Every tool in your toolbox has a specific function and certain parameters of use to achieve a desired outcome. When you pull out a claw hammer, your intent is to drive or pull a nail. Pull out a ball peen hammer, it is still a hammer, however the use and outcome is different. You may…
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It really doesn’t matter the industry; industrial maintenance technicians suffer the same frustrations when performing a precision shaft alignment. Our team of trainer’s travel all over the country conducting training classes for paper mills, steel mills, chemical plants, gas and oil, etc. What we hear is universal across all industry. “I can’t get repeatable results,…
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When performing a precision laser shaft alignment, it is best to add or remove shims exactly as the display unit indicates. There are circumstances when this may not be possible due to your assortment of shims, or when you want to “fudge” your shims slightly to keep the total number of shims low. (Clink for…
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Simply put, L10 bearing life is the number of service hours that 90% of bearings will survive or conversely 10% of bearings will have failed. L10 life: is the preferred term in specifying bearing life and is defined by The American Bearing Manufacturers Association (ABMA). A bearing life equation is: This calculation assumes proper installation…
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This is a common misconception in some industries surrounding flexible couplings. Some maintenance and production individuals believe that flexible couplings are designed to allow for a few degrees of misalignment. This is not quite the case. While flexible couplings do tolerate some amount of misalignment, this is not their intended purpose. The greater the misalignment,…
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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…
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Plenty! This question still comes up fairly often in our training classes. If you look any of the coupling manufactures installation instructions there is a chart for the maximum allowable misalignment based on the coupling size. These tolerances are for the coupling, what about the machines the coupling connects? Shaft alignment tolerances are more about…
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I have been in industrial maintenance longer than I have not. A portion of that time was spent in Maintenance Management. One lesson I learned was, that in order for a team leader (or company as a whole) to be successful, the entire team needs to be successful. I tend to simplify things, maybe to…
Read MoreDoes the z axis affect alignment? In short, no it does not. There are aspects of the z axis that could affect the running of a machine, but rotational shaft alignment is not of them. What is the z axis? The X and Y axes are references to horizontal and vertical planes respectively. With regard…
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As technical trainers, we travel all over the country visiting factories, mills, power plants and refineries. Just to mention a few. We see and work on equipment of every type and size. From small 10 HP electric motors and pumps moving cooling water, to house sized engines turning generators that power our cities. Out of…
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Many blogs have been written about what it means to be either base-bound or bolt-bound and how to correct the situation. I want to write again about it because I encounter this frustration scenario in almost every training class. I am surprised by how many millwright/mechanics (including myself) can get so wrapped up in the…
Read MoreIn his blog post “Repeatability vs. Desired Outcome – parts 1&2”, Stan Riddle, one of my fellow technical trainers for VibrAlign, explains why alignment results may vary from the expected outcome. He explains in some detail a number of causes and how they are affecting your alignment process. Many of these causes could be eliminated…
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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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While training mechanics all around the US, I have noticed that many of the questions asked in class are the same regardless of the industry. Fixturlaser tools are very intuitive and easy to use, so this puts the mystery on the alignment process. So here are some answers to some common alignment process related questions…
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