The next day.
Fang Bai woke up early in the morning, first recalled the knowledge points he memorized last night to strengthen his memory, then got up to rinse his mouth and brush his teeth, went out to buy breakfast, and began to review his homework.
He left at nine in the morning, cycled around the rental house for a long time, and finally found a mechanical equipment repair shop.
The boss was the repairman, Chen Fumin, about 40 years old, and his own shop had bearing disassembly tools.
Fang Bai described the problem clearly, and Master Chen said he needed to see the item first to know if it could be repaired.
A few minutes later, Fang Bai brought Master Chen to the shop. After opening the door, he pointed to the Morse taper No. 5 spindle on the ground: "Master Chen, can this bearing be removed?
The main shaft cannot be damaged. There will be a lot of this kind of work in the future. If you do it well, I will specifically look for you."
Master Chen glanced at the main shaft and said confidently, "Boss, no problem. I often disassemble and assemble bearings, and I guarantee not to damage the main shaft."
"It's good if it can be repaired. Plus the replacement of new bearings, how much will this repair cost?"
"The bearing is difficult to remove, and installation is also quite troublesome. I have to boil oil to soak the bearing. Does that include putting the main shaft back?"
Fang Bai thought for a moment, it would be even better if he didn't have to do it himself, saving him from getting dirty, so he said, "Together."
"That's estimated to take most of the day, it'll be fifteen yuan."
"Okay."
Fang Bai took out another cigarette and handed it to him. Running his own shop and making money would definitely be much higher than working for someone else.
Master Chen saw that the deal was made, took the cigarette, and smiled, "Then I'll go back and get some tools, and boil some oil. It might take a little longer."
More than twenty minutes later, Master Chen returned, with some tools and half a bucket of hot oil on his tricycle.
Fang Bai had nothing to do, so he took a stool and sat beside him, not needing to help, just watching how he replaced it, occasionally flipping through his English book and memorizing words.
Master Chen first soaked the new bearing in hot oil, then took out a self-made bearing puller from his vehicle.
Three pull rods were inserted into the inner ring of the bearing, and with a 180-degree rotation, they were clamped securely. The tool had a bolt connected to the main shaft's threaded hole. After fixing the frame, the subsequent operation principle was somewhat similar to a wine bottle opener, pulling the bearing out of the main shaft little by little.
About twenty minutes later, several bearings were pulled off.
Next, after cleaning the main shaft, he began to replace the bearings.
Installing the bearings onto the main shaft used the hot mounting method, which is the principle of thermal expansion and contraction.
There is no clearance in the fit between the bearing and the main shaft. After heating the bearing, the bearing ring expands, making it easy to put onto the main shaft.
The hot oil Master Chen brought was used to soak the bearings. By the time he removed the old bearings, the new bearings had been heated sufficiently.
The temperature could not be too high, otherwise the inside of the bearing would deform and become unusable.
Hot mounting bearings was much more convenient than disassembling them. In just over ten minutes, 5 bearings were replaced.
Fang Bai watched Master Chen's familiar operation and clear logical process, knowing that he did this kind of work frequently.
The subsequent assembly was much simpler. It was repaired in about ten minutes. Fang Bai used his Golden Finger to test it, and it showed that the main shaft bearing was green, indicating that there were no problems.
He powered it on and started it up, and there were no issues.
"Master Chen, thank you for your hard work. I'll look for you again if there's work in the future."
Fang Bai pulled out two banknotes and gave them to him, then slipped him a pack of cigarettes, which made him a bit embarrassed.
Master Chen politely said, "Boss, you're too kind. As long as there's work, just say the word."
"Alright, maybe I'll be looking for you in a few days." Fang Bai had an idea, but he decided to deal with the current equipment first before discussing it in detail with him.
Master Chen maintained a lot of equipment and must have met many bosses, so he definitely had a lot of information in this regard.
"No problem, no problem."
"Master Chen, do you know about second-hand machine tools? What's the approximate price for a machine like mine if it's not faulty?"
"I know a bit. I need to check it first."
Master Chen first checked the equipment condition, then briefly operated it to understand its performance.
After a few minutes, he finished checking and said, "Between ten thousand and thirteen thousand, depending on whether the buyer is in a hurry."
For the sake of a pack of cigarettes, Master Chen also told the truth, and besides, he didn't have the capital to buy it.
Fang Bai nodded, "Hmm, that's true."
"Boss, are you planning to resell it?"
"I'm thinking about it, depends on the transaction price. If you have a channel and can sell it, I can give you a one percent referral fee, valid only for these two days."
