Vibralign Blog

Precision Shaft Alignment| equipment reliability| Vibration Analysis| pump cavitaion| RT300

By Mac MacCormack on December 8, 2020

In a recent RT300 class during the field portion of the training, the team made the decision to take vibration readings on a motor/pump assembly that was very noisy and had frequent coupling failures. The RT300 diagnosed misalignment, cavitation and shock modulation. Then using the same RT300, they checked the alignment and it was indeed […]

Precision Shaft Alignment| Pipe Stress| pipe Strain

By Stan Riddle on November 9, 2020

I recently had the pleasure of teaching an alignment class for a Midwest company involved in pipe fabrication and installation.  Their primary concern wasn’t so much in precision shaft alignment, but in being able to measure the effect pipe strain has on alignment.  Before I arrived, they had told me they had fabricated a rig […]

Pre-Alignment| Precision Shaft Alignment| bearing clearances| Lift Check

By Michael Keohane on October 22, 2020

    A lift check isn’t always done when performing a precision shaft alignment, nonetheless excessive lift can be the cause of alignment frustration. Here is a recent example from a very experienced aligner. This particular alignment was on a 150 HP motor driving an extruder through a gearbox. The horizontal alignment came in as […]

Precision Shaft Alignment| Verti-Zontal Process| pump vibration

By Brad Case on October 14, 2020

  In recent years many new gas processing plants have been built to keep up with the demand for natural gas. Some of the process equipment for these plants are constructed on “modular skids” which are simply set in place, on the ground, then the piping is connected. During a recent training class, at a […]

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

By Stan Riddle on October 7, 2020

A colleague and client of ours called, in a bit of a quandary. “Ever seen anything like this?” he asked.  I had to answer “No, I have not”. This is a C-face motor.  It is typically mounted to a C-face flange, which connects to a vertically oriented pump.  But in this case, the C-face motor […]

"shaft alignment training"| Fixturlaser NXA Pro| Precision Shaft Alignment| RT-300

By Stan Riddle on June 29, 2020

  We get asked a multitude of questions in our training classes, which we appreciate.  But a few questions pop up almost every time.  Here are some of our most common questions and answers. QUESTION:  Sometimes on small machines, I don’t have enough room on the shaft to mount the laser.  Can I mount it […]

Precision Shaft Alignment| "shaft alignment training"| Precision Maintenance| ACOEM VibrAlign Training

By John Pasko on June 17, 2020

  Often times customers ask the question how can we keep it going? “How can I continue to train my technicians with the principles they learned in your class?” Craftsmen and women often admit we don’t perform precision shaft alignments often enough to keep our skills current. To this I say recycle! One of the […]

"soft foot"| "c-face motor"| Precision Shaft Alignment| Flexible base

By Tom Shelton on April 21, 2020

    Here is another example of the complexity of completing a precision shaft alignment on a flexible base. Some industries use pump skids that are moved to different areas of a plant for various reasons. Whether they exist to save money, allow for quick removal or process changes, the flexibility of these types of […]

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

By Brad Case on April 16, 2020

During several recent technical support calls, regarding the Fixturlaser Laser Kit, the clients asked the same questions about the LEDs on the sensors and several warnings that pop-up on the display. Others may have the same questions, so I thought it worthwhile to discuss here. S & M Sensor LEDs: The amber LEDs illuminate when […]

"coupling tolerance"| Coupling Values| Precision Shaft Alignment| coupling alignment

By VibrAlign Author on March 24, 2020

  In power transmission, a coupling is a device used to connect a driving machine, such as a motor, engine, or turbine, to a driven machine, such as a fan, pump, compressor, or other machine. There are numerous styles of couplings, each with specific design characteristics, that make them suitable for their respective applications. All […]

Pre-Alignment| Precision Shaft Alignment| machinery diagnostics

By Mike Arnold on March 4, 2020

ACOEM-VibrAlign has shared over 100 separate blog posts and over 1 million YouTube views on Pre-Alignment. Thus, we can all agree it is an important topic and the key to a successful precision shaft alignment job. No matter if you are using a Straight Edge, Dial Indicators, or the latest and greatest Laser Shaft Alignment […]

precut shims| shims| Precision Shaft Alignment| Precision Maintenance

By John Pasko on February 20, 2020

Years ago, an automotive oil filter company’s ad campaign, capitalized on the phrase “pay me now, or pay me later”. The premise was that you could pay less upfront for an inferior oil filter, and then pay again because the oil filter would fail, and your vehicle’s engine would require an overhaul. Or, you could […]

the validity rule| "repeatability"| Precision Shaft Alignment

By Michael Keohane on February 5, 2020

The validity rule is an important concept in precision shaft alignment. It can be used to confirm that your readings are accurate and is why we don’t have to rotate a full 360 degrees in order to get accurate alignment information. Here is a previous blog post with an embedded video that discusses dial indicator […]

"machine train"| Precision Shaft Alignment| Extruder Alignment

By VibrAlign Author on November 6, 2019

For the field portion of a recent training class, the decision was made to check the alignment on a plastic extruder. At first glance, checking the alignment of the motor shaft to gearbox input shaft is pretty straightforward. However, the output side of the gearbox had two shafts, so maybe this is not so straightforward. […]

machinery diagnostics| condition monitoring| Vibration Analysis| Precision Shaft Alignment

By VibrAlign Author on July 16, 2019

I read that Albert Einstein once said, “I don’t need to know everything, I just need to know where to find it when I need it.” If one did some research, that may not necessarily be true. However, if a question comes up, it’s always helpful to have resources to refer to. When it comes […]