Acoem AT-400 Nominated for Plant Engineering's 2024 Product of the Year! Vote Now to Help Us Win

Setting up OL2R (Offline To Running) and Offset (Cardan) Brackets

OL2R Measurements (Offline To Running) are used to collect very accurate (and actual) Thermal Growth Values and Targets for critical rotating machinery. Offset Measurements (Cardan Shaft) are critical for offset drives to ensure there is no angular misalignment causing lead/lag issues with the drive shafts resulting in production related quality problems. Both the OL2R and…

Read More

“Where can I get alignment specifications?”

This is a question that comes up surprisingly often in our training classes. The question is usually regarding Thermal Growth offsets (dynamic movement) and shaft alignment tolerances. There are several ways to obtain the data in question. The easiest and most readily available would be the equipment manufacturer. Most companies will supply specific offset and…

Read More

Shaft Alignment Thermal Growth Targets–When You Don’t Know

In shaft alignment, machines that run hot often have thermal growth targets. Thermal targeting simply means that the shafts may be misaligned while at room temperature, but as they heat up to operating temperature, they will “grow” into alignment. But where does the thermal growth target come from? Many times, the machine manufacturer will specify…

Read More

Measuring Thermal Growth Targets using the XA Pro w/OL2R

Previous blogs have defined thermal growth of rotating equipment and discussed several different methods to calculate the cold (ambient) alignment targets to compensate for thermal growth. The OL2R program (Off Line to Running) of the Fixturlaser XA Pro allows the aligner to easily measure thermal growth (dynamic movement) and determine the correct cold alignment targets for…

Read More

Should Thermal Growth Affect Angular Misalignment?

In my post “How Does Calculating Your Own Alignment Targets Work?”, I discussed using a hot check to determine proper alignment targets. Thermal growth is not rocket science. However, it is often misunderstood. I see people causing harm by compensating for thermal growth incorrectly. Let’s look at a simple blower illustration: If we assume that…

Read More