Next day Raymond woke up at 5 in the morning. He slept in the apprentice shed. This is where he slept for the last 7 years.
He looked around the familiar room. It was a three beded shared room and there is 3 study tables beside each bed. This was there personal space. He has kept most of his drawings and blueprint here and he has a habit of keeping a personal dairy. It was his first thing to do when he wakes up.
He sat down and wrote down everything that happened yesterday. He scrubbed some notes and things for future. After he was done with it he went and took a bath. There was already hot water waiting for him. It must be the other apprentice. Thanking him in his heart he finished bathing.
The morning was cold and quiet most people are still in bed. Quite different from the village where farmers had to wake up early than 5.
The temperature must be around 1 or 2 degrees Celsius and there was fog everywhere.
Opposite to masters house the 2 tents was lit up. There were already some people bussing around. It looks like they have also woken up.
He was observing the tent and thought. Most people in this era is still based on agriculture. The industrial era has not kicked in.
This is a good and a bad thing as there are lots of things he can make money of but he can't have the basics living standards till then. It's gonna take a while. He thought.
Raymond went behind master Smiths house. Madame Smith was already cooking and had food ready.
"Good morning Raymond." She called out
"Good morning madam" he replied. Usually madam won't talk too much with the apprentice but after yesterday things have changed. He was being treated much better.
She has prepared meat stew and hot buns. These buns are much softer and fluffier. It's his Raymond's first time eating a soft bun after transmigration. It was delicious.
"It's tastes so good madam." Raymond said
"Thank you Raymond the stew was made by Emily you should thank her" she smiled and replied.
"Mmm definitely." Replied Raymond
"Is master awake?" Raymond asked
"Yes he is. He went over to the inspectors tent. He will be back shortly" madam replied
"Ok" Raymond continued eating. It was around 6 when he finished eating his full. Then he walked inside the the workshop.
The inside was warmer than the outside. The forge was already lit and the forging table looks ready. He went over the table and looked over the cutting tool he have probably yesterday first it was quenched and ready for polishing.
Today he is gonna start with polishing this first as he needs sharp blades to carve everything. Then he went over to see the other pieces which was annealed.
There were few metal pieces laying on the wood surface it was wrought iron that was case hardened . It was in different size and shape ranging from thin blades to big chisel. He picked them up and observed. There was no cracking or any flows. This looks good. He thought. But it is brittle and can't be used as of now he still has to process it.
Then he went over to the other side of the workshop. There layed a big table that was made of heavy lumber. This was gonna be the bed for the lathe. The surface was planned to human limits. It was a masterpiece.
Master Smith ordered this from a wood working workshop through his connections. All of the wooden parts were made from there to accurate dimensions. They were almost ready to be put in place.
The main components are the head stock, tail stock, the flat bed, the Chuck and all other necessary parts.
Today his job is to make the rest of the parts that are made from iron mainly the main screw, the gears, half nut, tool post.
He put on his leather apron and gloves. And prepare everything. Soon master and other 2 came in. Greating him.
Master Smith called out. " Good morning Raymond did you had good sleep."
"Good morning master Smith, yes I had a good sleep I slept like a baby." Raymond replied
He greated Mr Norton and William too. They greated back and exchanged pleasantries.
Soon master Smith said.
"Since everyone is ready we should get started" everyone agreed.
Raymond nodded to everyone and and made his way towards the tool cutter. He slowly heated them all to a warmer temperature then he prepared a barrel full of water for quenching. He first sharpened the pieces then heated the first blade to pale straw yellow and dipped it in the water quickly. He repeated this process for all the pieces. Soon he had a very hard cutting blades.
This process is called tempering. As the case hardened metal is brittle and high in carbon content. With tempering he sacrifices a bit of the hardened for much higher strength. Now he has the perfect blade for carving other tools.
Raymond took the flat piece of metal that he prepared yesterday to make gears. He took a devider and straight edge and started sketching out the gear.
For now he is going to make 4 gears
3 twenty tooth gear and 1 forty tooth gear. This will give him enough versatility in making threads in the lathe.
Since he is going to carve 4 threads per inch on to the main screw. With this set of gears he can achieve 8 tpi, 4tpi, 2 tpi and reverse thread. With this basic set he can make most of the screw ranging from thick bolts to thin precise screws. For today his main goal is to make screw for a knights armor.
