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A New Twist on Belt Alignment?

In our quest to realign America, we’re always on the lookout for intriguing applications. Sometimes they pop up in odd places. My buddy Steve Matthews with PdM Solutions spotted this situation while in the field (literally!). This has to be a maintenance headache–there were plenty of belts laying around. How would you tackle this? We…

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Have You Calibrated Your Mechanics Lately?

It’s a new year and time to reassess our goals. We test our gauges, adjust sensor settings, tweak valves, etc. We check our equipment against a standard to verify it still works optimally. When’s the last time you have done the same for your mechanics and technicians? VibrAlign’s shaft alignment courses will calibrate your personnel to…

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Checking Your Thermal Targets

Any equipment that goes through large temperature differences between startup and normal operation should have accurate thermal targets calculated to allow for proper shaft alignment. Shaft alignment data can be taken when the machine is at operating temperature and compared to readings taken when the machine is at ambient temperature. The resulting calculations provide alignment…

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Troubleshooting A Compressor Alignment

We’re going to try something different this week. We see some interesting stuff out there. We want you folks to troubleshoot this one. The OJT portion of a recent alignment training class involved checking the shaft alignment on an engine-driven reciprocating gas compressor. One of the great things about this part of the class is…

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Thermal Growth Compensation – Growth Versus Targets

The object of precision shaft alignment is to position machines so that the rotational centers meet a specified tolerance at operating conditions. Machines can and will move due to temperature changes or process forces so this means that some machines need to be “misaligned” in their off line or cold condition so that they will…

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Getting Started with Cooling Towers

Most every week during one of our alignment training classes, we’ll get a question about aligning cooling towers. Most facilities we visit have them and a lot of folks aren’t too sure how to approach the job. We’ll tackle the first step in this episode and explain a bit about roughing in the motor to…

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WEBINAR Sept 22: Aligning America, One Shaft At A Time

Join us for a Webinar on Thursday, September 22nd, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT. Presented by Patrick Lawrence, PE, CMRP and Trainer, VibrAlign, Inc. VibrAlign wants to realign America! One pump, one compressor, one wind turbine at a time… One mechanic, one millwright, one engineer at a time… One machine, one plant, one corporation…

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Was Soft Foot the Problem?

We all know what soft foot is, correct? Soft foot is when we are sitting at dinner and the table rocks. Our solution: put a matchbook, folded piece of cardboard or sugar pack under the leg that needs to be raised even with the other three. Now let’s eat dinner without our drink spilling. In…

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Words to Make You Stop & Think

What the…?? What did it say again…?? But I just did that… How in the world…?? There’s no way… Sacre bleu! We hear phrases like these in class and in the field. Chances are if you’ve been aligning equipment for a while, you have a feel for how the job should progress. When something goes wrong,…

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