Back around 1982, when I made my first forays from machinist into mechanical maintenance, I remember hearing about coupling alignment while working at a now-defunct rope factory in North Carolina. I considered myself a decent machinist, although I had little experience beyond technical school. I remember a welder showing me how to align shafts. “Straight…
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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…
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Jacking bolts provide an easy and accurate way to horizontally position a motor during a shaft alignment. However, it they are left tight against the feet, some unexpected problems may occur. During a recent training class at an Ohio steel mill, we went out to check the alignment on a blower fan that had been…
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There are some special considerations to keep in mind when performing shaft alignment on machines which are supported by sleeve bearings, regardless of the type of alignment measuring tool being used. Bearing Clearances. In all sleeve bearings, there is clearance between the bearing and the journal, or shaft. This amount of clearance should be known.…
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Vertically-mounted motors that are coupled may need alignment, whether they are C-faced or not. In cases where the motors are not C-faced, the shaft alignment is treated as a horizontally-mounted motor, with a couple exceptions. Here’s a quick walk-through on a Fixturlaser GO Pro. Inclinometers cannot be used, since they cannot detect changes in the…
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There are several things that must come into play to achieve a quick and accurate shaft alignment. One of those things is starting with a good foundation. By foundation, I mean everything between the bottom of the machine and the floor. So, let’s start at the bottom and work our way up. Inertia Block or…
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The guy in the photo is Peter Eccleston. Peter is the Senior Technical Support Specialist for VibrAlign. Peter and the other technicians in the Repair Group perform calibrations and repair services on all of VibrAlign’s shaft alignment tools. They work hard to make sure your Fixturlaser shaft alignment tool is performing in tip top shape.…
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Stainless steel shims have for the most part replaced cutting shims from rolled stock. They speed up the alignment process dramatically. They usually assure a more accurate alignment since they come in many different thicknesses. They are clean, flat, and their thickness is marked on each shim. Since they are stainless steel, they are not…
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QUESTION: When mounting the lasers, if it isn’t possible to mount to the shafts, can they be mounted to a flanged sleeve gear type coupling? (The outer “floating hub”, not the inner one pressed on the shaft.) I have seen this done and do not think it is accurate due to the radial clearance between…
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A manufacturing operation in western North Carolina recently purchased a Fixturlaser GO and shaft alignment training. This company is going through a multimillion dollar expansion. We decided, as part of the training, to check some alignments of recently ‘installed and precision aligned’ machinery. Tags like these were placed on the machines that were supposedly precision…
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A VibrAlign trainer recently conducted a shaft alignment training class on the Fixturlaser XA Pro. This 1 ½ day class includes one day of classroom training, followed by a half day of field training, usually on the customer’s own in-plant machinery, using their new shaft alignment tool. While conducting the classroom portion of the training, one of…
Read MoreWe are sometimes asked, “Does your laser alignment equipment measure axial alignment?” While it sometimes raises some eyebrows, the answer most frequently given is, “There’s no such thing.” What is sometimes referred to by maintenance personnel as “axial alignment” is really axial spacing, or coupling gap. Shaft alignment refers to orienting two shafts, connected by a…
Read MoreI actually used our competition’s lasers for 25 years. I had never used a VibrAlign tool until I went to work for them. I’ll tell you a little story. I came up here when I was hired and I was brought into this little training room. They had an XA and a demonstrator set up…
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I think aligning America is what we need to do… or Realigning America. Years ago alignments were done properly, but some of the old millwrights had days or weeks to install machinery. In this day and time it’s twice the work and half the people, so that process gets skipped sometimes and the companies end…
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Aligning cooling towers with spacer shafts can sometimes present a challenge. We recently provided alignment training and assistance to the HVAC Group at the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, VA. This was a Marley cooling tower, with a 60 HP motor, connected to the gearbox by a 48″ spacer shaft. That’s me, the trainer, inside…
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