He precisely sketched out for gears on the blank he prepared yesterday and he started to carve them out. His main tools are chisel, hard pointy knife, file, and a bow drill. It was a long and tiring process but a crucial one.
Mr Norton and William was observing Raymond work and they were inspecting every everything he is making. The went over to the iron parts he prepared the wooden bed and his tools.
Master was briefing then of everything Raymond is doing and what all processes he completed. They were fascinated and intrigued by everything they saw. Mr Norton has witnessed many miracles but this was his first time seeing such a thing. The process was strictly controlled and predicted as if he knew what is going to happen to the metal.
He was still puzzled how he was about to forge such a big billet out of the the forge. He was keeping a tab of how many kilos of charcoal and iron was added into the furnace and by usual standard the output would be around 5 - 6 kilos of iron but this forge produced almost 3 times . This was a shock to him
He asked master Smith about the forging process and was there any breakthrough because this was a huge deal to the country. If this was shared with the guild the iron production will drastically increase this will increase this nations power.
He was told there was a breakthrough in smelting but it was invented by Raymond. So he can't disclose it without his permission.
Mr Norton was disappointed but he still hopes he can talk to Raymond about this. And maybe make it up to him for what happened in the past.
Soon it was afternoon and Willam was getting bored because he was looking at Raymond grinding gear with hands for hours it was almost 6 hours. This guy has incredible amount of patience thought Willam. knowing how important it is he still patiently waiting watching Raymond grind the gears.
Soon Raymond was finished with grinding the 4 gears and he was fine tuning it. Seeing if it fits together and runs smoothly. William was excited to see what the guy is going to do next.
Raymond set aside the gears and took the 1 meter long cylinder and placed it on a v stand. He have made a v stand before hand itself just to work the main screw. There were 2 v arms that was used to rest the long road .
He took a thin long strip of flat leather and wrapped around the rod. He made sure that the strip is wrapped in a uniform way that there was a small gap running down the length. He took a small piece of wood and placed it in between the the gap. He tracced it all the way down to see if the gap is equidistant.
After getting a satisfied result he took a thin blade he made before and scared fine lines around it. He did it two times to mark the thickness.
After marking he unwrapped the leather strip and took a file. He started to file the thread for the main screw. He has practiced it multiple times before and different times of materials. And today he is going to make his best screw.
He was nervous and excited. Because this determines everything.
William was super excited when he saw Raymond finished grinding the gears and moved on to the rod but seeing him grab the file again he was quickly frustrated. He endured a long 6 hours of grinding just to go back to grinding again.
Master Smith explained to both Mr Norton and William that this is the main screw and an important piece. So he continued waiting and from the words of master Smith it sounds like it's gonna be another long grind.
Raymond slowly started grinding the threads into the cylinder. His goal was to achieve 6 threads per inch. Till now he has practiced 4 threads per inch but for this one he needs to get it up to 6 threads it is a long and tedious job and it is gonna take atleast 12 hours to grind them.
Soon time passed and everyone took a break to eat and Raymond went back to grinding. Master Smith and Mr Norton was observing besides him the whole process. William fell asleep half way through when it was around 1 am.
At round 4 am Raymond finished grinding the whole cylinder and he was testing for any errors. He made a flat blanks out of led and made hole in it, that almost fit the cylinder.
He slowly pushed it in to the thread. And twisted it. Carving a thread. Then he checked if it spun the whole length in smooth unbroken motion, when ever he found the blank to be stuck he marked the the place and re-sanded it.He went over and over till he was satisfied.
Looking at his best work he was happy. He was about to carve 240 fine threads into the cylindrical rod.
He once again checked if the rod was straight. Raymond was excited because just one more step and he can assemble the lathe. It was not just about the challenge anymore it was his inner inventer. This is the first step to change the world.
It's been a full 24 hours and Raymond was getting tired. The fever 2 weeks ago has not gone completely. Signs of fever was starting to show up. He started to heat up more than usual. Intense heavy work with high temperature started to take toll on it but for him he can't stop now. He has to make it through before he falls unconscious.
