VibrAlign has numerous blogs on soft foot and the frustration that goes along with not eliminating it. Repeatability (or the lack of) can be a major issue. Vibration analysis will pick it up if it is severe enough. When performing a precision shaft alignment most, if not all, soft foot will be eliminated in our…
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VibrAlign’s Team of 6 dedicated Technical Trainers conducted over 200 “Shaft Alignment Best Practices” Classes across America in 2015. Our classes were conducted in all types of industry including but not limited to: Food and Beverage Power Generation (fossil fuel, nuclear, & wind) Gas Compression Petro-Chemical Mining Water/Waste Water HVAC (facilities maintenance) Construction/Contracting Various Types…
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Rim & Face, Angle & Offset, Parallel & Angular Deviation, Parallel Offset, thousands of inch and mils! What does it all mean? Actually it’s pretty much the same thing, though not exactly. I’ve been a VibrAlign Technical Trainer since 2008 with training classes in a variety of industries and with students previously using other methods…
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Precision maintenance personnel ensure that rotating machinery is aligned well beyond excellent shaft alignment tolerances, but overlook other crucial elements that affect the operation of the machines. One of these elements is the coupling. The coupling is where the “handshake” between the driver and driven machine takes place. The coupling assures consistent power transfer and…
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When more than four feet are on the movable machine, it is necessary to shim under the additional feet. How do we determine what amount of shim is required to properly support these feet? This is debatable. Some would say that it is necessary to calculate the needed shims. Others might say “Why bother?…
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Check out Stan Riddle’s article that appears in the July issue of EPnews that is published by our friends at Empowering Pumps. http://empoweringpumps.com/is-precision-shaft-alignment-really-worth-the-time/?utm_campaign=Empowering+Pumps&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20410553&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8wDAT0u6imImafDL0h66xtUJrPlUp3asbpte8HTcflZB1DHqU1-TWloPcXHoBv71NTWae9KWqOQ0kprU2t58atzGdYaA&_hsmi=20410553
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There are many pump types, sizes and applications. Positive displacement: gear, screw, progressive cavity, lobe, peristaltic, diaphragm, Velocity: radial & axial flow, mixed flow, educator, etc. With all the various pump types, sizes and applications it would be quite the feat to list the exact cost for each one in this blog. I will leave…
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One of the common misconceptions in industry is that precision shaft alignment is not needed when using flexible couplings. Studies have show that nearly 50% of all machine breakdowns is due to misalignment. So what happens to misaligned machines? Check out the recently added video to the VibrAlign You Tube Channel titled “5 Effects of…
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A dowel pin, in its simplest form, is a hardened steel shaft, usually very short, and can be straight or tapered. It is often used in machinery for: Precise locating of machinery components, such as the top half of a pump, gearbox components, line shaft bearings, etc. Dowels are usually located in diagonal corners of…
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As any of the Vibralign trainers can attest, more often than not, when going out into the field on day two of a training class our clients want to perform a shaft alignment on their biggest challenge. When conducting training at a Waste Water Treatment facility, the decision was made to perform a precision shaft…
Read MoreOn numerous occasions I have witnessed brand new pump skids where the electric motor was already bolt bound. Bolt bound is common in all industries. While conducting the field alignment portion of a precision shaft alignment training class at a chemical plant in southeastern Georgia, I had the opportunity to witness innovation at work to…
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In a previous blog article by Patrick Lawrence “Was Softfoot the Problem” before and after vibration spectrums were taken and the results post precision shaft alignment were remarkable! Apart from contributing to higher vibration levels, misalignment has another adverse effect, increased motor loads! I wanted to find a cause and effect case study that would…
Read MorePrecision shaft alignment of rotating equipment is an essential part of any solid preventative maintenance program. To accommodate aligning any type of machinery you must be able to move one of the elements of the machine to achieve a precision shaft alignment. There are many limiting influences that could cause you to not be able…
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Simply stated, a machine train is when three or more machine components are coupled together, acting as one. Machine train alignment can sometimes be a complicated task. Some laser alignment tools can measure machine trains of up to several machines, simplifying the move options. Whether you have a machine train program or not, by using…
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The 4th video in VibrAlign’s Concepts of Shaft Alignment video series is entitled “Runout”. The video describes what runout is and depicts how to properly measure for runout to determine if coupling eccentricity and/or a bent shaft is the source of the runout. The video series was based on ideas for visualizing alignment created by…
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