Electric motors are almost always well-balanced when they leave the motor manufacturer. But occasionally, motor unbalance problems are picked up with vibration monitoring tools, such as the OneProd Hawk. Here…
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Some people believe that precision laser shaft alignment has evolved to the point where pre-alignment steps, such as roughing in the alignment with a straightedge, are no longer needed. Well,…
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Gearboxes are common in industry. They are used to increase or decrease speed from the driver, provide increased torque, and change direction of power transmission. There are two main…
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A VibrAlign customer recently called, stating they were having repeatability problems with aligning a small motor to gearbox to pump. After some phone conversation, I asked if they could send…
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In industry, many couplings utilize an elastomeric insert or element. This type of coupling has many advantages, among them: Ease of replacement Ability to absorb torsional loading No need for…
Read MoreAt VibrAlign, we are in the precision maintenance business. Our tools, our training, and our people, are all about precision maintenance. While teaching the field alignment portion of…
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I am going to pass along to you a gift – one that I believe could potentially cut your alignment times-maybe by more than half! One that could lessen loosening…
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These types of couplings are quite common in industry, and there are various companies producing similar types of couplings. They are capable of transmitting large amounts of torque in a…
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Most aligners are familiar with a bolt bound situation, which occurs when the motor cannot be moved enough to achieve proper horizontal alignment. A base bound condition occurs when a…
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Resonance is when a force causes an object to “resonate”, due to excitation of its natural frequency. Think of a machine coasting down to a stop. There are certain speeds…
Read MoreWe recently received a customer request about shim safety. An employee at the customer site had experienced a “near miss” safety issue due to walking too closely to a machine,…
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Mechanical looseness is a very common machine vibration diagnosis. It is often overused-becoming a “catch all” category for undiagnosed vibration. It can be caused by a multitude of things that…
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In industrial machinery, the centerpiece of vibration analysis is the ability to detect bearing problems BEFORE the bearing fails. Even more beneficial is detecting the root cause of a…
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LUBRICATION Lubrication is sometimes incorrectly thought of as a job for unskilled workers, apprentices, or operators. When I hear a maintenance person say, “I’m just an oiler”, I cringe a…
Read MoreUnbalance is another common machinery vibration problem. Unbalance is the uneven distribution of mass around a rotating axis. Any rotating machine can have an unbalance problem, not just fans. It…
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