A Millwright's Guide to Motor Pump Alignment

By Tom Harlon

A former engineer stated that the author's first edition contained more alignment information than the sum total of all other works in the Library of Congress. This second edition is the result of over 38 years of hard work and many thousands of hours of writing, testing, retesting, and testing again the alignment related formulas the author has developed on his own. It will make users work much easier and will assist them in making many dollars. It is sure to be valuable to novices and professionals alike!  

• Written by a mechanic for mechanics in a mechanic's language.
• Provides loads of information, common sense tips, and methods and formulas that have been around for decades.
• Offers the "how-to's"; along with the drawings, the formulas, and mathematical examples that address the "who", "what", "when", "where", "why", and "how" in several dozen realistic incidents involving alignment work.
• Features valuable hints, practical tips, comments, and cautionary notes throughout to drive home each point.
• Covers at least 99% of the field alignment problems encountered by most mechanics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Industrial Press, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 15, 2008
• ISBN: 9780831190767

Book preview

A Millwright’s Guide to

Motor/Pump Alignment

Second Edition

Tommy B. Harlon

Industrial Press Inc.

New York, NY

Copyright

Copyright 2008

Tommy B. Harlon

Millwright’s Guide

PO Box 446

Waynesboro GA 30830-0446

Published by:

Industrial Press, Inc.

989 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10018

Toll-Free in USA: 212-889-6330

E-mail: [e-mail]

Web Site: www.industrialpress.com

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Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Preface

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Hope

Author’s Introduction

The Totally Dedicated Mechanic

T Hammer (a short history)

On The Subject of Tools

Some Personal Thoughts on Shaft Alignment

Horizontal vs. Vertical

Rules

What To Do First

A Little More on the Subject of tools

Handy Practices - Tricks

Runout Check

Regarding Repeated Redundancy

The Sequential Torquing of the Pump Core to Volute

Soft Legs or Soft Feet

Perpendicular vs. Otherwise

Monitoring via Mag-Base Indicators

Indexing a Bridgeport Milling Machine Head

Field Coil to Armature Alignment

The Lateral Aspect (of Field Coil to Armature Alignment)

Armature to Field Coil Alignment

Side-To-Side Movement, Using Jackbkits

The Raw Basics of Rim and Face Alignment

Tapered Inner-Bore Bearings

Prelude to Rim and Face Alignment

Rim and Face Alignment

About The Rest of This (Rim and Face) Chapter

A Multiple Line-up Problem

True Story? (Probably)

Outright Wasted

Time For a Coffee Break

For My Sons

Counterproductive Element Identified

Couplings

Small Diameter Couplings

Squirrel Cage Fan Solutions

Daddy, What is? Daddy, What If

Perfection

Chapter Subjects and Titles

Dueling Brothers (Over Selenia)

Unknowns

Personal to the Reader

Who, What, When, Where Why, and How?

Who Are You to do the What?

A Brief Introduction to the Wagon wheel Theory

The Wagon Wheel Method

Long Spools (Sometimes Called Jackshafts)

Short Story on Reverse Dial

Reverse Dial

TIME

Single Side Reverse Dial

Vertical Mounted Motor Alignment (A Rare Breed)

Vertical Mounted Motor/Shaft Alignment Where Random Bolt Patterns Exist

Auxiliary Attachments (For Very Large Vertically Mounted Drive Units)

Vertical Mounted Drivers

Trammeling Vertical Columns

Gearboxes With Dual/Triple/More Power Shafts

Gearboxes With Vertical Power Shafts

Options One Through Four

For Option Number Five

Feeler Gauges in Lieu of Dial Indicators For the Face Reading Duty in Rim and Face Applications

As a Matter of Personal Choice

Glossary of Terms

Index

Personal Notes

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Preface

The first draft of this book consisted of around fifty hand-written pages in the late fall of 1969. It described a

method for a single Rim & Face format (Figure 1 of the Rim and Face chapter in this book). Also, there was a chapter describing a

method of doing a Face Alignment on a pump with a vertically mounted motor. Aside from that, there was little else. The GLACIER-SLOW

methods in these (now ancient) hand-written pages (although correct) were very little advancement beyond guesswork.

