You may have seen electric welding, but have you seen electric welding patterns arranged neatly like fish scales?
In the welding training field of Henan Chemical Institute, a series of finely welded metal components are displayed.
These are by no means mere showpieces. If they are inspected with X-rays, the internal structure is as exquisite as the external appearance: no defects or air bubbles, capable of withstanding pressures at the “megapascal” level—this requires the welders to have exceptional skills.
This technology has wide-ranging applications. The most typical one is for welding pressure vessels. For example, the gas pipelines in chemical plants require this kind of welding technology to ensure safety. In addition to gas pressure, these techniques also withstand extreme conditions such as water pressure and gravitational pressure.
Coach Zhao Weipeng told Nanfeng Window that a friend asked him to find a skilled welder, offering a daily wage of 1,200 yuan.
When He Jiangtao first entered the chemical institute, he realized through hands-on training that being a fitter seemed simple but had a profound underlying knowledge.
Grinding and filing are fundamental skills. At that time, the teacher asked him to grind an iron block for two weeks, but he found that the materials and tools just wouldn’t cooperate. He tried to saw the material into a straight line but ended up breaking several saw blades, and it still ended up crooked and uneven; he couldn’t file the material evenly no matter what. He worked up a sweat but achieved only half the result.
It was only after the teacher explained that he realized his posture and the part he was working on were both wrong.
Now, He Jiangtao is no longer the beginner he once was. After two years of intense training, he can tackle more complex “industrial control” problems.
From his sense of a pair of pliers, one can see a glimpse. He brought out two pairs of pliers and asked the reporter to try them and guess which one was better and which one was bought for 60 yuan and which one for 1,600 yuan.
It’s too difficult for laypeople to discern, but He Jiangtao is well aware of the difference. “With just this one tool, with this squeezing motion, in one competition, we have to squeeze it around seven or eight hundred times, and we can feel that this one (jaw) will get stuck.”
Only by being immersed in it can one understand that mastering a skill is never simple.
