Machinery Maintenance Archives - Acoem USA - Page 13

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VibrAlign Launches the “American Reliability Tour 2017” Featuring Machinery Maintenance Seminars in 28 Cities

The American Reliability Tour 2017 follows VibrAlign’s successful series of Realigning America Tours mounted over the past four years. The original Realigning America Tours featured free seminars about shaft alignment, belt alignment and couplings. The upcoming American Reliability Tour will provide valuable training and address attendee’s issues about condition monitoring and machinery maintenance. VibrAlign has…

Maintenance Strategies, Part Three – Predictive Maintenance

Predictive Maintenance, also known as Condition Based Maintenance or affectionately known as “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” also has its own set of pro’s and con’s. The pro’s: Rotating equipment usually gives warning signs before failure. Vibration level or pattern changes, rise in temperature, wear detected via oil analysis, performance change, motor current…

So You Got Your New HAWK! Let’s Set it Up.

So you received your new OneProd HAWK Supervisor or HAWK Supervisor with Balancing. There are some steps to follow to insure your instrument is configured correctly. Nest Set-up: You will need to make sure you are using only Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 (or higher) for the first connection and you will need to download MS…

Positive/Negative

When we align equipment, we are aligning the rotational centerlines of the shafts. We have a stationary machine and a moveable machine. In most cases the stationary machine’s center of rotation is the target and reference for all measurements and corrections of the movable machine. When reading laser or dial indicator values, the terms of…

Maintenance Strategies: Part Two

Preventive Maintenance, also known as planned maintenance, scheduled maintenance, calendar based maintenance, historical maintenance, etc. has its own set of pro’s and con’s. The theory is machinery has a life cycle. The probability of failure increases as the machine ages so maintenance needs to be performed prior to failure to extend its life and avoid…

The NXA Extended Alignment Function – What is it? When to use it.

When training clients to use VibrAlign’s Verti-Zontal Alignment Process we show taking the 3rd measurement at a horizontal position, typically at 3 o’clock. This is simply for expediency and is NOT a requirement as Fixturlaser Shaft Alignment Systems can take measurements at any position due to the inclinometers in M & S sensors. If possible…

The One Tool Missing in Most Aligner’s Toolboxes

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 and tightening bolts, reduce frustration, and increase your “alignment” confidence substantially! Would you like such a gift? Well, here it is – measure your shim…

Are Flexible Couplings Designed to be Misaligned?

A common misbelief that occasionally comes up in our precision shaft alignment training classes is that, elastomer insert flexible couplings are designed to allow misalignment between rotating machinery shafts. This is not the case. Although this type of coupling may be more forgiving to the effects of misalignment, they are definitely not intended to be…

Maintenance Strategies: Part One

In the current highly competitive global economy we live in, there is always a drive to get the competitive edge. One way is to develop a maintenance strategy that will improve safety, meet production goals, increase uptime, increase plant efficiency and thus increase plant profitability. There are four basic maintenance strategies: Breakdown Maintenance Preventive Maintenance…

Alignment Considerations of Machines with Stiff Elastomeric Couplings

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 reasonably small space. They also do not require lubrication, and are quite easy to install, in most circumstances. These attributes make them quite desirable in…

Cutting Corners Can Affect Safety and MTBF

As a Millwright, Service Technician or any type of field or in-house Mechanic, we understand there is one main goal that we have in common, which is to keep the equipment running. This includes repairing and minimizing downtime in the event of an unpredicted failure or breakdown. Although it’s important to make repairs and perform…

Back Off Jack Bolts for Improved Alignment Results

Millwrights and mechanics know the benefits of using jack bolts to precisely control the horizontal position of the movable machine when performing a precision shaft alignment. However, we also see the tendency to tighten the jack bolts, on both sides of the movable machine, either before or after tightening the hold down bolts. Tightening jack…

Why and How to Measure in Clock Method

Proper use of any tool is essential to success in achieving your desired goal. Many tools have optional configurations to adapt that tool to your needs. Fixturlaser Precision Alignment Systems are no different. The alignment tools produced by Acoem/Fixturlaser are second to none in ease of use. The Acoem AB design engineers do all they…

Base Bound Machinery Corrections

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 motor cannot be lowered sufficiently to achieve proper vertical alignment. Here is an example. During a customer’s recent pump replacement, the motor was left in…

Determining Cold Alignment Targets from OEM Dial Indicator Specifications

A client was aligning a motor-compressor set and wanted to use the OEM specifications for thermal growth (OL2R) compensation. The manual gave the target values as rim and face dial indicator numbers for either the motor hub or compressor hub. In this case the motor hub specifications were used. He was using the Fixturlaser NXA…