Master Chen was silent for a moment, feeling that there was money to be made, and also felt that Fang Bai, this young man, was generous with money, so he said, "Okay, I'll bring a boss over to take a look this afternoon."
"That's fine, my name is Fang Bai, and I'll be in the shop this afternoon," Fang Bai said.
...
2:30 PM,
Master Chen indeed brought a middle-aged man to see the equipment. After inspecting it, he only offered 10,000 yuan. Fang Bai didn't sell it, saying he would consider it.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, Master Chen brought another boss over, who offered 11,000 yuan.
This price was a bit off Fang Bai's target price, but still acceptable. He shook hands with the customer to probe for information, detecting that the highest acceptable price was 12,000, but the customer wanted to look around more, and the down payment was only 6,000, intending to pay the balance after using it for a period and confirming there were no problems. Fang Bai, of course, did not accept this payment method.
The bosses Master Chen found were all from small workshops, with limited funds, and they bargained quite hard.
Fang Bai quoted 12,000, requesting a one-time payment.
Time is also money. Funds circulate to earn more. Fang Bai naturally understood this principle. He planned to find Wang Hengli tomorrow to see if he had ordered new equipment. If not, there was still a chance.
Of course, it also depended on how much he offered. He certainly wouldn't sell it to him for less.
The next day, nine in the morning.
Fang Bai arrived at Hengli Company and found Wang Hengli again. He first shook his hand as a formality, then sat opposite him and asked directly:
"General Manager Wang, you haven't bought a new drilling machine yet, have you?"
"Not yet, it'll take a month or so, it's really a headache," Wang Hengli, with his chubby body, sat on the sofa like a worried Maitreya Buddha.
"Have you paid the deposit yet?"
"In a couple of days."
Fang Bai clapped his hands in surprise: "Oh, then I've come at just the right time!
The equipment I bought from you two days ago, I had the main spare parts replaced, and it's finally repaired, almost like new.
I was just about to sell it to someone else, and it occurred to me that General Manager Wang, your production capacity has been lagging recently, precisely because you lack a drilling machine."
"You repaired that drilling machine? So fast?"
"Yes, there are no problems at all. See if you're interested, otherwise I'll sell it to someone else."
Wang Hengli's mind didn't immediately turn around. He sold the equipment two days ago, and now someone repaired it and was selling it back to him. What kind of bizarre operation was this?
He sat up straight, carefully scrutinizing Fang Bai, who was smiling and drinking tea. He felt as if he had been tricked.
Of course, to put it another way, he wasn't entirely against it. Buying new equipment would cost twenty to thirty thousand, and the main issue was the waiting time. That's why he had also checked the second-hand market these past two days, but it was really hard to find something suitable.
After a moment of hesitation, he said to Fang Bai, "Let's take a look first. Where is the equipment?"
Fang Bai said, "It's right next to Oubei No. 1 Middle School."
"You said it was nearby two days ago."
Wang Hengli suddenly remembered Fang Bai's words from the other day, asking the forklift master to help him deliver the equipment, saying it wasn't far, just nearby. He had thought it was within three or four hundred meters of his company.
Where was this nearby? It was two or three kilometers away!
Thinking of this, he frowned.
Fang Bai knew Wang Hengli was complaining, so he smiled cheekily, "I didn't say anything wrong, it is nearby. It only takes me a moment to cycle there, it's not dozens of kilometers."
Wang Hengli heard this, rolled his eyes, looked at the ceiling, and was somewhat speechless.
After a brief silence, feeling somewhat helpless, he slapped his thigh and stood up: "Let's go then."
The two left the office. Wang Hengli went to the workshop and called Ma Jingsen and a driller, asking them to bring some iron plates and calipers to test the equipment's condition.
When Ma Jingsen and the driller saw it was Fang Bai, they realized that the equipment to be tested was the drilling machine the company had sold two days ago, and that it had supposedly been repaired.
This stunned the two of them.
But they couldn't say anything. They put the plates in the boss's car trunk, then got into the boss's Santana sedan and set off together.
Fang Bai cycled ahead, leading the way, pedaling hard.
Ma Jingsen sat in the passenger seat, watching Fang Bai pedal so cheerfully, and felt a complicated mix of emotions: What kind of game was this?
What kind of operation was this?
Taking the equipment back, repairing it, and then selling it back to the original boss—Ma Jingsen felt his own skin wasn't thick enough for such an operation.
On one hand, he hoped Fang Bai wouldn't make much money, but on the other hand, he hoped the equipment was repaired, to solve the production problem sooner, as it had been troubling him recently.