Machinery Lubrication

Machinery Lubrication Jan-Feb 2018

Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation

Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/934530

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 52 of 78

After several years of working in mainte- nance, I have found that there's no replace- ment for proper machine alignment. In every training course I teach for Noria, I explain that there isn't a lubricant that can protect against misalign- ment. With this in mind, along with the thousands of machines that die every year due to improper alignment, it's time to take the necessary steps to further your reliability program. When performed correctly, an alignment can be an essential part of a proactive maintenance plan. e variety of methods and tools available makes it easy to justify investing the time to do the job right. With that said, my first align- ment experience involved following an old-timer around as he showed me the ropes. After we set the new motor atop our hydraulic press and cleaned out the old grease from the grid coupling, he used a small 6-inch ruler or straight edge and laid it across the coupling halves. ere was some shimming of the motor to get it parallel with the hydraulic pump shaft, but the whole process was "eyeballed." Over time, what I learned from this experience was that the drive end of the motor ran hotter, the grease was almost always hardened or turned to dust, and we had to replace a broken coupling quite often. From this prac- tice, it's safe to assume that we were a reactive maintenance culture, and we were. We never questioned why the coupling disintegrated or why the motors kept failing. With a change of employers came a new culture and the desire Consider Machine Alignment to Avoid Equipment Failures There isn't a lubricant that can protect against misalignment." " M aintenance and Reliabilit y BACK PAGE BASICS Garrett Bapp | Noria Corporation 46 | January - February 2018 | www . machinerylubrication.com

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Machinery Lubrication - Machinery Lubrication Jan-Feb 2018