing had welded, and finished by welding two D-shaped handles that could be lifted onto the lid.

“I finished welding the handle and smoothed the welded parts.”

Channing brought the welded cylinder to the workbench and placed it, and the Factory Manager placed the lid on top.

“Oh! Is it finished?”

“No. Not yet. We need to make a locking mechanism.”

What the Factory Manager brought looked like a bolt and a nut.

However, the bolt part was round with pins protruding from both sides, and the pins were inserted into a D-shaped metal piece so that it could rotate.

A long handle was attached vertically to the head of the nut.

“Uh… how do you fix that?”

The Factory Manager marked the cylinder with a ruler and then handed the bolt part to Channing.

“Okay. Hold it carefully against the marked spot.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Channing quickly held the bolt part in place, and the Factory Manager spot-welded it like he was applying moxibustion, then had Channing remove his hand and finished the welding.

After finishing the welding on both ends and tightening the nut onto the bolt, the Factory Manager stood it upright and inserted the nut welded to the lid into the groove and turned it.

“This is how you tightly fasten it.”

“Uh… why do you fasten the lid so tightly?”

“To increase the pressure inside the pot.”

“Pressure? What’s that?”

The Factory Manager was momentarily speechless at Channing’s question. Realizing that this world didn’t have such a concept, the Factory Manager thought for a moment and started to explain.

“So, pressure is like compressing tightly.”

“Like squeezing juice or oil?”

“Well, it’s similar. This is roughly compressing air, and when the pressure gets high like that, meat and vegetables cook faster. It shortens the cooking time.”

Channing made a subtle expression, unsure if he understood or not.

“Roughly speaking, it makes cooking faster.”

“Wow! That’s amazing.”

Channing reacted a beat late, and the Factory Manager sighed and put a weight on the pipe protruding next to the valve.

“What’s that?”

“As the food cooks and the pressure increases, this weight will start to shake and make a hissing sound. You adjust the heat based on that.”

“Hee… That’s amazing. You can tell if the food is cooked by listening to the sound.”

“Well, that’s true, but you still need to use your intuition and figure things out. Okay. Then go call Illia.”

At the Factory Manager’s words, Channing went to the backyard and brought Illia.

“Did you call me?”

“Ah. Illia. Can you clean this thoroughly? It’s big and heavy, so be careful. Channing. Help her.”

“Okay. Got it. Illia. Bring a sponge and detergent. I’ll go to the sink first. Ugh… this is heavy.”

Channing said as he moved the pot, and Illia nodded and ran to the kitchen.