Time – we all want more of it. I have seen ads lately for alignment tools that “save time” or have pre-assembled fixtures to “save time”. But when did shaft alignment become a race?
As Ben Franklin said, “Haste makes waste.” And when it comes to shaft alignment, I could not agree more. The measurement part of any alignment job, when using lasers, is already the easiest and fastest part of the process, but we should not rush through it. Taking the prudent time to make sure everything is set-up correctly is important.
If your fixtures are pre-assembled and you need flexibility for a non-standard set-up, then it’s not faster. If your set-up is wrong and your measurement is wrong, not only is it not faster, but your alignment will be wrong. The preparations you make prior to alignment are key and rushing through them or skipping steps is, in the end, not faster.
A good plan with good preparation, paying attention to the details and doing it correctly the first time saves time. Let’s not fall for the “faster” pitch. Let’s do it correctly the first time, every time. After all, anything worth doing is worth doing right.
ASI