Industrial machines are put through rigorous usage on a daily basis. The tasks they perform through a typical production day involve sustained mechanical stresses which build up over the course of time. Eventually, these stresses will begin to degrade both the condition and functioning of the components, resulting in calibration errors. As these errors compound, defects in assembly or in milling begin to become a problem.
Periodically, these machines must be taken off line for maintenance. One of the primary maintenance tasks is to correct misalignments and calibration and for this, modern industry has turned to laser sighting to perform these checks. Machine Alignment in Austin is performed with a variety of laser devices to ensure maximum accuracy in all readouts and tests prior to and after performing the actual mechanical adjustments in the equipment.
First, it is necessary to understand just how laser alignment works. It’s really fairly simple and is based on a few quite basic principles. To begin with, a laser in a fixed, stationary mount is aimed at a reference target 300 ft. away. This creates an absolute reference, a constant, against which all other readings can be compared. The next step after that is to mount at least two additional transparent targets in the beam pathway. As the beam passes through the transparencies, their induced vibration from the machine being tested causes deviations in the laser alignment. As data is passed to the testing computer, readings on deviations in the X- and Y-axes are fed into the data stream. The CPU analyses all these inputs and thereby makes it possible to determine which components require either adjustment or replacement. The accuracy of these readings are measured by thousandths of an inch over the distance to the reference target.
This degree of precision is far greater than any yielded by the use of physical measuring tools watched by the sharpest eye. In this way, the smallest degree of misalignment or defect can be detected, analyzed, and outputted in real time. The far greater accuracy in readout allows for the easy adjustment or repair of machine components before even a noticeable minor problem can show up, which greatly reduces maintenance down time for a vital production machine.
Laser Precision performs professional service concentrating on precision Machine Alignment in Austin TX. They use state-of-the-art equipment to perform vibrational analysis and shaft alignment on all types of industrial machines. Contact them today.
