I recently took a call from a customer at a coal-fired power plant in Arkansas. He was performing a precision laser shaft alignment of a 450 HP, 1750 RPM electric…
Read MoreFluid Drive Coupling and High Vibration? No Problem!
I recently took a call from a customer at a coal-fired power plant in Arkansas. He was performing a precision laser shaft alignment of a 450 HP, 1750 RPM electric…
Read MoreOne 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…
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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…
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Stan’s “Shims 101” blog last year provided some great guidelines and reasons for using pre-cut Stainless Steel Shims. We repeatedly see rotating equipment that is supplied with carbon steel shims…
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During our Best Alignment Practices Training classes our staff of VibrAlign Trainers stresses the importance of rough aligning the machines as part of the pre-alignment steps. The main reason to…
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As alignment professionals we all want to do the right thing and perform the best shaft alignment possible; however there may be a time when you have to choose and…
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If you align machinery for a living then more than likely you have encountered machines that are base-bound or bolt-bound. Base-bound is when the movable machine has to be lowered…
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Today’s maintenance personnel are tasked to do more in less time so production can resume as soon as possible. As such, aligners of rotating machinery may believe they are saving…
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The VibrAlign Training Faculty sees a lot different machines during our training classes across the USA. The one statement that we hear repeatedly from mechanics and millwrights is, “I would…
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Previous alignment blog postings have discussed the negative effects of soft foot on rotating machinery reliability and the importance of checking and correcting soft foot before proceeding with a shaft…
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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…
Read MoreBowl mills are used to pulverize coal prior to being blown into coal fired boilers. They are very large machines with heavy rotating components usually driven by an internal planetary…
Read More“Our large machines use adjustable chocks, instead of shims for correcting the vertical alignment; can we use the VibrAlign Verti-Zontal compound move with our Fixturlaser XA when correcting the misalignment?”…
Read MoreYes? No? Maybe? Yes! You may have heard this in the past…”We can’t align our vertical pumps since there is no adjustment due the ‘machined fit’ between the electric motor…
Read MoreThe OJT portion of a recent training class was the alignment of a 3600 RPM electric motor driving a Bell & Gossett Fire Service Water Pump. As the hold down…
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