This was a few years before hand held calculators were far enough advanced to be introduced to the public and the information was a literal avalanche of verbiage describing how to divide this reading by 2 and logic if that meant up or down, then divide the B dimension by the A dimension etc. The whole series of steps (about eleven as I recall) were much slower than a really experienced millwright whom via a combination of experience and knowledge could fly through an alignment scenario in less time than it took me to get started. Time and technology has changed a bit since 1969.

There are other bits and pieces of the history behind the writing of this book sort of sprinkled through these 348 pages at opportune spaces and occasions. On some occasions I’ve inserted an attempt at short subjects such as abstract poetry and other subjects such as the parenting of growing children. This is really the most important alignment of all. Fail in a machinery alignment and couplings or bearings burn out. Fail in the raising of children and whole lives are rained. And with this, there are no formulas; only hints as to what is a possible right direction.

On the poetry scene, it’s there to serve a dual purpose: #1 to offer the reader a brief reprieve from the sometimes confusing text and the solving of formulas and #2, to copyright some selections of the things I’ve written along with the rest of this book. Sort of like a screwdriver. Most people believe screwdrivers are to put screws in, take screws out and open paint cans. A lot of carpenters seem to think screwdrivers are to take screws out and open paint cans. It’s a 24 oz. hammer that put the screw in! Take time to watch a carpenter sometime.

We (speaking of crafts persons in general) make our working lives very enjoyable by jerking the chain of someone (anyone) of another craft. Need an electrician? Don’t ask for an electrician. Yell Hey wire-twister! If there’s an electrician within hearing range, he/she will look up. If its a millwright or a carpenter that yelled Hey, wire-twister, he/she’s responded to with: Whattaya need, Bucket-Butt, or Wood Butcher as the case may be. A healthy portion of the time neither will personally know the other and ill will is almost never involved. It’s simply two working people furnishing themselves and anyone else around with something to laugh about. Of course, none of these slang nick-names get used if it’s known to be a taboo that will draw a negative response. Most crafts persons will either be informed enough and/or intelligent enough to avoid a serious confrontation should one threaten to raise its ugly head above the surface. On the more serious scene of striving to do professional work in a timely manner, all these crafts persons will fall in there and get it if it’s obvious to them that their expertise is needed in a crisis. Sad example: The population of the civilized world watched in sadness, in pride, in awe, in respect as iron workers (and probability other crafts also) marched away from their well paid jobs in Manhattan, New York to freely give their aid and expertise in the form of harder-than-ever-in-their-lives-work on September 11, 2001. Some of us may still remember that sad, but prideful event.

But back to the norm on the job scene, users of this book will attack an otherwise confusing and difficult alignment with their new tool that has removed some of the confusion and made what would otherwise be a difficult job a job to look forward to. Apprentices will be more willing to cut and/or assemble pre-cut shims with the confidence that the correct shims will more likely than ever be called for during alignment jobs. Alignment jobs that are in difficult-to-access or extremely cold or hot places will reward millwrights/mechanics/apprentices with shorter stay times in such places.

You may find this a bit redundant, but this book is only a tool. It can no more make the alignment for you than the wrench with which you unbolted the motor. But with this book, after you have taken an accurate set of dial indicator readings and allowed for the pre-determined sag factor, you don’t have to wait for the bottom of the ninth to get that grand-slam win. Many times I’ve seen it happen on the first shimming. And now very often, so will users of this book.

INTRODUCTION

It’s indeed an honor to again be invited by my friend of many years to write the introduction to this, the 2nd edition of A Journeyman Millwright’s Guide to Motor and Pump Alignment. I first had the pleasure of working with Tommy as an apprentice 30 odd years ago and on many occasions since as a journeyman. Tommy is a first class Nuclear grade mechanic and a Master Machinist who is held in very high esteem by his co-workers and the Engineering department as well. Engineering is well known for coming to Tommy for solutions to problems when they hit a wall because he tends to always show them a common sense and practical solution to the problem at hand.

