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Shaft Alignment - Rim and Face Method

Shaft alignment is important to reduce equipment wear and failures. There are three main methods: 1. Rim and face alignment uses indicators on the rim and face of two connected machines to measure misalignment. Readings are plotted and used to determine shim adjustments. 2. Reverse dial indicator uses lasers or indicators across the coupling to measure parallel and angular misalignment between shafts. 3. Across the flex element looks at indicator movements across bellows-type couplings to determine alignment corrections needed. The rim and face method is described in detail, involving mounting an indicator, taking measurements, correcting for sag, plotting results, and determining shim adjustments to align the shafts. Horizontal and vertical

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100% found this document useful (2 votes)
651 views6 pages

Shaft Alignment - Rim and Face Method

Shaft alignment is important to reduce equipment wear and failures. There are three main methods: 1. Rim and face alignment uses indicators on the rim and face of two connected machines to measure misalignment. Readings are plotted and used to determine shim adjustments. 2. Reverse dial indicator uses lasers or indicators across the coupling to measure parallel and angular misalignment between shafts. 3. Across the flex element looks at indicator movements across bellows-type couplings to determine alignment corrections needed. The rim and face method is described in detail, involving mounting an indicator, taking measurements, correcting for sag, plotting results, and determining shim adjustments to align the shafts. Horizontal and vertical

Uploaded by

Wajdi Mansour
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Shaft Alignment

SHAFT ALIGNMENT - RIM AND FACE


METHOD
Mechanical EngineeringJuly 25, 2020
SHAFT ALIGNMENT - RIM AND FACE METHOD

Why Align Rotating Equipment? 

 When two pieces of rotating equipment are connected through a shaft coupling, every
effort should be made to minimize coupling and shaft misalignment. Proper alignment will reduce
bearing, shaft and coupling failures, bearing and coupling temperature, vibration, and energy
consumption. In addition, good alignment will extend equipment life between planned
maintenance intervals. When considering how precise the alignment needs to be, consider
alignment limitations of all the system components, not just the coupling. A flexible coupling is no
excuse for excessive misalignment.

what is shaft misalignment?


 For two shafts to be called “aligned,” their shaft center lines need to coincide. If together
these center lines do not form one line, then either parallel misalignment (Fig. 1) And/or angular
misalignment Exists (Fig. 2). In addition, as misalignment can exist in many directions, it is
conventional to describe both of these misalignments in two planes, the vertical and the
horizontal to define the complete alignment condition present.

 Another type of alignment that is often overlooked is the axial misalignment. The coupled
shafts axial position can change as a result of many factors such as thermal growth, connected
equipment thrust forces, pump volute gap adjustments and sleeve bearing motor end float. In
addition to this, some couplings may generate thrust forces as a result of applied torque, speed
and misalignment. Be sure the proper type of coupling for the application is used and that you are
within its published axial operating limits.

Alignment Methods: 
1. Rim and Face Alignment  
2. Reverse Dial Indicator/Laser Alignment 
3. Across the Flex Element Alignment
To explain the 3 recommended alignment methods from Section III, we will use a motor
connected to a pump as our example. Regardless of the method used you must correct the
alignment in the vertical and the horizontal plane.
 First, correct the vertical misalignment by shimming under the equipment feet. 
 Second, correct the horizontal misalignment by moving the equipment side to side.

A. Rim and Face Alignment : 


Step 1: Refer to section IV for Pre-Alignment considerations 

Step 2: Determine which piece of equipment is “fixed” and which piece of equipment is
“moveable”. In general, you will only be moving one piece of equipment and it is typically, but not
limited to, the drive motor.

Step 3: Equipment layout On a piece of graph paper, lay out the piece of equipment being
aligned as seen in Fig. 6. The distances that you will need to measure and plot are: 

1. Distance from where the indicator rides radially on the pump hub, to the center of the motor
front feet. In this example, this is 15”. 

2. Diameter of the pump hub flange, at the location the face indicator rides. In the example this is
10” (shown in the graph plot). 

3. Distance from the center of the motor front feet to the center of the motor back feet. In this
example this is 25”.
Step 4: Mount bracket and sweep readings (Vertical solution) With the indicator bracket attached
to the motor and the indicator reading off the pump hub face, rotate the shaft in 90° increments
and take readings as shown in Fig. 7. Make sure that both shafts being aligned are axially
restrained, as any end play will distort the face readings.
Step 5: Interpret Face reading (Vertical Solution): Reading on the face at a 10-inch diameter you
measure +.005 at the bottom, which means the indicator stem was compressed .005 inches for
every 10 inches of length. This can only happen when the motor shaft centerline extension is low
with respect to the pump shaft centerline extension. 

Step 6: Plot face reading (Vertical solution) Extend the 10-inch face-measuring diameter along
the dashed pump centerline. Using a vertical scale of one small square equals .001 inch, plot
the .005 inches below the pump centerline. As seen in Fig. 7, the line drawn between the pump
flange center and through the plotted point, extended past the plane of the motor feet. This line
represents the angular only orientation of the motor shaft centerline with respect to the pump
shaft centerline. 

Step 7: Shim to Correct Angular Misalignment (Vertical solution) At the location on figure 7 of the
front motor feet (A) and the back motor feet (B) count the number of squares below the shaft
centerline to the motor shaft centerline extension. To bring the motor shaft into angular alignment
in the vertical plane you would shim the front motor feet .0075 inch and shim the back feet .0020
inch.

Step 8: Move indicator from face to rim position With the motor bracket still attached to the motor
hub, set the indicator stem on the outside rim of the pump hub.

Step 9: Sweep rim readings Zero the dial indicator on top, rotate it in 90-degree increments and
take readings as shown in Fig. 8.
Step 10: Correct bottom rim reading (Vertical solution) The bottom dial indicator reading
measured +.010 inches, but this reading must be corrected for the indicator sag discussed in
section IV. To correct the reading you subtract the indicator sag reading (- .005) from the bottom
dial indicator reading (+.010) to give you an actual reading of +.015 [(.010 – (- .005) = +.015 ].

Step 11: Plot rim reading (Vertical solution) As this is a T.I.R. (Total Indicator Reading) it is two
times the actual shaft to shaft relation. +.015 ÷ 2 = +.0075. .0075 is where the motor shaft
centerline extension is relative to the pump shaft centerline at the pump hub. With the pump
established as the fixed piece of equipment, a corrected plus reading at the bottom means the
dial indicator stem was compressed which can only occur if the motor shaft centerline is high with
respect to the pump shaft centerline. Using a scale of one small division on the graph equal to .
001 inches, plot this point as shown in Fig. 8. The parallel offset or rim misalignment alone could
be corrected by removing .0075 inches of shims from under both the front and back motor feet.

Step 12: Angular or Face Solution (Horizontal): For the horizontal (side-to-side) results, the same
procedure is used. Zero one of the side readings by subtracting this reading from the “near” and
“far” measurements. Indicator sag can be ignored as it cancels out. Plot these readings and the
results can be read off of the graph as shown in Fig. 9.

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