Horizontal & Vertical Shaft Misalignment

To successfully align the shafts the misalignment conditions must be resolved in two planes, the horizontal and the vertical. This means that misalignment's are separated out into their horizontal and vertical effects.

Below you will see examples of angular misalignment in both the horizontal and vertical planes.

Angular

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angular_misalignment_elevation

Below you will see examples of vertical offset misalignment in both the horizontal and vertical planes.

Offset

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offset_misalignment_elevation

Alignment in the vertical and horizontal planes must be carried out completely separate to avoid further confusion and resulting in greater error. It is common place for vertical alignment to be performed first, because it can be very easy to disrupt the horizontal alignment when vertical adjustments are being carried out.

Vertical misalignment is corrected by adding or removing of shims from under the feet of equipment to be aligned. Vertical alignment (both angular and offset) may be affected by the natural thermal expansion of machine, oil-film thickness, bearing clearances and foundation sag all must be taken into consideration when performing these procedures.
Horizontal misalignment is corrected by adjusting the actual position of the equipment. This is done by using the equipments alignment screws (jacking screws, bolts).