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…
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How does someone get really good at something? Practice! Whether in sports or your profession, people who are really good at something practice good habits over and over. Shaft alignment is no different. Learning quality measurement practices and repeating them with each shaft alignment job will increase your effectiveness with your laser alignment tool. Mechanical…
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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 to Running) of the Fixturlaser XA Pro allows the aligner to easily measure thermal growth (dynamic movement) and determine the correct cold alignment targets for…
Read MoreCheck out our glossary of shaft alignment terms. Please leave a comment if you’d like to see a new entry or want to talk about an existing one.
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 MoreIn my last two classes, we (well, they) aligned a couple pumps that were a little finicky. OK, they were pains. But they were alignable. The process and troubleshooting steps we practiced in class were applied to real-world, flimsy-based, soft foot-ridden, base/bolt-bounded equipment. Completing the pre-alignment steps, using the Verti-Zontal compound move, knowing what to troubleshoot…
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…
Read MoreWhen you opt to use your own shaft alignment tolerances instead of using the industry standards, how do you decide what to use? The subject of shaft alignment tolerances has been touched on before but a couple interesting discussions have taken place recently during training classes. The Fixturlaser XAs and GOs allow you the option to…
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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…
Read MoreOur next monthly shaft alignment class will be held in Houston, TX on MARCH 27-28
Read MoreOur next monthly shaft alignment class will be held in Richmond on MARCH 27-28
Read MoreOur next monthly shaft alignment class will be held in Richmond on FEB 28-29
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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…
Read MoreVibrAlign’s blog has been up for a few months now, and we hope the information we have all shared has been informative. But, with all of the information available on the internet, why a blog dedicated to shaft alignment? At VibrAlign, we’re out to Realign America. We’ve stood by and watched as: Manufacturing jobs have gone…
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