Chapter 8 Maintenance Worker

  The oil extraction team's conditions, communication completely relied on shouting, and the maintenance worker Old Wu's loud shout was at least equivalent to two knockoff mobile phones playing "Most Dazzling Ethnic Style" simultaneously, with a transmission distance of over 100 meters.

  Su Cheng straightened up and showed an innocent expression: "I see that the screws on the base are loose, I'll tighten them."

  "The screws on the base, have said heads." Old Wu just now was too nervous, after walking over, his tone became calmer, saying: "You're tightening it too much, the donkey's head is going up and down, if this goes on for a long time, won't you loosen other screws? If the screws are loose, the donkey's head will fall off, that would be a big deal."

  He said, pulling out a wrench from his waist, moving forward to hook it onto the screw, twisting and loosening it, but instead let out an "hmm" sound.

  For a mechanic with 20 years of work experience like him, a wrench can tell whether the screw is loose or tight, which is more effective than any testing equipment. The tens of thousands of oil extraction machines in the Victory Oil Field, the inspection tasks of several thousand units per week, and the maintenance tasks of several hundred units are all done by such skilled workers with their hands.

  What puzzled Old Wu was that he clearly saw Su tightening the screw, but when it was his turn to do it himself, the screw's tightness was just right. So he tightened it again and then loosened it.

  As soon as the master made a move, he knew whether it was good or not. Old Wu carefully verified it again and stood up, sighing: "College students are not bad, studying mechanics?"

  "No, just a little." Su Cheng smiled. After completing his internship, he went to find a job and then crossed over to this era, holding the wrench, still feeling quite familiar with it.

  Old Wu didn't think much and said, "It's got some style."

  "What's going on?" Captain Du Wanshan heard the shout and climbed out of the well.

  "The university student can fix the machine, just now the base was loose, and he found out. Old Wu's apprentice is only 17 years old, lively in nature, every day hoping for something to happen, and now he can't wait any longer."

  Dong Wanshan couldn't help but glance at Old Wu.

  The latter nodded and said, "I saw him go around in a circle, put the wrench on the screw, and then shouted a sentence."

  "Even when the machine is stopped, can you tell that the base has loosened?" The old worker present immediately caught the key point.

  Su Cheng smiled stupidly: "I just compared the strings and found that they were biased, so I adjusted them a bit."

  "How did you think of something more than a slingshot?"

  "I see you're all busy, so I just wandered around the sewing machine for a bit, idle." Su Cheng said casually. Checking the thread was an unconscious behavior, but the cultivation of this behavior had undergone systematic training and education.

  In a serious oil extraction machinery maintenance course, products like the old-fashioned beam pumping unit have been studied extensively. For any part that has a problem, there are corresponding inspection items, for example, if the pumping unit is vibrating, it should be checked for impact load, connection screws, base plate or foundation suspension. In 1987, some state-owned enterprises may have had such research results, but generally they were used within their own small circle, and specifically at the grassroots level, relying on the experience judgment of the masters.

  Su Cheng didn't know if there was a systematic maintenance manual now, so he used an excuse instead.

  Lao Wu shook his head and said, "I've been at this station for 20 years, but I didn't think of going to see the bullet train just now."

  "Others are university students." Duan Wanshan wiped his face and went down the well again.

  Lao Wu then called out to Su Cheng and said: "Come on, let's go check the gearbox together."

  As he spoke, he lifted the oil pan of the gearbox and took out what was inside.

  In the large box, lubricating oil and crude oil are mixed together, and underneath, there are faintly visible rags, sand, stones, and bricks.

  "What's with the brick?" Su Cheng was suddenly flustered.

  "This is not enough oil surface, throw something in to raise the liquid level, last time Xiao Hei happened to pick up two bricks..." Old Wu said very naturally.

  "Is it you who lost it?"

  "That's not nonsense."

  "What's with the rag and crude oil in there?" Su Cheng took a stick and stirred it around in the gearbox for a couple of times. No wonder the Shengli oil pump is easy to maintain, the gears work in this environment for over a decade, and the good lubrication from the oil bath has turned into a Gobi Desert wash."

  Lao Wu's apprentice, Xiao Hei, chuckled and said, "I'm also the one who poured it."

  "For raising liquid level?"

  Afraid of stealing. Xiao Hei said very simply.

  The 1980s was the time when oil thieves just started to appear, but it was also the most rampant period. Throughout the entire Bohai Bay area, there were local oil thieves and outsiders who stole oil. Lubricating oil was a very expensive thing, if sold in stores, one kilogram of lubricating oil could be exchanged for two kilograms of vegetable oil. In the oil fields, tens of thousands of oil extraction machines, it was not difficult for people to steal them. If lubricating oil was mixed with crude oil, it would lose its value, although the gearbox would suffer some wear and tear, but compared to the damage caused by stealing oil, it was much less.

  Old Wu brought down the oil surface and asked: "Take a look at this gear, how is it?"

  "No wear and tear, no pitting or flaking... " Little Hei let out a strange "hmm" sound, saying: "This is weird, the gears are fine, but the gearbox won't turn smoothly."

  Su Cheng recalled what he had learned, but his eyes were fixed on the axle.

  Lao Wu had been paying attention to him all along, and now a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he said, "Little Su, speak up."

  "It's the drive shaft. Since there are no broken teeth, it must be that the intermediate shaft's driven wheel and shaft fastener came loose." Su Cheng didn't actually take any measurements, but rather made a judgment based entirely on his book knowledge.

  Xiao Hei immediately went to check and indeed found the loose part, exclaiming in surprise: "How did you know?"

  Su Cheng shrugged, not knowing how to explain. This kind of maintenance method is actually very common, for example, telecommunications network engineers can guide users to solve problems over the phone. Zooming in on factory equipment, a video conference can save several plane tickets.

  They actually didn't have high skills, but did well in standard procedures.

  Mature products should have mature maintenance manuals, analyzing all possibilities based on representation and then conducting exclusion screening. However, China at this stage did not pursue single-person efficiency and did not have the energy to put time into worker training. Masters teaching apprentices often produced highly skilled and insightful senior workers, but it would take a long time.

  Lao Wu didn't care where Su Cheng learned his skills, with a hand stained with engine oil, he patted him on the shoulder and laughed: "Our team has made a profit, we've got a big catch!"

  ……