His work ethics and love of his work have earned him a place of respect and high regard for those that know and work with him. Tommy has one of the keenest mechanical and mathematical minds of anyone that I have ever met. In my time as an Army Officer working with the National Security Agency, I have been privileged to work with quite a few. Tom is a walking dictionary of mechanical knowledge and he continues to baffle the engineers that seek his help with problems to this day. It is very fitting that this work is held in such high regard by a publisher with the credentials of Industrial Press that an entire chapter of their 28th edition of Machinery’s Handbook will be devoted to a chapter of Tommy’s work from this volume. Industrial press’ Machinery’s Handbook is widely recognized as the Holy Grail of engineering reference books around the world.

This work has been a monumental undertaking from the outset and is the result of over 38 years of hard work and many thousands of hours of writing, testing, retesting, and testing again of the alignment related formulas that he has developed on his own during said 38 years.

Tom and I have spent too many hours to count discussing mechanical problems, devices, equipment, inventions, solutions, and pure theory concerning many things about our respective crafts and fields of interests and knowledge. His level of intelligence combined with an uncommon amount of common sense along with the ability to see things in his mind’s eye, take it apart, turn it around upside down, etc., have given him a rare combination of knowledge and comprehension of even the most complex problems and to see solutions that elude most of us. I speak from the standpoint of one who became a journeyman Millwright and I&C Technician and then went on to become certified by the Institute of Nuclear Power Organizations (INPO) as both an electrical and mechanical engineer, as well as a technical writer and training instructor.

You are holding in your hand the most complete and comprehensive volume on this subject matter ever written. This statement is supported by a letter received around 1993 from a former engineer for a very large oil company who had been given the task of searching the Library of... Congress for all shaft alignment material concerning various motor and pump alignments. He (the engineer) stated that Tommy’s first edition published in 1991 contained more alignment information than the sum total of all other works in the Library of Congress at the time of his search.

This book had its start in 1969 when Tommy was laid off of from a very good job while they were still hiring alignment men. At the time, Tommy’s first wife was critically ill (later deceased in 1971), leaving him three small children to feed, house, and educate, alone. The lack of any form of available written material on the subject of alignment and the unwillingness of those who knew it to share their knowledge made him determined to master this aspect of the craft, so he would never find himself in this situation again. This work has spanned a course of the 38 years since 1969 and much more hard work than anyone less talented and determined could ever have endured.

The first edition was copyrighted and self-published in 1991 and has been sold to craftsmen, engineers, both teachers and students in technical colleges across the United States, from Johnston Atoll in the South Pacific to Nova Scotia, Canada and other scattered points around the globe.

That did not satisfy him though, and he continued his quest to expand and improve this work to an even higher level. He has broken ground that has never before been covered and has striven to make this, the 2nd edition, the very best work available so others, like he once was, would never find themselves in the position that he found himself in and to take the mystery out of this subject that has confounded and frustrated so many craftsmen and engineers.

I have seen him check and recheck these formulas to the point that he would fall asleep in front of the computer over a challenge with an inconsistency of a mere few ten millionths of an inch in his quest for perfection. It had to be correct! He did this while working a full time job at one of the larger nuclear utilities in this country.

I commend him on achieving his goal; and in turn congratulate you on your acquisition of this work. It contains information developed and proven over the 38 years since 1969 and its worth is incalculable. It will make your work much easier and can assist in your making many dollars whether you are an apprentice, journeyman, engineer, student, or instructor.

Tommy, I applaud your accomplishment of a lifetime that none before you have achieved and in providing a legacy for your children and their children’s children that will succeed you for many generations to come.

At the time of this writing Tommy is 74 years old and still working as the Senior Machinist at a major nuclear power plant. This work has taken over half of his life to complete. Still in excellent health, he has no plans to retire anytime soon.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Once again I feel very fortunate to have Michael W. Holden, my good friend and sometimes co-worker in various facets of our mutual chosen craft, to write the introduction for this book. I can only trust that he has taken a long and pointedly critical look at the contents herein before writing such a glowing introduction.

In one sense (if it were possible) I’d switch off the friendship factor just long enough for him to write the introduction, then switch it back on again. In that manner, I’d (perhaps) get a more unbiased opinion of myself and the contents of this book. But I’ll be happy with his introduction as is. Besides, I don’t have much choice. He’s the only person I personally know with sufficient knowledge of the subject matter (and the time) to go to that much detail.

