Vibralign Blog

Balancing| Machinery maintenance| Precision Shaft Alignment| shims| soft foot| Vibration Analysis

By VibrAlign Author on January 7, 2019

As you may have noticed if you follow VibrAlign’s social media accounts, we have been going through “Maintenance Tip Mondays” for the past couple months. This is a fun opportunity to hear from our experienced technical trainers as they share the top tips and tricks they have learned over the years in the field and […]

"shaft alignment tools"| Laser Alignment tools| Precision Shaft Alignment

By Tom Shelton on December 20, 2018

Preparation is the key to efficiency. Having an appropriate selection of tools and necessary supplies on hand will make a precision shaft alignment fast, accurate and easy. One way to do this is to have a dedicated alignment cart or job/work box. Some facilities are not conducive to the little casters on some carts, so […]

condition monitoring| OneProd Falcon| pump vibration| seal failures| Vibration Analysis

By Chris Troutt on December 13, 2018

Taking the ONEPROD Falcon to the field is a big part of the 2-day training we provide on our entire Falcon line of condition monitoring tools. When we go to the field we always find interesting issues to analyze and discuss. A recent check of a centrifugal pump yielded one of those issues. The pump […]

"c-face motor"| Alignment tolerances| looseness| Precision Shaft Alignment

By Tom Shelton on November 20, 2018

This is as much a title for a blog as it is a question. One our Technical Trainers once stated that to align rotating machinery, they must first be alignable. What is meant in part by this is that when we have a collinear tolerance of 0.5mil /1” angularity and 2.0 mils offset, the machines […]

holidays| thankfulness| Thanksgiving

By VibrAlign Author on November 20, 2018

  It’s almost time for turkey and stuffing and all the fixings. People are getting ready to jump into cars and board planes to be with family for the holiday. There is much to look forward to and appreciate about this fall holiday—the food, of course, but also the time with family and friends, the […]

"vertical shaft alignment"| Fixturlaser EVO| Precision Shaft Alignment

By Mac MacCormack on November 14, 2018

This month marks my 41st year of being involved in industrial maintenance. Early on during my apprenticeship in a machine shop, as an outside machinist, I thought living long enough to know everything was not going to be possible. Even now I am reminded of this from time to time. I am also reminded that […]

"shaft alignment"| Couplings

By VibrAlign Author on November 9, 2018

Couplings connect a driving shaft to a driven shaft. There are essentially two families of couplings: Rigid couplings Flexible couplings There are, of course, differentiations within these two types. Rigid couplings connect shafts so that the two shafts are essentially one continuous unit. Be advised that runout can be an issue when this kind of […]

By Steve Matthews on November 8, 2018

Veterans Day is Sunday, November 11.  Here at VibrAlign we currently employ eight Veterans who have served this country honorably in the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and National Guard, including two active guardsmen.  We wish to thank Mac MacCormack, Gary Madsen, JP Guerard, Jonathan Dissinger, Tim Sorensen, Doug Burdsall, Peter Eccleston and William Cooper for […]

condition monitoring| looseness| machinery diagnostics| machinery vibration| OneProd Falcon| Vibration Analysis

By Chris Troutt on November 2, 2018

A common vibration signature on equipment is looseness. There are two types of looseness: structural/fastener, fit between rotating components. For this discussion, we will focus on structural and fastener looseness.  Typically, it is highly directional, occurs at 1xRPM, and will look similar to this spectrum. In this case, the vibration was confined to the vertical […]

Alignment tolerances| Precision Shaft Alignment| shaft alignment tolerances| tolerances

By Tom Shelton on October 15, 2018

VibrAlign and Fixturlaser have done what we can to make the precision shaft alignment process quicker and easier for the end user of our tools. To assist maintenance personnel during an alignment a tolerance table “pops up” on the display unit screen (of our tools) when entering dimensions for the machines being aligned. The tolerances […]

"coupling gap"| compressor thrust| disc pack couplings| engine thrust| reciprocating compressors| shim pack couplings| thrust

By Brad Case on October 3, 2018

Gas engines and reciprocating compressors, used in the gas compression industry, have a certain amount of crankshaft end play or thrust (as it’s commonly called). The amount of thrust is determined by the OEMs of the machines. The crankshafts of these machines must be able to “float” axially to prevent excessive/premature bearing wear. When new […]

"compressor alignment"| Gas Compression| reciprocating compressors| rod runout| runout

By Steve Matthews on September 27, 2018

The Fixturlaser NXA Runout Probe was introduced last year as an accessory to the Fixturlaser NXA Pro and Ultimate alignment tools.  As originally envisioned, the runout probe was designed with shaft and coupling runout measurements, and direct soft foot measurements in mind. The Runout Probe provides a digital linear displacement measurement, much like a dial […]

"jacking bolts"| hold down bolts| jack bolts| Precision Maintenance| Precision Shaft Alignment| push bolts

By Tom Shelton on September 20, 2018

Correct fastener torque is important for proper assembly of rotating machinery components to machine bases. Proper torque insures that the fastener will perform as designed. This will in turn help your machine to perform as designed. Hold down bolts and jacking bolts are typically manipulated while performing a precision shaft alignment. These are often the […]

"vertical shaft alignment"| Fixturlaser NXA Pro| Fixturlaser NXA Ultimate| Omniview| vertical alignment

By Michael Keohane on September 14, 2018

Many modern laser alignment systems include inclinometers that aid in the alignment process. Inclinometers, however, don’t work on vertically oriented machines. These include vertical “C” faced machines as well as vertical machines with feet. This meant that vertical machines required a 180-degree swing for accurate measurements and sensors were positioned the old-fashioned way by aligning […]

eletric motor bearing failure| lubrication| lubrication tool| rotor unbalance| Smart Machine Checker| unbalance

By Stan Riddle on September 13, 2018

We recently published a blog about using the Fixturlaser SMC as a lubrication tool. https://vibralign.com/other-topics/using-the-smart-machine-checker-as-a-lubrication-tool/ Ironically, just a couple of weeks later I received some photos from a new SMC customer.  He got a report from his SMC stating that a chilled water pump was experiencing motor unbalance.  He took the motor apart to inspect […]