Vibralign Blog

By The VibrAlign Blog on March 3, 2017

The American Reliability Tour 2017 follows VibrAlign’s successful series of Realigning America Tours mounted over the past four years.  The original Realigning America Tours featured free seminars about shaft alignment, belt alignment and couplings.  The upcoming American Reliability Tour will provide valuable training and address attendee’s issues about condition monitoring and machinery maintenance. VibrAlign has […]

condition monitoring| machinery diagnostics| machinery vibration| ONEPROD Hawk| predictive maintenance

By Mac MacCormack on February 21, 2017

Predictive Maintenance, also known as Condition Based Maintenance or affectionately known as “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” also has its own set of pro’s and con’s. The pro’s: Rotating equipment usually gives warning signs before failure. Vibration level or pattern changes, rise in temperature, wear detected via oil analysis, performance change, motor current […]

machinery diagnostics| machinery vibration| maintenance reliability| ONEPROD Hawk

By James Pekarek on February 15, 2017

So you received your new OneProd HAWK Supervisor or HAWK Supervisor with Balancing.  There are some steps to follow to insure your instrument is configured correctly. Nest Set-up:  You will need to make sure you are using only Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 (or higher) for the first connection and you will need to download MS […]

"Realign America"| "shaft alignment tools"| aligning machinery| Dial Indicators| Fixturlaser NXA Pro| misalignment

By Tom Shelton on February 7, 2017

When we align equipment, we are aligning the rotational centerlines of the shafts. We have a stationary machine and a moveable machine. In most cases the stationary machine’s center of rotation is the target and reference for all measurements and corrections of the movable machine. When reading laser or dial indicator values, the terms of […]

condition monitoring| machinery diagnostics| maintenance reliability| Preventive maintance| troubleshooting

By Mac MacCormack on February 1, 2017

Preventive Maintenance, also known as planned maintenance, scheduled maintenance, calendar based maintenance, historical maintenance, etc. has its own set of pro’s and con’s. The theory is machinery has a life cycle. The probability of failure increases as the machine ages so maintenance needs to be performed prior to failure to extend its life and avoid […]

aligning machinery| Extended Alignment| Fixturlaser NXA| Precision Shaft Alignment| troubleshooting

By Brad Case on January 25, 2017

When training clients to use VibrAlign’s Verti-Zontal Alignment Process we show taking the 3rd measurement at a horizontal position, typically at 3 o’clock. This is simply for expediency and is NOT a requirement as Fixturlaser Shaft Alignment Systems can take measurements at any position due to the inclinometers in M & S sensors. If possible […]

micrometer| precut shims| realigning America| shim stack| soft foot| troubleshooting

By Stan Riddle on January 18, 2017

I am going to pass along to you a gift – one that I believe could potentially cut your alignment times-maybe by more than half!  One that could lessen loosening and tightening bolts, reduce frustration, and increase your “alignment” confidence substantially!  Would you like such a gift? Well, here it is – measure your shim […]

coupling failure| coupling wear| elastomer couplings| Precision Shaft Alignment| realigning America

By James Pekarek on January 12, 2017

A common misbelief that occasionally comes up in our precision shaft alignment training classes is that, elastomer insert flexible couplings are designed to allow misalignment between rotating machinery shafts.  This is not the case.  Although this type of coupling may be more forgiving to the effects of misalignment, they are definitely not intended to be […]

bearing failures| condition monitoring| machinery diagnostics| realigning America

By Mac MacCormack on January 4, 2017

In the current highly competitive global economy we live in, there is always a drive to get the competitive edge. One way is to develop a maintenance strategy that will improve safety, meet production goals, increase uptime, increase plant efficiency and thus increase plant profitability. There are four basic maintenance strategies: Breakdown Maintenance Preventive Maintenance […]

angular misalignment| bearing failures| offset misalignment| shaft alignment tolerances| uncoupled alignment

By Stan Riddle on December 28, 2016

These types of couplings are quite common in industry, and there are various companies producing similar types of couplings.  They are capable of transmitting large amounts of torque in a reasonably small space.  They also do not require lubrication, and are quite easy to install, in most circumstances.  These attributes make them quite desirable in […]

bearing failures| machinery vibration| Precision Shaft Alignment| seal failures

By James Pekarek on December 21, 2016

As a Millwright, Service Technician or any type of field or in-house Mechanic, we understand there is one main goal that we have in common, which is to keep the equipment running.  This includes repairing and minimizing downtime in the event of an unpredicted failure or breakdown.  Although it’s important to make repairs and perform […]

"jacking bolts"| jack bolts| offset misalignment| Precision Shaft Alignment| push bolts| shaft alignment tolerances

By Brad Case on December 14, 2016

Millwrights and mechanics know the benefits of using jack bolts to precisely control the horizontal position of the movable machine when performing a precision shaft alignment. However, we also see the tendency to tighten the jack bolts, on both sides of the movable machine, either before or after tightening the hold down bolts. Tightening jack […]

Fixturlaser NXA Pro| misalignment| Precision Shaft Alignment| Verti-Zontal Process

By Tom Shelton on December 7, 2016

Proper use of any tool is essential to success in achieving your desired goal. Many tools have optional configurations to adapt that tool to your needs. Fixturlaser Precision Alignment Systems are no different. The alignment tools produced by Acoem/Fixturlaser are second to none in ease of use. The Acoem AB design engineers do all they […]

angular misalignment| base-bound/bolt-bound solutions| Laser Shaft Alignment| offset and angularity| offset misalignment| Precision Shaft Alignment

By Stan Riddle on December 2, 2016

Most aligners are familiar with a bolt bound situation, which occurs when the motor cannot be moved enough to achieve proper horizontal alignment.  A base bound condition occurs when a motor cannot be lowered sufficiently to achieve proper vertical alignment.  Here is an example.  During a customer’s recent pump replacement, the motor was left in […]

"thermal growth targets"| "thermal growth"| "thermal offset"| Dial Indicators| Fixturlaser NXA Pro| Laser-Dials

By Michael Keohane on November 23, 2016

A client was aligning a motor-compressor set and wanted to use the OEM specifications for thermal growth (OL2R) compensation. The manual gave the target values as rim and face dial indicator numbers for either the motor hub or compressor hub. In this case the motor hub specifications were used. He was using the Fixturlaser NXA […]