Raymond's hands was starting to shake. He quickly steadies himself. Raymond started arranged a warm oil in a barrel that big enough to plunge the rods and other materials. Then took a shallow pan and a special long rectangular box made of iron, filled it with sand.
He cleaned the furnace of any clinkers and warmed it up. As it reached enough temperature he placed the first gear in the center of the furnace where it is most even. Then asked the blowers to reduce the blast and make steady slow phase.
"I want to soak it in an even heat. And slowly bring up the temperature" called out Raymond.
Raymond watched the gear as it change color it changed from a dull red to a cherry red then it turned clear cherry red this should have reached 800 degrees Celsius.
He careful pics it up and immediately plunge it into the barrel. One clean plunge. What is happening right now is the carbon in the iron have resolved onto the structure by heating it to 800 degrees and dipping it in a warm oil. The rapid cooling traps the carbon inside the iron. Forcing the iron into a new, hard, crystalline structure.
He let it cool down to workable temperatureand. When it was cool down he pulled it off cleaned the gear of the grease took a useless file and try to file a corner of a tooth. The file skated on top of the surface like ice making a high pitch hiss.
Raymond smiled. He has succeeded in hardening it. This metal is as hard as a glass now but it breaks easily. So to counter that he is going to temper it.
He grabbed a polishing stone and polished on end of the teeth. He dipped it into the pan and burning it slightly in the sand.
He placed the pan into the heat and started observing the gear surface. He was indirectly hear the gear with the sad bed. No letting any flame touch the gear.
The color on the gear changes from faint yellow - pale, straw yellow - deep straw/gold - brown - purple - and deep blue. He has to watch the gear get up to pale, straw yellow and quickly pull out. Soon the gear reached the right temperature and turned straw yellow
At that exact moment he grabbed the gear with a tongs and plunged it into a water bath. The water bubbled violently releasing hot steam and splashing all over. He let it cool down and pulled it out.
What he did was trading a fraction of that hardness for a huge amount of toughness. It will now withstand the shock and strain of operation without shattering.
Then he repeated this for all other gears, half nut, some other rectangular parts, the spindle shaft, and finally the main screw he was extra careful to not make any mistakes and did everything in proper order.
He used the long custom made iron box to dip the spindle and the main screw.
Finally when it was 11 in the morning Raymond finished making everything needed for the lathe.
He also made few loose brazz nuts, not a complete nut but a nut without the thread inside. He made them almost identical to each other and since it was brazz it was easy to work with and there was dyes to cast it.
It was 3rd of January around half past one. Raymond assembled everything and an initial form of lathe was coming together.
Nothing massive but much more advanced and complex for any machine of the time.
This lath had the capability to make screw of various threads, cylinders of different diameter. This was the first man made lathe ever made in this world and the best part is if it was not for his intervention it would have taken a 400 more years to build this. He has skipped 4 centuries.
He don't know what this will do to this world but he is very excited for the future.
Right now he was sweating like crazy and he has gone visibly thinner. The fever has grown stronger and he looks paler. Any movement he might fall unconscious but with his shear will power he is holding on.
Raymond fitted the final piece into the lathe and connected the leg paddles engaging the flywhee which was 70 kgs through some gears it was connected to the lathe.
Finally he finished assembling the lathe. It was a meter and half tall , 2 meters long and 70 cm long table. A huge flywheel was seen on the left and adjacent to it rectangular post with a circular head. On the other end there was another rectangular block made out of wood. Which has a pointy end facing inward made of metal.
In-between them there was a thick screw and a metal post which holds a cutting tool. And under the screw was connected to the tool post with another mechanism.
Raymond looked at his creation proudly. Now time for miracle thought Raymond. Lifting his head from the lathe he looked at master Smith, Mr Norton and William. He saw them right opposite to him with the lathe in between them.
They were curiously looking at the lathe and it's intricate mechanism and master smiths eyes were twinkling he can't wait to see what this machine can produce. He had a feeling this machine gonna change the world.
" It looks beautiful " said William "Raymond what does it make." He asked
Raymond smiled faintly he steadies himself and replied." Gentlemen this is called a screw cutting lathe. It's main purpose is to thread a screw and it can also turn iron parts to precise measurement with precision up to the thickness of a parchment paper. Let me demonstrate."
