Page 190 - Machinery Component Maintenance

172 Machinery Component Maintenance and Repair

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Figure 5-1. Machinery damage caused by bearing seizure. Bearing seizure was the result
of gear coupling damage, and gear coupling damage was caused by excessive misalign-
ment, caused by piping forces.

and reduced machine reliability. Figure 5-1 shows a serious machinery
failure which started with piping-induced misalignment, progressed to
coupling distress, bearing failure, and finally, total wreck.

Prealignment Requirements
The most important requirement is to have someone who knows what
he is doing, and cares enough to do it right. Continuity is another impor-
tant factor. Even with good people, frequent movement from location to
location can cause neglect of things such as tooling completeness and pre-
alignment requirements.
The saying that “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” also
applies to machinery alignment. Before undertaking an alignment job, it
is prudent to check for other deficiencies which would largely nullify the