Chapter 273: Smelting And Drawing Wire
In the rainy night, the leaping firelight illuminated her face. “Can, why is this metal plate buried underground?”
Feng Qingcheng quietly watched her. He saw her carefully and cautiously install the copper needle onto an iron frame, then use copper wire, aluminum wire, and other things to make a thick long line, and connect it to a metal plate, saying it should be buried underground.
Commander He actually had quite a lot of these ironware, copperware, and even aluminumware.
She guessed it was from him usually picking up those ore and smelting them to make things!
“This is the function of conductivity. After the needle tip absorbs the electricity that has contacted the electric layer, it transmits it through this wire to the iron plate and then diffuses it underground, so it won’t be struck by lightning!”
“But… we’re standing on the ground. Won’t there be electricity underground? Could it electrocute people to death?”
Feng Qingcheng pondered, stamped on the ground, and thought, is the underground usually electrified too?
“No, because the soil and water underground are very good conductors. After they contact electricity, it will disperse very quickly immediately, and it won’t affect people.”
After she finished making the Thunder Needle, she looked around and chose a higher place. On top of this cliff face where they were sheltering from the rain, Bu Wei flew up, buried the iron plate as required, and set up the iron frame.
Sure enough, after burying it, this open space on the mountain peak was not struck by lightning even once.
Commander He no longer jumped up to dodge lightning! He was astonished; a small needle actually had such great use.
He was also full of energy. He covered the spiral iron frame with things to block the rainwater.
Mysteriously, he added some of his special potion and dripped it on that tungsten stone!
Then after waiting a moment, he ground it into powder form, and carefully used a small broom to collect them together!
“Hehe, Xiao Xi, right?”
“Xiao Xi, look, this tungsten ore has been ground and purified. You really found the right person. This stone is hard; nowhere else has the utensils I make, and the impurities are filtered cleanly!”
Usually, he also used this thing to filter impurities in iron ore, aluminum ore, and such!
Li Xi’er saw that he had purified the tungsten powder very well, took it and grabbed some to look at it. Very fine particles.
Her eyes flashed with determination. “Thank you for Commander He’s help. Now it’s about considering how to make it into tungsten filament!”
“Tungsten filament? Piece of cake!”
“Mm, my requirement is quite strict. It needs to be very fine tungsten filament, like feathers!”
Commander He hesitated. Very fine?
“Cough… No problem!”
Tungsten filament is nothing more than melting this purified tungsten powder and then making it into filament!
Making it into filament requires wire-drawing technology, which he can handle, but her requirements are so high, how is he going to do it?
“Actually, Xiao Xi, I have a question. For your light bulb, as long as it has tungsten filament, it’s done. Why does it have to be so fine?”
While they weren’t paying attention, he secretly anxiously scratched the back of his head!
This is superfluous effort. Wire-drawing is already challenging enough for him, and it has to be as fine as feathers—too much trouble!
“This will have better conductivity, uniformity, and aesthetics!”
“Alright, trust me!”
Commander He waved his big sleeve, swearing confidently. This Xiao Xi knows more than him. Recalling that generator just now, he can’t let her doubt his ability; he must have her take him along!
Unfortunately, he met someone with even higher and more meticulous requirements than him!
Now, it was time to use his smelting furnace. With a serious face, he led the three of them to a cave next door to the cliff face. Inside, it was a whole other world!
This turned out to be a smelting place, with a large boiler placed inside, bottles and jars in the small holes in the mountain body, and some operating utensils on the large wooden racks. She spotted the wire-drawing die at a glance!
She didn’t know what wire he usually drew with this? Probably iron wire, copper wire. Otherwise, where did the wires in her conductor line come from earlier?
And various knives he made, battle axes, a row of iron hammers of different sizes and such—some good, some damaged!
On the ground nearby, there were two or three stone pits, and beside them a large stone slab for hammering. Underground water flowed through the stone pits. It was truly a hidden gem, an eye-opener.
No wonder he doesn’t go back. This place is perfect for refining things; where else to find such a suitable spot?
He lit the fire in the boiler, burning to nearly a thousand degrees probably, because the entire cave was unusually scorching. Luckily it was inside the rock, otherwise a fire would be hard to say!
Li Xi’er saw a knife placed nearby, picked it up and touched it—extremely sharp. “Don’t touch!”
Suddenly, Commander He turned his head and sternly scolded.
“In this place, you can come in, but you can’t touch any things!”
“Otherwise, please leave!” he then said coldly.
“Okay!”
Feng Qingcheng softly comforted her: “Commander He has a quirky temper; don’t stoop to his level!”
“Hehe, what do you take me for? I’m not that petty!”
Geniuses all have eccentric personalities!
Li Xi’er chuckled lightly and continued to watch Commander He’s wire-drawing process!
“I usually don’t show this process to others, but you guys…” He glanced at Li Xi’er and said indifferently,
“Today will be a special exception!”
He was also scheming; he was very curious about everything Li Xi’er knew. With her here, maybe she could give him good advice!
While talking, he dumped all the tungsten powder into the smelting furnace for high-temperature smelting all at once!
Li Xi’er “ah”ed, not having time to stop him before it was already too late!
“Commander He, what are you doing?”
Commander He looked innocent: “Just wait confidently. Soon you’ll get fine tungsten filament!”
Seeing them wait a while and get a bit tired, he muttered to himself, “I smelted this tungsten ore last time; it needs extremely high temperature to melt!”
Li Xi’er nodded. Tungsten powder has high melting point, high strength, high conductivity, high corrosion resistance—these are its characteristics.
It requires extremely high craftsmanship and wire-drawing equipment.
Luckily, this Commander He has it.
When he poured the liquid into the mold, the wire-drawing and cooling were masterful, but unfortunately, the drawn filament wasn’t uniform enough, the thickness didn’t meet the standard, and it was deformed and prone to breaking.
“This, this is already the limit to achieve this!” Commander He’s face flushed red, afraid Li Xi’er would say it didn’t meet the standard.
Anyway, the tungsten powder was already used up; no chance for him to regret!
“Was that tungsten powder just now all used up?”
Commander He was dead set, stubbornly saying: “This is already the best tungsten filament. Don’t deliberately find fault! In this world, no one except me can smelt such good tungsten filament!”
He wasn’t wrong, because no one even tries to smelt this thing!
Seeing Li Xi’er silent for a long time with a somber face, Commander He felt guilty and suddenly looked like a child who made a mistake. “I dumped it all in!”
Li Xi’er was thinking what exactly could make it more flexible?
This definitely needs a bit of lubricant!
She remembered what it was—a little bit, just a little bit more and she could recall it!