Anyway, thanks again Mike. I hope we’re both still around for the Third Edition.

... and VERY SPECIAL THANKS ...

... To my wife Rosiland, who once again has supported me even through more hours than did the tired old chairs I’ve worn out during these past sixteen years since the original writing of the First Edition of this book. (The REAL first edition was in late 1969 and was hand-written and never got published). During some three years of pounding keys and hand-drawing diagrams for the First Edition, then about two more years writing the current First Revised Edition, had she not been willing to do so much more than her share in maintaining our modest home, I could never have taken so much time to produce this work.

Since to the best of my knowledge, no other publication of this subject matter exists to this extent of detail, many dozens of times during this process, I’ve repeated a short ten-word-litany; having nothing to do with prayer, rather, a statement of what I believe to be a simple fact: If it is to be, it is up to me. Ten two-letter words.

I personally know of no other man who would pursue such a non-earth-shaking quest for so many years and I certainly know of no other woman who would so support her husband through such a long Walter Mitty pipe dream without balking. Evidently, we’re both built to run the course, Lady. So I thank you (once more) for your unwavering support for these many years.

Hope

Among living cognizant creatures: Hope is a universal phenomenon without which one would seldom, if ever, strive to succeed.

And Hope, being intangible, has no mass with which to effect the slightest motion of the most sensitive scales; and will not reflect even the best quality of light to be viewed by one with the best possible eyesight; so is therefore a non-provable existence via either of these mentioned methods of detection.

Yet, being devoid of mass and being incapable of reflecting light or casting a shadow, Hope becomes evident in the visible actions or material product generated within the limited capabilities of those whom possess Hope and therefore strive to succeed in whatever their past or present chosen endeavors.

Hope is a wonderful phenomenon of the cognizant mind without which one would be less active or capable of demonstrating the courage to explore heretofore needed, but yet untried ventures.

The fear of Failure (being the opposite of Hope) is equally without the capability of reflecting light, casting a shadow, being composed of measurable mass; but is too often evident

via observation of the lack

of effort in one who has either tried and failed or never had the intestinal fortitude to have ventured into the unknown in one’s quest to create that which does not exist, or to improve that which is in need of being improved.

Author’s Introduction

Some of the information contained in this book has been around for a long time in one form or another. Various common sense tips, hand written methods, formulas, etc., passed on from one mechanic to another can be found among groups of mechanics everywhere. Several of the methods and precautions mentioned in this book will be old hat to the experienced mechanics but will be new and very helpful to beginners. Some, if not all, of the included formulas will be beneficial not only to the apprentice, but just as new and enlightening to the journeyman. I used to wonder how many would admit it, but since more of these books have been sold via word-of-mouth advertising than through very expensive commercial advertising, I’m persuaded to believe I’ve done something right.

All the formulas in this book are based on the very simple and reliable principal of direct ratio and proportion, e.g., if it’s .004 out of alignment across a 4 face, then it’s .004 out of alignment for each 4 leading back to the support feet. However, as will be seen later, it gets more complex. Suppose (for example) the front support feet were to the left of the indicators when they would normally be to the right? What if a single set of indicator readings entailed the cutting of a few hundred pounds of shims to be placed under the feet of three, or five or more units - - each of which have more than four support points? What if it’s a vertically mounted unit that has dozens of shim points --- in a random pattern?

This book is written by a mechanic, for mechanics, and in mechanic’s language. As an example of this statement, dial indicators will sometimes be referred to as them little stop watches. Most all of us mechanics and millwrights (bucket butts) have been the butt end of that little joke at one time or another. Included also is an occasional jab at engineering and supervision. NO WAY would I leave them out.

Although almost any instruction manual used in one’s pursuit of information regarding a particular craft problem will sometimes fall short of having the information needed -- in the form needed -- I feel the methods, precautions, and applied formulas contained in this book will cover at least 99% of the field alignment problems encountered by most mechanics.

