Performing Shaft Alignment on a Caterpillar!

Maintenance worker looks at 1000 hp Caterpillar engine attached to a pump in an industrial setting.

Aligning motors to pumps, fans, compressors, etc., it’s what we do. But occasionally we get to assist a customer perform some real “millwright” work! Case in point – a 1000HP Caterpillar engine, driving a backup floodwater pump for a large municipality in the southeast US. This pump is critical to prevent flood water from mixing…

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Perspective

I don’t know about you, but in my nearly 45 years in industrial maintenance, there have been times when I felt stumped when trying to solve a problem. Sometimes you can just walk away and the solution comes to you while performing another task. Other times, a colleague or coworker may come along and have…

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Out-Of-The-Box Thinking

Out-of-the-box thinking is sometimes required in these uncertain times we are living in. This became clear on a recent training assignment in Northeast Nevada. Improvisation became the backdrop for my class with the mining maintenance technicians of Direct Force Maintenance, of Winnemucca Nevada. The current cultural changes facing our nation provide challenges for conducting on-site…

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Common Shaft Alignment FAQ

  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…

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Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

  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…

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How Can We Help You-Let Us Count the Ways!

While hands-on training is best, sometimes technical support requires more. A recent blog lists all the different ways you can reach out to us https://acoem.us/other-topics/vibralign-training-during-covid-19/. A few weeks ago, a wind technician was attempting a precision shaft alignment in a GE 2.x wind turbine using a Fixturlaser GO Basic GE Wind. He was familiar with…

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Training or No Training, It’s a Leadership Question

It’s no secret that there is a shortage of skilled labor in manufacturing, specifically in machinery maintenance. Therefore, those in leadership positions must answer the question “training or no training?”. Another way to look at it is, am I willing to invest in the workforce to better insure a more reliable operation? I wrote a…

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What is Misalignment Costing You?

I recently received a support call from a nearby client, the issue was that the precision shaft alignment of a right-angle gear reducer to a line shaft was taking up to 12 hours (using another brand alignment tool) with little to no success. There are about a dozen of these units in this facility. This…

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The First Rule in Precision Shaft Alignment is “Don’t Assume”!

This is an obvious statement and most of us know what happens when we do “ASSUME” with most things in life. However, we (The VibrAlign Trainers) see assumptions being made quite often during a precision shaft alignment. Several years ago, I read a book titled “A Millwright’s Guide to Motor/Pump Alignment” by Tommy “T-Hammer” Harlon…

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Critical Machines? It Depends on Who You Ask

I recently taught alignment training at a gas compression site.  These were sharp technicians, and they keep these large gas compressors in excellent shape.  We went out to check alignment between the engine and compressor.  It was great just as I expected, because compressing gas is their only product. So I asked if they had…

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The Cure for Alignment Frustration!

A customer called me, extremely frustrated, because he could not get a good alignment.  “I’ve spent two hours trying to align this stupid pump!” he said.  He blamed the laser, the “cheap” pump his company had, the bad base, his bad trainer (me), and anything else that came to mind. I did not take it…

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Got Alignment Questions? We Are Here To Help!

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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Precision Shaft Alignment Training – Should You Learn Dials First?

Proper training is a critical component to success when using precision shaft alignment tools. This is true regardless of the measurement methodology. I often hear people say that it is important to learn dial indicator shaft alignment first to gain a better understanding of the alignment process. Really? After all, you don’t need to learn…

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How To Align a “Moving” Motor.

After 34 years, aligning a few thousand machines, teaching millwright training for a technical college, and being an instructor for VibrAlign, I sometimes think that no alignment challenge can beat me!  Then something comes along to really put me in my place! I was put in such a place while training at a large manufacturer…

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Got Alignment Problems? Just Let Us Know!

VibrAlign’s Shaft Alignment Training is the best in the industry.  We not only train maintenance personnel on how to use our tools – we teach alignment!  Lots of it!  We teach correcting soft foot, bolt bound problems, pipe strain, coupling problems – real world stuff. Our training staff has about one hundred combined years of…

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