Why Lovejoy Offers Shaft Alignment Dial Indicator Kits

As a fourth generation family owned coupling manufacturer with literally millions of couplings installed around the world, we know how important it is that a coupling be made with exceptional quality & design (materials used, product features, bore concentricity, etc.).

What we also know is how important shaft alignment is in the longevity of a power transmission system (see Top Reason for a Coupling Failure).

While we were manufacturing and providing best in class coupling solutions for decades, other than education, installation instructions, and installation videos... we felt that we were not doing enough to directly help our end users and partners properly align the shafts our couplings were going on.

The new & free Lovejoy Dials smart phone app (just search "Lovejoy Dials" in your Apple or Android app store) now empowers users who have dial indicators to quickly and easily align their coupling shafts. No spreadsheets or calculators needed, and the app even calculates for bar sag! 

While this kit should work for most preexisting shaft alignment dial indicators, we furthermore took our commitment to shaft alignment one step further by now offering our very own Lovejoy Dials shaft alignment kit. 

At the end of the day, whether you have and continue to use a pre-existing dial indicator kit, purchase and use ours, or go all in for a high end laser alignment system... what we care most about is that your shafts are well aligned and serve you/your power transmission system as well as your long trusted Lovejoy couplings.

What is Static and Dynamic Alignment?

While we have previously identified that alignment is the primary cause of premature coupling failures (see post here), a further explanation of static versus dynamic alignment is in order.

Static alignment is the condition of the machinery at rest (think of the alignment we perform when the equipment is first installed).  Static alignment gives us the opportunity to correct issues such as soft foot, gross misalignment and to bring the system to within specifications.

Dynamic alignment is the condition of the machinery during sustained operation.  Think of an electric motor moving from its mechanical center to the electrical center, the thermal growth experienced by an internal combustion engine or a shaft moving axially in response to forces in the machine train.  It is common to perform a “hot alignment check” on equipment.  A hot alignment check is when the machinery is allowed to achieve its operational steady state condition (i.e. after a compressor train has operated for a minimum of 24 hours) and is then shut down with the express intention of quickly performing an alignment verification. 

Depending in the machinery, dynamic alignment is preferred as the equipment will experience measurable changes and can result in the equipment operating beyond alignment specifications from the initial static condition.

Remember to always align equipment to the tighter of either the coupling or equipment specifications!