But part of the Genie has escaped from the bottle now. The entirety of the Rim and Face chapter plus several other selected short subjects from this book has evolved to the point of occupying 29 pages in Machinery’s Handbook (a widely used and most prestigious mechanical craft reference publication, published by Industrial Press).

So much for the introduction of the book. In introducing myself, I must say I’ve been abusing my hands in the form of various kinds of work for about seventy years. I think it all started when my maternal grandfather bought me a pocket knife -- when I was four years old. On the work force, I’ve been pulling wrenches for about 47 years and I’m still pulling wrenches. (Thank goodness I still can, because I enjoy my work).

In that time, I’ve lost all my teeth (since been replaced), one joint of a finger and a lot of hair. Let’s face it people, we either get older or deal with the alternative. My name is Tom Harlon, but I often answer to the name: T Hammer

The Totally Dedicated Mechanic

He has a memory akin

To a walking computer

It’s just not in his nature to pause

Be it a sprung axel spring

Or a broke piston ring

He will home right in to the cause

It seems that he’s here,

Then in a flash - over there

Then in seven more heartbeats,

Seems he’s been everywhere

As he’s moving about pursuing his task,

And as far as the why

In the method he’s choosing

Or his peculiar choice

In the tools that he’s using

Well, you may want to know, but don’t even bother to ask.

He’s seen this before,

And he works with such pride,

That it shows in the length

And the pace of his stride

When it’s tired old machinery that breaks.

If it’s tiny screwdrers

That a jeweler would use

Or from seventeen hammers,

It’s his job to choose,

From any specialty tool that it takes.

With his long-practiced patience

He scrapes off the mud

And if necessary,

The half-ton of crud,

Or whatever it takes in accessing,

The component he seeks

And it might take weeks

And if it’s Herculean with hammers,

Or a feather-light touch

To the machine his touch -- is caressing.

If it’s a hammer he’s using

Or his knuckles he’s bruising

His long-practiced methods are such

(As he maneuvers about at his own chosen pace)

And when it’s sometimes suggested

That he’s doing too much

He just grins through the grease on his face

And the diversity in

The tools that he’s using

And the ponderous thinking

That precedes every choosing

From his shiny array of shapes formed in steel

And it’s inspiring to witness

His each cautious selection

Then the tools are deployed

To such degree of perfection

That as I closely watch, it’s a surge of emotion I feel

Be it heat in the summer

Or the deep winter cold

One may think he’s working too hard

For our mechanic is only

Three tender years old

And my tools are all over the yard!

(Don’t laugh -- most of us have been this little guy).

T Hammer (a short history)

There must be a couple of thousand other ways to draw this little cartoon alter-ego of mine. His name is T Hammer. He is most often drawn with a smile, but sometimes with confusion, anger, or a deadpan couldn’t care less attitude, but always appropriate for the occasion as such different expressions would likely appear on my own face.

Me? Well, my name is Tommy B. Harlon and at the time of this writing I’ve been a millwright for about 50 years. The (above) little guy frequently appears in this book I’ve been writing a little at the time as various tricks of the trade in the alignment facet of said craft became known by me. In the winter of 1978 I made a lot of noise with a pair of eight-pound sledgehammers (one in each hand) over a period of about an hour or two. I changed the curvature of eight 4-foot lengths of 3/8 × 18 widths of economizer baffle plates for a chemical recovery boiler in a southern Arkansas paper mill.

The unwelcome noise made some 20 or so other craftsmen annoyed to the point of being ready to hang me from the highest beam in the ceiling of that quite large maintenance shop. But as usual, I did manage to get a difficult job done; noisily yes, but correctly.

The half-angry crew; utilizing the first and last name initials of my name (Tom Harlon), immediately nick-named me T Hammer. I’ve carried the name ever since with a good deal of pride because I earned that name. Some people don’t know me by any other name.

At some point in time around 1980 or '81, I began to draw this (above) T Hammer logo; sometimes with and sometimes without the T preceding the little cartoon hammer with its smile, frown, deadpan, or even an angry expression. All of these would reflect my own mood per whatever the current occasion.

So in this second edition of A Millwright’s Guide to Motor/Pump Alignment, this little alter-ego of mine frequently appears with the appropriate expression and comments to help me get the needed point across to the reader while usually triggering a smile in the process.

