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“MIC” Your Shims!

Has this ever happened to you? You’re aligning a machine and your laser alignment system or dial indicator calculations tell you to add shims under the motor feet. You do what is expected, re-measure and you still have to add shims! Wonder why?  I’ve heard it before, my laser doesn’t work or you calculated wrong.…

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Working as a team? Communication is key!

During a recent Fixturlaser GO Pro Training class, at a mid-west university, we performed a shaft alignment on a large Flowserve HVAC pump with a 500 HP electric motor.  This motor was large enough that multiple people could work on both sides without really seeing each other.  Well, that proved to be an issue with…

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It’s Brand New, So It MUST Be Aligned, Right?

During a recent training class at a new facility in Indiana, the class wanted to check alignment of a recently installed circulating pump.  Their response was, “It’s brand new, so it must be aligned, right?”.  To which I responded, “I’ll bet it isn’t”. Here are the alignment results as we found it.  For an 1800…

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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…

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IT’S HAS TO BE ALIGNABLE!

One of the issues precision shaft alignment technicians face is whether a machine is alignable. There will be times that a machine cannot be aligned in its current condition. A recent Fixturlaser GO Basic training class ran into this issue when performing alignment checks on 4 small centrifugal pumps.  All pumps had 10 HP electric…

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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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Sof Shoe® Shims

Soft foot is undoubtedly the number one challenge faced on an everyday basis in precision shaft alignment.  The concept is simple enough; make sure the machine feet rest flat on the base. Unfortunately, it is not always so simple to solve. Before sitting down to write this, I noted there are 17 articles posted on…

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The Devil is in the Details!

During the field alignment portion of a Fixturlaser GO Basic shaft alignment training class, we were attempting to align a 100 H.P., 3600 RPM  motor to a double suction pump. Sounds easy enough! Here’s the skinny… The pump and motor were the top set in a vertical, two unit skid made of I-beams and very…

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Non-Repeatability, a Little Movement can Cause a Lot of Headaches!

A recent Fixturlaser GO Basic Training class performed a field alignment on a 100 HP, 3 Phase, 5600 RPM electric motor coupled to a crude oil pump in a refinery.  The class decided it would be permissible to use the 3600 RPM setting in GO Basic active tolerance table, which is +/- 0.5 mils/1” angular…

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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…

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How to Read an Alignment Report

Most maintenance personnel understand that documenting a precision shaft alignment is a good idea, but don’t always understand how to interpret the data. Here is a quick primer on how to read a typical alignment report. This shaft alignment report happens to be from a Fixturlaser NXA Professional but all alignment reports should contain similar…

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The Importance of Proper Alignment Technique and Being Aware of Movement

During the OJT portion of a Fixturlaser GO Basic Training class, with the Army Corp of Engineers, the class aligned two electric motors driving large winch gearboxes on a dredging barge.  These winches are used to move the barge into position during dredging operations.  The class wanted to rotate both shafts to perform the alignments,…

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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…

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Shims 201 – The Importance of Measuring Shim Thickness

Stainless steel shims are now the standard for use in shimming machinery when preforming a precision laser or dial indicator shaft alignment.  They are clean, corrosion resistant, flat, and most importantly, pre-cut.  Their use speeds up the alignment process significantly.  However, it is very important to measure the thickness of a shim before using it.…

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Aligning Machines with 3 or 6 Feet

Some machines are not manufactured with a typical 4 footed configuration.  Precision shaft alignments can still be easily accomplished on these “non-typical” machine configurations, if you remember a couple of simple rules. When aligning a machine with three feet, like this example (left), remember that you are positioning machinery in two planes: The inboard, or…

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