Phone a Friend

A few years back, there was a game show that used the idea of “Phone a Friend” when a contestant got in a jam. At Acoem USA, we have been a “friend” for maintenance and reliability personnel for a long time! I recently took a call from a maintenance mechanic who was installing a new…

Read More

Just Get It Running, We’ll Fix It Later!

  Sound familiar? I can’t tell you how many times I personally have heard this over the years. I am sure many of you have as well. The issue is, scheduled downtime seems to be put on the back burner so to speak, to meet production goals. And as it has become all too familiar,…

Read More

The Role of Fasteners in the Alignment Process

Fasteners are a critical component of the precision shaft alignment process, yet the importance of fasteners is many times overlooked.  If bolting is not selected, assembled, and torqued correctly, it can make the precision shaft alignment process less accurate, more difficult to achieve, and potentially harmful to the machines. While there are always unusual circumstances,…

Read More

Correcting for base bound or bolt bound conditions

A question often asked during our training classes is how to deal with base bound and/or bolt bound conditions when performing a precision shaft alignment on rotating machinery.   Base Bound and Bolt Bound Conditions Base bound is the vertical condition that occurs when the moveable machine needs to be lowered but is “bound” by…

Read More

Environmental Impact on Precision Shaft Alignment

We work with clients in many types of harsh climates, from cold with rain, sleet, snow & ice to hot humid and hot & dry and everything in between. Whatever the climate, the need for equipment maintenance intensifies with the severity of the climate.  Harsh climate conditions will create situations where precision shaft alignment of…

Read More

Bolt Holes – Size matters!

I was asked to help a customer align a 500HP Motor / Blower.  The new motor came in on a skid, was lifted into place with a crane, new electrical boxes fitted and coupling put into place.  Now the easy part, the precision shaft alignment! We took two sets of measurements which repeated.  Made one…

Read More

Soft Foot Concerns In The Stationary Machine?

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…

Read More

Bolt Bound Prevention?

On 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…

Read More

A Little Shim Can Make a Big Difference

To the casual observer, precision shaft alignment of large machinery may look like “grunt work” a task that only requires a strong back. But those of us who perform shaft alignment know it is moving big heavy machines to within very small tolerances. As such, small movements can often make big differences in alignment quality.…

Read More

“Electrical Pipe Strain?”

Precision 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…

Read More

Machine Train Shaft Alignment Tricks

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…

Read More

IS VIBRATION INTERFERING WITH YOUR PRECISION SHAFT ALIGNMENT?

During a recent Fixturlaser XA Pro training class, at a Texas petrochemical plant, we were performing an alignment on a 25 HP, 3600 RPM electric motor & water pump.  At first the class was having a little trouble bringing the alignment into the 3600 tolerance due to two separate issues. The first was severe vibration…

Read More

Bolt Bound? No Alternate Move Calculator? No Problem!

Previous blogs have discussed several different solutions for solving Base Bound & Bolt Bound conditions when preforming precision laser shaft alignment (Base/Bound Math and Solving Base/Bound Alignment Alignment Problems). Sometimes though, the solution for a Bolt Bound issue is fairly straight forward and what you need to do is right in front of your eyes…

Read More

The Shaft Alignment Nightmare

Sometimes precision laser shaft alignment is a quick, neat, orderly maintenance task.  And sometimes, it is not!  Occasionally, everything that can be wrong IS wrong. While teaching a Fixturlaser Go Pro training class in Illinois, the class went into the plant for some “hands on” shaft alignment work.  The machine chosen was a 25 HP…

Read More

Base/Bolt Bound Math

Base-bound and bolt-bound problems do not need to be the end of your machine alignment. It just means the original rotational centerline of the stationary machine we want the movable machine to be co-linear with isn’t a practical solution. Most of the high-end laser alignment systems today have some kind of calculator to show alternate…

Read More