Hearing this Mr Norton raised an eyebrow. He was very curious what this machine can produce. This is unlikely anything he has seen. The intricacy and complexity of the manufacturing process was high and the techniques used to make is so novel.
Raymond took a roughly shaped long rectangular block of iron and fasten it on the left side of the lathe that had a cylindrical chuck. There was 3 big teeths on it that can be moved up and down and all three teeth are facing inward to the center and placed equidistant from each other.
He tightened them and brought the tail stock onwards and the pointing metal presses tight on the opposite face of the metal block.
Raymond made sure the half nut is disengaged first. Then he slowly started pressing down on the foot pedal. The flywheel on the left slowly started to spin. It took a few spins to get the flywheel to the required speed and he steadied the speed.
Slowly he started to bring the cutting tool near the spinning block and started shaving metal of the block. The machine started making a screeching noise as metal was shaved off.
Seeing this everyone was amazed. They have only seen this with wood before but never on metal. It was an incredible sight.
Raymond was relieved seeing this. As this indicates his machine was working and nothing broke. He thanked all the gods he know.
He constantly kept adding tallow on the surface of the metal that's being chipped away. Soon he finished the rough pass.
He steps up the speed and started cutting onto the metal, slowly over time after each pass the rectangular block was turned into a cylinder.
Now Raymond started to make the finer cut with faster rotation and smaller strips cut of.
Soon he switched from the tool cutter to polishing stone and made a final pass.
Re-engaging the tool post he slowly cut the metal off from the rest and took it out. He cleaned it and handed it over to master Smith.
Master Smith took it in his hands very carefully as if he was holding a baby. He felt the surface, turned it over multiple times and looked at Raymond. He was amazed and was out of words. This was a perfect cylinder.
He said " congratulations Raymond". He passed the cylinder to Mr Norton to look over. Mr Norton and William started inspecting it and complimenting how round and smooth it was.
By that time Raymond started the machine again and started making a smaller rod that was almost 5 mm in diameter and 15 cm long soon he made the long rod with a flat square end that was held on by the head.
He stopped the machine brought the tool post to the tail stock and engaged the half nut lever .
"Now let me demonstrate the main use of this machine." Raymond started peeling.
The machine started roar to life and the rod started spinning and at the same time the tool post started to travel right to left with a constant speed. When it meet with the working material. Thin strips of metal started to be cut of at uniform speed. As the tool post reached 3/4 the material Raymond released the half nut which disengaged the tool post and it stopped moving.
He backed it off to the other end and reengaged the half nut again but this time the tool post was slightly pushed in towards the material. Repeating the process over and over gave the rod a fine thread.
He released the material from the tool and took a brazz rod that was hand forged before.
Fixed it in to the lathe and brought it down to the desired diameter around 2 cm. It was not too long around 7 cm. And with a drill bit on the tail end replacing the pointy one he drilled a hole deep enough. He cut them into 7 identical rings.
Taking the 7 rings he quickly hammer in 8 flat sideways to it and placed one on a vice. Then he took the threaded rod he made before and filed of 3 sides along the rod making them convex in form.
He gripped one end with a player and slowly twisted them into the smooth hole of the brazz ring. Slowly pushing in, carving of material from the inside he got it to go all the way through with enough lubrication.
After making sure it could spin smoothly up and down. He repeated the rest on the other 6 screws. Quickly Raymond brought the first threaded rod over to the heat. Heating up just the tip, after getting it red hot he Hammered it flat like a nail her and stamped a long wedge on the center.
He dipped it in water to cool it down rapidly. Cleaned and wiped it dry and brought it in front of the them. He was too tired to talk so he straight up started demonstrating it.
Taking the screw and a nut lifted them up to eye level he slowly screwed them together slowly threadings the nut to the screw. He undo it and repeated this with the other 6 screws.
"This screw can be screwed with this nut made from this lathe today, tomorrow the day after that and even a century from now. From today onwards we will have the factory of samness." Explained Raymond.
He hands them over to them and sat down a bit to catch his breath. He was on his last breath when he made the thread tap. Now he is truly exhausted and can move an inch. Soon he fall asleep sitting on the chair.