Laser Alignment

Laser Shaft Alignment

Misalignment is one of the most common causes of premature bearing and seal failure in rotating equipment, and one of the few faults that can be corrected to a measured tolerance without removing the machine from service. Laser alignment replaces dial-indicator guesswork with a direct, continuous reading of the offset between two shafts, so the correction can be calculated and verified rather than estimated.

Alignment is only as good as the preparation underneath it. Soft foot, baseplate condition and pipe strain are checked first and corrected as part of the job, because a machine aligned on a distorted baseplate or with one soft foot drifts out of tolerance within weeks, and the resulting record then describes a machine that is not actually aligned.

Laser alignment corrects:

• Soft foot at all motor or driven-equipment feet, measured and corrected in turn
• Angular and parallel misalignment between motor and driven equipment
• Baseplate and foot bolt defects, including stretch, distortion and loose or missing hardware
• Flange face runout and the correction of face mismatch
• Pipe strain and the load it imposes on the machine nozzles
• Cold and hot alignment targets, so the machine is aligned as it runs and not only when shut down

Alignment Applications and Records

Laser shaft alignment is applied to pumps, fans, blowers, compressors, mixers and centrifuges, with the machine verified in its coupled condition before guards are refitted.

Each alignment produces a record containing the as-found and as-left offset values in both millimetres and inches, the tolerance applied and the standard it comes from, soft foot readings before and after correction for every foot, the shim thicknesses removed, added and left in place, foot bolt torque figures with the sequence used, and thermal growth figures where a hot alignment was performed. Machine identification, shaft positions and bearing frame references are recorded against the results so the work can be compared with future alignments.