The best alternative to using dial indicators for shaft alignment is to use a good laser alignment system such as the ROTALIGN ULTRA or OPTALIGN SMART. All the inherent problems and disadvantages of dial indicators are immediately eliminated. Here’s why: Training: Far less training and expertise is required of the millwright to use a laser [...]

Yes, pipe strain is soft foot! Soft foot means machine frame distortion. If you are missing shims under a foot and tighten the hold-down bolt until you have forced the foot down to the base, you will have distorted the machine frame. If you have severe pipe stress on a pump, and the anchor bolts [...]

Being bolt-bound means you have to move the machine sideways to get it aligned and you can’t: you’ve run out of room. The anchor bolt is up against the side of the hole in the foot. Being base-bound means you need to bring the machine down to get it aligned, but you can’t: the machine [...]

When experiencing lack of repeatability using a laser system, check the components for looseness: Brackets: Make sure that they are rigidly attached to the shafts (or solid coupling hubs). The surface imperfection where the brackets are mounted plays no role provided the shafts are rotated and the bracket is firmly attached to the surface. Risers: [...]

ENERGY-TECH • January 2012 At a power generating station in Florida, a severe electrical fault caused such extensive damage to a 40 MW gas turbine-driven generator that a complete replacement of the generator stator was required. An on-site spare generator core was available, but needed the faulted generator’s bearing support brackets to be installed to make [...]

When aligning a vertical flange-mounted machine, it can be helpful to tweak the flange configuration in your laser alignment system to take advantage of different shimming alternatives. For instance, if the OD of the flange is larger than the diameter of the mounting bolt circle, a good laser system will compensate for this by taking [...]