The photo to the right was taken at a recent training class. The maintenance guys at this facility were excellent aligners. They were adamant about getting their shaft alignments to “better than excellent” levels. They believed in preparing the surfaces of the base and the motor before installation. Their company spent thousands of dollars re-working piping and bases to minimize the chance of pipe strain or bolt bound conditions.
They were careful to measure, correct, and record their alignments accurately. They did so many things – so well!
And yet, questions remain…
How many shims do you see? Could the shim stack have been consolidated to reduce the number of shims? Could the thinner shims be “sandwiched” between the thicker ones so they would both be out of the way and not curl up like the ones in the photo? Could the flaking paint have been removed with a wire brush so it does not get between the shims–in essence becoming a partial, enamel shim? How much more work would it have been to go back to the shop, and cut a few pieces of ½” plate to use a one big shim under each motor foot?
You may be saying to yourself, “But you guys at VibrAlign don’t know how it is where I work!”
Yea, we probably do.
And we found out a long time ago that the extra ten minutes it takes it takes to get a few thick, clean, flat shims may well shave minutes, or even hours, off of the alignment process. It will minimize the risk of soft foot, increase your accuracy and repeatability, and cause you to tighten and loosen bolts much less.
Stacking the deck will get you in trouble!
4 Comments
Hi Stan,
I thought this kind of “stack up” problem will just happen in my plant only. Hummmm, no surprise right? It happens any where. I have few photos I took from our equipment recently and I can share with you if you give me the web link.
Thank you,
Lambert Wang
Inteplast Group. Amtopp Div., PDM crew
101 Inteplast Blvd., FM1593
Lolita, TX 77971
Tel: 361-874-3940
Fax: 361-874-3974
Email: lwang@amjk.inteplast.com
Lambert, we’d love to have the photos. I’ll email you directly.
Thanks-Stan
Unfortunately this is not just a “plant” problem. Skid-mounted machines often come from the manufacturer this way. I once did an alignment on a new compressor and apparently all they had was 0.005″ shims because each motor foot had over 20 shims under it!
I also don’t like to see a mix of shims from different manufacturers (pick a brand and stick with it) and especially sizes – looks very unprofessional at the least. If it looks “right” then it’s more likely to be right.