ON THE SUBJECT of TOOLS

Aside from the most important tools of all -- the thought processes of the human brain; complimented by human hands --, tool might be defined as any tangible matter or intangible phenomenon in any form that is purposely used to assist the user in performing any manner of work.

The correct tools properly utilized typically will greatly assist the user in producing more and better goods and services.

I heard, or perhaps read a fable somewhere about a rather maverick cave man who everyone in his cave group thought was crazy. Each person in the clan who was able to make the trip had to walk for several miles each day journeying to and from a fresh water spring at a somewhat higher altitude than where the cave was located. Weight of the water in the simple containers available at the time made the half-day round trip exhausting and they had daylight for very little else in which to eke out an existence.

But this maverick had an idea. For months; maybe years (deemed crazy or not) he hacked away at bamboo or some such material making a gradually descending trough around the mountain to a point very near the cave. When all but a few pieces of his creation were in place he announced to the rest of the commune that the water he had arranged to provide could save them a half day each from their laborious daily trip if they would work daily at his bidding (for perhaps the equivalent of an hour) for him. They agreed; perhaps thinking that he had found a way to carry half a ton of water half way around the mountain by himself.

Long story longer, it turned out to be a good bargain for one and all. He had people bringing him choice cuts of meat, animal skins, other meager goods and they would still have about five or more hours to do things they had never before had time or energy to do.

The maverick made a tremendous profit. Further, everyone prospered because of his creation of a tool designed for a specific work, in tandem with their honesty. Could be he was the first person in unrecorded history to harness the force of gravity to a useful purpose.

This story could have ended quite differently. They could have wrongfully capitalized on his idea, stolen his water and refused to pay him anything. Then he would appeal to the chief of the commune that he was wrongly treated and in so doing, demonstrate that the world’s first lawyer had a fool for a client in his debut performance.

This story could go on    and on ---- ------ --- and on----

So now in these more modern times, tools still save time. Time is still money. Money is now more than ever power. And well financed power is now more than ever an intangible tool with which one may control the thoughts and or actions of others.

I still insist knowledge is an intangible tool. Knowledge still defies a price tag, but retrievable information at one’s behest can be a close second or even better than knowledge.

A story is told that Einstein was asked how many feet was in a mile. To which he replied he didn’t know. Further, he expressed his logic: Why should I clutter my mind with such trivia when it’s easily looked up in a reference book?

In this book, there are dozens of alignment-related formulas that when properly applied to the described field scenarios will prove very effective in at least 99% of the alignment problems an average millwright will encounter during his/her career. Combined with the magic of a hand held calculator; a lowly pencil or even soapstone against rusty steel the use of common sense logic described in this book, complemented by the included formulas, will assist both the novice and the seasoned professional in aligning machinery. In the Rim And Face chapter, for example: There are sixteen likely scenarios; each with its formula and a sample solution which demonstrates how effective these formulas can be in on-the-job alignment problems.

Therefore, per the previous definition of a tool, this book qualifies as a tool. And as such, it will serve its purpose only as well as the craft skills and competence the involved millwright/mechanic can or will provide.

Some personal thoughts on shaft alignment

The terms: in alignment and aligned are relative to one’s opinion as to the degree of perfection necessary at the time.

A lot of machinery gets aligned in much the same manner. When an alignment job proves more difficult and time-consuming than expected, the eight zeroes demanded at the beginning of the job tends to get re-evaluated to plus or minus .003; then .005 and so on until some supervisor says: Bolt it down and couple it up.

I’ve had to drive bolts into couplings that were so far out of alignment that the threads on one side of the coupling bolts would shear off during the process. (This was a supervisory decision; not the journeyman millwright I was helping at the time.)

I personally find nothing positive about a misaligned coupling. It will get too hot from excessive friction, overpower the viscous qualities of its lubrication, chew itself to powder and completely fail when needed most. CASE IN POINT: Gulf of Mexico, 1981, offshore pumping platform. Four men were being lifted approximately 80 feet from the deck of a motorized barge to the upper deck of the pumping platform. Some