No one runs misaligned machinery on purpose, of course. But problems occur when we don’t know, so how do we detect when there are issues?
“In some cases, declining product quality can be an indicator. The best way to check, once the machines are down, is to put a laser shaft alignment system on and take a set of readings. With a good one, this will take less than three minutes from setup to results, after all safety lockout/tagout procedures have been observed and the coupling guard has been removed.”
If you have coupled machines, you will have alignment problems, declares Stan Riddle, trainer/technical support team at VibrAlign (www.vibralign.com). “The trick is to catch them early and minimize them,” he says. “The markers I always use to determine alignment problems are vibration analysis, frequent seal and coupling insert replacement, and information from machine operators.”
Robert X. Perez, author of “Is My Machine OK?” indicates high vibration levels that show up either axially or radially at the coupling end of a machine also can be indications of an alignment problem.