One of the biggest challenge in mills causing headache and loss of time during laser alignment procedure is still coupling backlash.
Certain type of couplings are designed to have backlash after installation. This infamous backlash is more than often the main cause of false measurements and repeatability issues during laser alignment correction step, thus causing alignment to be longer than hoped.
So, knowing that backlash is unavoidable, how can we reduce the effect of this obstacle?
Don’t worry! A simple work procedure will help you get rid of the unwanted issue caused by the backlash.
Here is the procedure:
For the first reading, control the rotation with the coupling on the motor side, position the sensor at 9 o’clock and take your reading.
After, rotate the sensor to 11 o’clock while controlling the rotation with the coupling on the motor side. Take your second reading.
After, rotate the sensor to 3 o’clock, however, after passing 12 o’clock control the rotation with the coupling on the stationary side (pump, gearbox, etc.). This will make sure that the backlash is on the same side.
Using this procedure will help you to considerably reduce errors in readings due to the backlash in the coupling and thus making your laser alignments much faster! Less correction time!
